fighterace

Fighter Ace, Air Mail Pilot, and later Rear Admiral (USNR) Kenneth R. Unger (1898-1979). See: postalmuseum.si.edu/unger-kenneth-russell en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_Russell_Unger

René Fonck (1894-1953) French flying ace
www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q48674

From Time Magazine, May 10, 1926

Fonck. Last week burly little Captain Rene Fonck of France, ace of Allied aces, Inspector General of French Aviation, strode down a gangplank in Manhattan and hurried out to Westbury, L. I., to fire questions at Engineer Igor Sikorsky of Russia. The scene of their talk was the Sikorsky airplane factory. The subject was a monster Sikorsky biplane, the S-35, which was being equipped with three 425 h.p. Gnome-Rhone Jupiter motors specially selected abroad and shipped here by Fonck to drive him, without pausing, from Long Island to Paris next autumn in an effort to win a standing prize of $25,000.* A preliminary non-stop flight, Long Island to Halifax and back, was scheduled for early July.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/René_Fonck
'Colonel René Paul Fonck (27 March 1894 – 18 June 1953) was a French aviator who ended the First World War as the top Entente fighter ace and, when all succeeding aerial conflicts of the 20th and 21st centuries are also considered, Fonck still holds the title of "all-time Allied Ace of Aces".'
...
'During the 1920s, Fonck persuaded Igor Sikorsky to redesign the Sikorsky S-35 for the transatlantic race or Orteig Prize. On 21 September 1926, the aircraft crashed on takeoff when the landing gear collapsed, killing two of his three crew members. Charles Lindbergh won the prize seven months later in 1927.'

Thanks, Seuss. and swanq. We'll update the catalog record.

L to R: Then 1st Lieut. Arthur J. Coyle, 1st Aero Squadron CO, and 1st Lieut. William P. Erwin standing along the left side of Coyle’s Salmson 2A2 #24. SDASM's scan will show the '2' better.