rickenbacker

No, this is the Ansaldo A.1 Balilla serialnumber 16608 which was bought by Cliff Durant and handed over to Eddie Rickenbacker for him to set a San Francisco-Los Angeles speed record in 1920. I wonder if Durant owned the Sheridan Motor Co? He was after an auto magnat. Stig

Stig Jarlevik Thanks for the correction and additional info!

The Sheridan Motor Company of California Oakland was purchased by the head of General Motors in late 1919, beginning 1920. The head of General Motors was then Billy Durant. In December 1920, the Sheridan Motor Company of California was established with R.C. Durant, (Billy’s son), as President, C,M. Steves as Assistant Sales Manager and Captain Eddie Rickenbacker as Vice-President and General Manager. The California sales territory would prove to be the most aggressive in sales of the Sheridan. R.C. Durant was known for short as Cliff Durant. Rickenbacker worked out a plan to sell Sheridan by using aviation. He was the first sales manager to cover his area by plane. He would fly into a California community, land in a cow pasture near town, and be met by the Sheridan dealer driving a new Sheridan. Of course he got big write up in the paper in big black letters saying Sheridan is coming. Then everyone would be asking, “Who is Sheridan?” He would then take out a full page ad announcing that Sheridan is here, with a picture of the car. In a year Rickenbacker built up an organization of 27 dealers and sold more than 700 Sheridan. I think on this picture is the personal sales machine of the Sheridan sales manager Rickenbacker. The complete story of Sheridan is meticulously researched here www.geaaonline.org/sheridan.html There is another picture of the same machine with Rickenbacker, showing this time the hand luggage fastened against the side of the fuselage with the cord visible in this picture.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Rickenbacker

William Avery Bishop (1894-1956) www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2035406

On the Berengaria on Oct 3, 1925. San Antonio Light. October 03, 1925, HOME EDITION, page 1 chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85060004/1925-10-03/ed-... "BRITISH ACE LANDS IN N. Y. BY PLANE NEW YORK, Oct. 3 (AP) —Colonel Bishop, famous English ace, arrived on the Cunard liner Berengeria was met at quarantine by Captain Eddie Rickenbacker, noted American flier, taken aboard a plane and carried to the home of Harry P. Davison at Glen Core, L.I. He is said to be the first passenger thus to have disembarked at New York."

Thanks [https://www.flickr.com/photos/danuneken], Richard Norton, and swanq. We'll update the catalog record.

Some context for the photograph. Billy Bishop travelled to New York for the National Air Races at Mitchel Field, which was essentially an air show with many international pilots. Billy Bishop was a Canadian WWI ace who flew for the Royal Air Force. The Canadian government actually removed Bishop from a combat role in June 1918 considering the effect on national morale if Bishop was to be killed. Air show source: Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.), 04 Oct. 1925. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. (chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1925-10-04/ed-...) "Greatest Flyers to vie for Honors" (left)

At far left is WWI ace and race car driver Eddie Rickenbacker. The aircraft behind is a Fokker D.VII fighter plane from WWI, a type that Rickenbacker often met in combat. It is possibly re-engined with a Hall-Scott L6 motor.