navalmilitia

Genial

Samuel Stillman Pierce (1887-1973) from earlyaviators.com/epierces.htm : Samuel S. Pierce died August 4, 1973 at his home in Milton, Mass. where he was a teacher for many years at the Milton Academy. He was a grandson of Samuel S. Pierce, founder of the food chain that bears his name. He was born in Wellesley Hills, Mass. January 23, 1887 In 1910 he studied at the Louis Bleriot Flying School in France where he obtained a pilot's license. He made his first solo flight March 23, 1911. In 1916 he joined the New York Militia as Ensign and taught flying at Bayshore, N.Y. He and a student were seriously injured in the smash-up of a Burgess-Dunne seaplane, ending his flying career. The balance of World War I he spent at the Naval Aircraft Factory in Philadelphia, resigning as Lieutenant, USNRF in 1921 due to poor health. He is survived by his wife, Mary Sweitzer Pierce, a daughter, Mrs. Mary Pillsbury of Milton, Mass. and three grandchildren. Yes, that is a Burgess-Dunne Seaplane he's standing in front of.

See also comments under www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/14004100262/ Ensign Samuel Pierce is mentioned in the cited papers.

This photo is depicted in The sun., July 02, 1916, Page 7 with the caprtion: "Mrs. Vincent Astor christening the high power hydroaeroplane presented by a group of citizens of New York to the Second Battalion, New York Naval Militia. The ceremony took place at the headquarters, Fifty-second street and the bay, Brooklyn. Vincent Astor is standing to the left." (chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030272/1916-07-02/ed-...)

Another article about the event is in the NYT, July 2, 1916 (query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=F4091FF73A5B17...)

An additional article about the event in Aerial Age Weekly, Volume 3, July 10, 1916, page 503, Second Battalion N.M.N.Y. Seaplane Christened : books.google.com/books?id=FNRLAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA503&l... Note, that the Aerial Age story states that Charles L. Lawrance of the "citizens' committee which bought the seaplane," was also present. Lawrance is the very same person who would design the Lawrance J-1 radial engine, the direct predecessor to the Wright Whirlwind engine which would power countless historically significant flights, including that of Charles Lindbergh and the Spirit of St. Louis from New York to Paris. See photo of Lawrance below standing to the right side of the frame, next to Lindbergh at Curtiss Field prior to Lindbergh's solo transatlantic flight:

The photo in The Sun is of the same moment, but taken by a different photographer who stood to the right of Bain's photographer. More from The Sun article cited above: "Then they swung a big derrick over and just as it had made fast Mrs. Astor stepped forward and cracked a bottle of champagne over the hull with the words: "I christen thee No. 1." As It was swung over into the water everybody cheered, and then Ensign Astor, commanding a fleet of motor boats, towed it out to clear water, where Ensign Samuel Pierce climbed in. started the engines to roaring and after gliding over the water shot the plane up into the air for a twelve minute trip around Fort Hamilton and back. Ensign Pierce brought the flying boat back without trouble and the crowd cheered again, aided in the noise making by all the whistles of craft that knew anything about it at all."

52d street pier in Brookyn, recent street view: maps.google.com/maps?q=52d+street,+brooklyn&ll=40.650...