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See

2nd from right is Lt. Torrey Webb. Just left of man with boater is New York City Postmaster Thomas Patten.

NYT of May 16, 1918 query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9E06EEDE163EE433A... listed dignitaries who had assembled to see Webb start with mail on the first leg, from Belmont to Philadelphia. They included three French aviation officers: Lieutenants Parri, Campizono, and Dobelle. A couple of them are near the left of this picture.

See also at the Smithsonian Institution's Flickr Photostream:

A photo in ivanpwheaton.blogspot.com/2012_01_01_archive.html suggests that the short man in a light suit is Henry Woodhouse, who was on the board of the Aero Club of America. If so, he had an interesting life. See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Woodhouse_%28forger%29 Who's Who in America for 1920 shows his aviation enthusiasm. books.google.com/books?id=WZJDV5f3DUoC&pg=PA3141&... A group picture in From the First Shot: A Picture History of the Great War books.google.com/books?id=luAMAAAAYAAJ&pg=PT58&lp... confirms that Henry Woodhouse is the short guy. The caption is "FRENCH AVIATORS WHO WILL HELP THE AMERICAN EAGLE LEARN TO USE ITS WINGS." Another copy of the page image with the group picture is at babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=loc.ark:/13960/t7dr3hx6c;v... Judging from that group picture, the man to the left of Woodhouse might be Alan R Hawley, president of the Aero Club of America. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_R._Hawley

nice and important moment

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A famous stamp was issued in 1918 to commemorate this event:

"1918 “Jenny” Airmail Stamp" by National Postal Museum


From Edith Dodd Culver's THE DAY THE AIRMAIL BEGAN:
"To quote from Reuben Fleet's 1966 speech before the Air Mail Pioneers: "I left Lieutenant Webb in charge at Belmont Park and the Curtiss plant, with Lieutenant Miller and Bonsal helping, and in reserve, and instructed Webb to get the other four aerial mail airplanes ready, and fly one from Belmont Park with the aerial mail at eleven the next morning to Bustleton Field, which the Philadelphia Postmaster had selected for Philadelphia. Edgerton at Bustleton Field would relieve Lieutenant Webb there and fly on to Washington, while Lieutenant Culver would relay the aerial mail at Busttleton Park in New York."

Lt. Torrey Webb flipped a Jenny airmail plane here:

"Wrecked Airmail Plane" by Smithsonian

If anyone thinks this is a Curtiss JN-4HT they are correct. Stig