rfc

Hispano-Suiza V8, possibly Wright-Hispano.

yavor.dinkov Thank you! Is there any way to narrow it down to one type?

Provincial Archives of Alberta May be. There are several coded parts. Can You post the codes from a high-resolution picture? In this way identification can be confirmed. Otherwise, an exact combination of details can point to a specific model but there are many variants of this engine ... Regards, Yavor

At first sight I thought it was a dining room:-) Typical military, everything squared off on shipshape!

I can see that! I get the sense that this workshop was set up as a model and that actual workshops would have been somewhat less tidy.

Provincial Archives of Alberta I would have thought training for aircraft mechanics rather than workshop???? A real workshop would have been a lot less tidy, real work going on:-)

Yes, it probably was for training purposes. However, "workshop" is a good, broad, catch-all term in the absence of further information.

At center in the photo is American fighter ace William P. "Bill" Erwin. Erwin would perish in 1927 searching for missing fliers during the ill-fated Dole Air Race from Oakland to Honolulu, Hawaii. See: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Portwood_Erwin

L to R: Lieutenants Harry C. Roberts and George M. Belser, Captains William P. Erwin (shown wearing his Distinguished Service Cross, an eight-victory ace from the 1st Aero Squadron) and Thomas C. Traill (an eight-victory Bristol Fighter ace from 20 Squadron RAF), and Ewin T. Carroll (Lieut. Frank Carroll’s father and a prominent Evangelical Methodist, Local Preacher in Illinois), at Forest Park in St. Louis on April 14, 1919. This was the Victory Loan Flying Circus, Mid-West Flight's fourth air show during their tour of the Midwest. (Note: Roberts face is missing here, but I have my own personal copy, which is in much better condition.)