tincan

AL-135 JL Highfill Album Image

from SDASM Archives

• Greg Bishop said:

  Amazing moment captured, sad there is no info. (Opinion only) I suspect the airplane was in the water before the photo was taken (absence of splash), and upended due to the weight of the engine. The ships could be there to recover the pilot*. What looks like a bomb splash is probably smoke from the ship's stacks.
  
  The ship with hull number 321, a "4-piper" (4 smokestacks), appears to be a Clemson-class destroyer, DD321, USS Marcus, launched in 1919 and assigned to destroyer squadron duty with the Pacific Fleet. Decommissioned in May 1930, she was sunk by gunfire 25 June 1935 off San Diego, California.... because she was worn-out from so much use. *This photo could be the USS Marcus just before she was sunk, possibly as part of a naval exercise. That airplane could also be part of the same exercise. There are photos of DD-321 online that are similar to this SDASM photo.
  
  
  
  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Marcus_(DD-321)

• Greg Bishop said:

  Aircraft might be a biplane, looking at left side wing(s); does your higher resolution show that detail, and/or markings?

• SDASM Archives said:

  Greg Bishop Sorry, no….hard to tell if biplane even

• Greg Bishop said:

  SDASM Archives Thanks for checking! My last entry on this one, I think... Photo #: NH 69023 - Battle Fleet maneuvers off California, November 1926 - Twelve Navy torpedo planes (probably SC-1 or CS-1 types) fly in formation over USS Marcus (DD-321) during the maneuvers. "Over 100 Naval planes vied with 60 surface craft for tactical advantage in a war game which displayed every angle of Naval action except gun fire." (quoted from the original photo caption). www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-usn/usnsh-m/dd321.htm