paulbeck

Famed early aviators Beck, Walker, Ellyson and Robinson. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_W._Beck See also: query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=F60613FB355810... earlyaviators.com/ewalkjoh.htm en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_G._Ellyson en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Robinson_(aviator) Another angle:

The individual identified as Hugh Robinson is incorrect. The correct identity is Charles C. Witmer Aero Club of America Pilot # 53 (August 15, 1911) Chicago, Illinois

The handwritten label on this photo is partially incorrect. That is indeed Marine Corps aviator John McClaskey sitting at the controls of the aircraft, however, the gentleman standing next to him is not the Navy's John Towers, but the Army's Paul Ward Beck. Here's another photo of Beck in the SDASM Photostream: earlyaviators.com/ebeck.htm

TVL 1970 is correct: J. W. McClaskey is seated on the aircraft. He was a retired US Marine lieutenant who was the chief of flight instruction for the Glenn Curtiss School of Aviation in San Diego. Standing is Army 1st Lt Paul W. Beck, Signal Corps who, along with army officers, 2nd Lt G.E.M. Kelly, 30th Infantry and 2nd Lt John C. Walker, Jr., 8th Infantry, and Navy Lt Theodore Ellyson, formed the first military aviation school in the United States, under the training of the Glenn Curtis School of Aviation in San Diego.