k47a

Hmmm, somewhat unusual for this photo to be in this group of World War I-era photos from the Bain collection. As the reversed inscription in the lower left corner of the frame denotes, this photo was taken in April 1927. Pictured are the doomed aviators Noel Davis and Stanton Wooster, apparently standing on the wing of the ill-fated Keystone K-47 Pathfinder named "American Legion" (reg. N-X 179). Both Davis and Wooster were preparing to fly the American Legion across the Atlantic for the Orteig Prize (ultimately won by Charles Lindbergh flying the Ryan NYP "Spririt of St. Louis" from Roosevelt Field, Long Island to Paris just weeks later) when this photo was taken. Davis and Wooster would perish in a crash landing of the American Legion on April 26, 1927. Ultimately, the aircraft would be salvaged and rebuilt into an airliner which would fly passengers and mail for West Indian Aerial Services and Pan American Airways (PAA "Pan Am"). See: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wooster_and_Davis en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keystone_Pathfinder

see also

TVL1970: Thanks for providing context for this photo. We'll add some of the information to the catalog record next time we update.

TVL1970 Any idea what those boxes he is standing in front of contain? Airplane parts?

Art Siegel Art, I am close to certain that those are fuel tanks for "American Legion."

Keystone Pathfinder

Being towed from where to where?

There's a Pathe newsreel now on Youtube youtu.be/WkofLKN9_98 and details here books.google.co.uk/books?id=MxkdHbUPklgC&pg=PA26&... Davis & Wooster labelled in the photo were killed on a test flight

This is the model K-47A, rebuilt from the K-47 "American Legion" that crashed in testing before an attempt at the Orteig Prize.