unitedstatesarmyairservice

See www.thisdayinaviation.com/tag/curtiss-r-6-racer/ which has a copy of the same photo, attributed to the U.S. Air Force and identified as a Curtiss R-6 Racer. See also en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtiss_CR

This is Curtiss R-6, Air Service serial number A.S. 68583 (McCook Field project number P-279). This particular aircraft (marked as Race No. 44), piloted by Lt. Lester Maitland (who also appears in the LoC's Bain collection), would finish second in the 1922 National Air Race. First place would be won by Russell Maughan, piloting the other Curtiss R-6 (A.S. 68584; marked Race No. 43). See photo below: www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/51240958834/ The aircraft in the background, on the left side of the frame, A.S. 22563, is a Standard J-1 biplane belonging to the Army Air Service.

Interesting,

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_A._Macready

As noted, renown aviator and Army Air Service test pilot John A. Macready. Not only was Macready distinguished as an aviator and test pilot, he's also considered by many to be the father of Aviator-style sunglasses. See: www.nytimes.com/2012/08/05/magazine/who-made-those-aviato...

Who Made Those Aviator Sunglasses? By Pagan Kennedy New York Times Magazine (Page 20) - Aug. 5, 2012 Early in the 20th century, as test pilots began flying higher than Mount Everest, they had to defend themselves against temperatures as low as minus-80 degrees Fahrenheit. To survive the frigid blast, aviators wore leather hoods, and they insulated their eyes with fur-lined goggles. To lift those goggles for even an instant was to risk death. In 1920, when Shorty Schroeder dared to take a biplane above 33,000 feet, his goggles fogged and he had no choice but to pull them off. Moments later, his vision blurred, and his eyes were soon frozen over. Schroeder managed to land the plane that day, and his friend John Macready helped pull him out of the cockpit. A month later, still haunted by the memory of his friend’s swollen eyelids, Macready climbed into the same plane to beat Schroeder’s altitude record. Like Schroeder, Macready depended on goggles that had been designed to seal his eyes from the cold and protect his sight. But the early goggles were not dark enough, and “the bright sunlight in the upper atmosphere hurt his eyes,” said his daughter, Sally Macready Wallace. And so Macready began working with Bausch & Lomb to design goggles especially suited to protect against the dazzle in the stratosphere. “My dad gave Bausch & Lomb the original shape, tint and fit” of aviator lenses, Wallace said. By the late 1930s, advertisements for Bausch & Lomb’s Ray Ban sunglasses promised “real scientific glare protection” for fishermen and golfers. Not yet called aviators, the glasses nonetheless captured the essence of aviator goggles, with their teardrop shape and frames as delicate as a biplane’s struts. Sold as sporting equipment, they cost several dollars at a time when sunglasses could be had for 25 cents. During World War II, aviators became standard gear for military men, including Gen. Douglas MacArthur. . .

Thanks for the link to additional info [https://www.flickr.com/photos/danuneken] and for the interesting story about aviator sunglasses TVL1970.

Thank you for your post in : Portrait★Faces

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_aerial_circumnavigation

September 8, 1924, Lt. Lowell H. Smith (in front cockpit) and 1st Lt. Les Arnold (standing adjacent to the rear cockpit) with Douglas World Cruiser "Chicago" (Air Service Serial No. A.S. 1230) have just arrived at Mitchel Field, Long Island, NY, as Chief of the Air Service, Maj. Gen. Mason Patrick (back to camera) looks on.