lawrencesperry

This and the next 5 pictures, and another of the "Aero-Maid" statue model, are from the arrival of 3 planes at the New York Flying Yacht Club station at 129th (one source says 125th) Street and the Hudson River on August 31, 1916, on the way to the club's luncheon. The first plane, from Atlantic City, was piloted by Beryl H. Kendrick with his mechanic J.D. Davis. The second, from Amityville, Long Island was piloted by Lawrence Sperry and Ripley Bowman. The third, from Port Washington, was piloted by David McCullough with passenger Robert Edgren.
query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9F05E6DF143BE6...
More on McCullough:
www.earlyaviators.com/emccullo.htm

To his right, famous early aviator Frank T. Coffyn, here seen another Bain photo:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Coffyn
"R. Edgren" is probably noted olympic athlete, cartoonist and journalist Robert W. "Bob" Edgren (1874-1939).
john-adcock.blogspot.com/2012/04/fight-of-century.html
www.californiagoldenblogs.com/2012/5/30/3001650/robert-ed...
The unidentified man second from right is certainly Lawrence Burst Sperry (1892-1923), early aviator and inventor, mentioned in the Times story as having flown in with Bowman. See photo and bio at:
www.marinelink.com/news/engineer-lawrence-aviator369263.aspx
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Sperry

handsome men!!!

Another photo of the same group printed in the 9/15/1916 issue of Aviation lists Sperry as second from right. books.google.com/books?id=4zUyAQAAMAAJ&q=ripley+bowma...

And the caption of a related photo confirms Edgren as the sports writer: A cropped version of the photo was used in The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) September 17, 1916, SECTION FIVE, Page 2, with the caption: " The New York Flying Yacht Club dedicated the grounds on the Hudson River at One Hundred and Twenty-fifth Street recently, where it is proposed to establish a landing station for aeroplanes and air-yachts. Six of the guests at the function arrived by aeroplane two from Atlantic City, two from Amltyville, L. I., and two from Port Washington. David H. McCulloch, with Robert Edgren, the sporting writer, as guest, came from Port Washington in 10 minutes, a journey that would have taken an hour by train and streetcar. B. J. Kendrick came up from Atlantic City with J. D. Davis as guest. Lawrence Sperry, the inventor, and Ripley Bowman came in from Amityvtlle. Later young Sperry took Admiral Peary for a flight. A trophy called the "Hydro Aeromaid" was displayed at the luncheon. It was offered by the club for a flight around New York." oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn83045782/1916-09-17/ed-1/se...

Art Siegel: thanks for finding the full names as well as background information on the group of men in the picture. We will add the information to the record at the next update.

see notes under