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en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vernon_Castle

With his pet monkey, Jeffrey, s. hometownbyhandlebar.com/?p=2118 S. also www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/27288652485/

His wife had a pet monkey as well, named Rastus: www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/7949420400/

"On February 15, 1918, at a military airfield outside of Fort Worth, Texas, his plane stalled during a climb and roll maneuver. (Vernon was trying to avoid crashing into another cadet-piloted plane.) Vernon was only 75 feet in the air, but he had given the safer rear seat to his student, and died when the plane fell nose first into the ground. According to the monument at the crash site, "Neither the other pilot, his student cadet, nor Vernon's pet monkey, Jeffrey, were seriously injured." (Jeffrey's ultimate fate is unknown, but Irene's monkey, Rastas, is buried at the Hartsdale Pet Cemetery in New York.) www.roadsideamerica.com/story/13035

Very nice, great it was saved before any more damage could be done!

The original is a glass plate negative and this sort of damage is all too common for glass plates, unfortunately. But it is a very unique image. We have many, many cirkut photographs in our collection, including lots of military unit portraits, but to have a photo that depicts the photographer's set-up is quite special.

Provincial Archives of Alberta I know, I help out a little bit with National Library of Ireland and some beautiful plates are damaged like this, and a lot worse. That is where the digitalisation is so beneficial, keeps the image safe even if we cannot save the plate!

The location is the University of Toronto; the main building in the background is University College. U of T was the location used for the classroom portion of the training of flight cadets in Canada; see for instance heritage.utoronto.ca/fedora/repository/default%3A22576 and www.flickr.com/photos/lac-bac/4055478339/in/set-721576225... .

Fantastic! Thank you very much for this information. I had a hunch that it was in Toronto but I'm really not familiar with the city so I was hoping for someone to come to the rescue. Thanks again!

Curtiss V8 engine.

Thanks a lot for the information!

More precisely, I think this is a *segment* from a Curtiss OX-5 V8 like the one in your other photo: Another of your photos shows a different segment of an OX-5: In the photo here, the view is facing what would be the engine's rear end, opposite where the propeller would be mounted. (The little wooden "propeller" visible isn't a real propeller and is mounted on the engine's water pump.) Only two cylinders are visible in the photo, rather than the eight which you should see; the engine seems to just "stop" after that pair of cylinders. Several parts which should be closed have sections missing to show their internals. It looks like this couldn't run, but was used as a training tool for engine mechanics.

Thanks a lot for that information!