se5

L to R: 1st Lieut. P. A. Smith, Captains T. C. Traill (RAF) and H. H. Powell, and 1st Lieut. J. L. Whitney pose in front of a Jenny being assembled at Camp Pike on April 13, 1919. Behind it on the left is the SE-5 that was flown that day, and the motorcycle with sidecar in front of it was one of two that the Mid-West Flight had just requisitioned from the Aviation General Supply Depot in Little Rock that morning. This was the Victory Loan Flying Circus, Mid-West Flight's third air show on their Midwest tour.

The two British SE-5s, including a full view of C8745 here, are fully assembled on the morning of April 15, 1919, in the center section of the Illinois State Fairgrounds racetrack but still have coverings protecting their propellers prior to having their engines warmed up. The wing and fuselage cockades were colored blue, white and red, outside to inside. This was Capt. Beauchamp-Proctor’s mount he used to “wreak vengeance on the enemy” during the afternoon Victory Loan Flying Circus, Mid-West Flight air show there. For further details, see Journal of Illinois History, Vol. 18, No. 1, Spring 2015.

Here 1st Lieut. Paul A. Smith, normally an SE-5 pilot on the Victory Loan Flying Circus, Middle-West Flight tour, is grabbing 1st Lieut. P. E. MacGregor (based at Ellington Field), who was the Victory Loan Flying Circus, Mid-West Flight Recruiting Officer. They were at Swope Park in Kansas City on April 30, 1919, and Smith was seated in SE-5a C8747. Other photos in the same sequence show the distinctive 4 and 3 pair of dice that MacGregor is covering up.

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