williammitchell

The aerial bombing trials of 1923 conducted by General Billy Mitchell (USAAS), which saw the destruction of USS Virginia (BB-13) as a target ship in September 1923. Virginia, commissioned in 1906, was long obsolete and slated for sale and scrapping under the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty. Instead of being sold for scrap, she was eliminated from the fleet during the aforementioned bombing trials. Here is footage of Virginia being bombed and ultimately sunk (see beginning at the 10min 58sec mark): YouTube - US National Archives: Aerial Bombing of Ships (1921-1923) - (National Archives Identifier: 24624 - Local Identifier: 111-H-1119)

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Virginia_(BB-13)

Thanks for all the information! We'll add information to the description.

Interesting, the officer on the left appears to be wearing spurs. Appears to be a British(?) Unifor, and riding crop or swagger stick in hand.

I like the commons and particularly the pictures that show vintage airplaines! Here we see a man (right) who resembles Sebastian Schweinsteiger - a world class football (not soccer, football, football was invented in England and soccer is the wrong word for it - in England they say "Football" and not soccer!!!) player of FC Bayern München! I wish so much that he scores often enough in the upcoming world championship (football!) so that Germany will be the world football champion.

I enjoy this !!

The person to the left in uniform is Billy Mitchell. See the image at this link--he is on the right: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Mitchell#mediaviewer/File:Col...

The three uniformed officers in the center of the photo are (L to R), Thomas G. Lanphier, Sr., Carl "Tooey" Spaatz, and Gen. William "Billy" Mitchell. See: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_George_Lanphier_Sr. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Spaatz en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Mitchell