royalwindsor

Caption is (slightly) incorrect. This is a photo of famed Canadian bush pilot Clarence Alvin "Duke" Schiller (b. 1900 - d. 1943) in front of the Stinson SM-1B Detroiter named "Royal Windsor." More about Duke Schiller: turnbull1922.wordpress.com/2010/05/05/a-fascinating-canad...

The aircraft is the Stinson SM-1B Detroiter named "Royal Windsor" (c/n M203). The aircraft was to be flown by Canadian bush pilot Duke Schiller (the man on the left side of the frame) and American Phil Wood (brother of famous boat racer Gar Wood) from Windsor, Ontario to Windsor, England in competition to claim the $25,000 prize offered by Carling Brewery in August/September 1927 for successful completion of the trip. (The gentleman on the right side of the frame does not resemble Phil Wood). However, after the disappearance of competitors "Sir John Carling" (another Stinson Detroiter, piloted by Terence Tully and James Medcalf) and "Old Glory" (a Fokker F.VIIA flown by famed US Air Mail pilots Lloyd Bertaud and James DeWitt Hill) and their crews, the competition was called off, and the $25,000 prize money distributed to widowed spouses of the doomed pilots. The backers would call off the attempt by the "Royal Windsor" to cross the Atlantic from West to East, however, the aircraft - along with Schiller and Wood, participated in the fruitless search efforts to find the "Sir John Carling" and "Old Glory." Duke Schiller (b. 1900 - d. 1943) Stinson SM-1B Detroiter "Royal Windsor"

TVL1970 Thank you for the information.