latham

This is a very odd photo to be in H Latham's Collection. Latham flow his last flight in USA on Jan 10th, 1911 and on Jan 30th that year he left by boat for Japan. After this Latham more or less gave up flying, only performing very sporadically in 1911. I find it impossible that any such advanced aeroplane, such as the one depicted, would have been built in USA by 1911. The written text on the photo says Commemorating Beacheys and the way the front is draped in a US flag it rather looks like someone is commemorating his death, which of course was not until 1915. Unfortunately no clue what it is we are looking at. Stig

Past a certain historic research date F-ESEJ c/n 1 is stated to have been designated L.2. It was basically exactly the same as the L.1 F-ATAM c/n 01 and differed mostly by using different engines and wing profiles. Stig

This is no Taube at all ! The picture shows the Antoinette IV being pushed into the wing for the attempted flight over the Channel on July 19, 1909. Unfortunately the engine malfunctioned and the machine fell in the water when almost in sight of Dover. Only 5 miles to fly. As everybody knows Blériot flew the whole Channel and Latham after a second failed attempt never did. Very muddy field, which made it already miraculous that the machine could come loose from the clay. Remark the steering wheels at both sides of the Antoinette fuselage which was the favored way of steering the Antoinettes. Big ailerons are hinging on the monoplane wings. A beauty of a picture. From the Library of Congress collection, where the print of the whole original picture can be seen (it is somewhat bigger than this print)