july1910

The raked wings are very unusual, and no stagger. Hmm. Aha! John William Dunne! Dunne worked initially on early military aircraft, concentrating on tailless swept wing designs to achieve the first certified inherently stable aircraft. He later developed a new approach to dry fly fishing before turning to philosophy, where he achieved some pre-eminence and literary influence through his theory on the nature of time and consciousness, which he called "Serialism".

An even more unusual feature is that this plane had no tail - it was a flying wing design.

It's a Dunne tailless biplane, as designed by J.W. Dunne. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_William_Dunne The powered planes were driven by a pair of pusher propellers, which I can't see here, which at first makes me think it's a D1 or D3, which were gliders, but I'm wondering if it might be the D4, D5 or D8, rolled out before completion, or maybe the propellers are hidden behind the wing and just don't show well at this resolution? Anyway, if it's the man himself, that puts it between the building of the D1 in 1907 and 1914, when he more or less stopped work on tailless planes.

Nigel Leyland I don't think we could miss the engines and propellors if they were present, see this diagram. I think this is a D5 before the engines are fitted.

The wikipedia article has a photo labelled "John William Dunne in his D.5 biplane at Eastchurch, 14 June 1910." The plane has propellors, but Dunne is wearing a dark jacket and flat cap like the gent at right here. The photo is tagged as by "Unknown - probably a Life magazine photographer "

This images is looking east from 42nd Street and 7th Avenue. The building shown on teh left in teh center is the Times Building. In the distance you see the platform for the Elevated on Sixth Avenue.

great catch.. Now can you get the name of the theater? Hammerstein's something or another.

Hammerstein's Roof Garden, operated by Oscar Hammerstein I. He opened it in 1904, above two theaters that he owned: the Victoria and the Republic. Jack Johnson, the African-American world champion prizefighter, appeared at the Victoria Theater in July of 1910, for an engagement of several days.

Thanks! Johnson was a key figure, maybe even a tragic figure, in the history of rase relations in America.

The New York Times, on July 12, 1910, ran a story about Johnson's tumultuous welcome in New York City. (This was right after his victory in Reno over former heavyweight champion James Jeffries, "The Great White Hope," cemented Johnson's claim to the title): [http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9E07E6D9173AE733A25751C1A9619C946196D6CF