Wednesday, June 29, 2011

(Not So) Wordless Wednesday - Post 159: Airplanes over Coronado

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I'm posting family photographs from my collection on Wednesdays, but they won't be Wordless Wednesday posts like others do - I simply am incapable of having a wordless post.

Here is a photograph from the Seaver/Carringer family collection handed down by my mother in the
1988-2002 time period: 
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This photograph is from the 1920 to 1930 time period, and shows two aircraft (bi-planes of the same model) flying over the city of Coronado (across San Diego Bay from the city of San Diego.   I can tell that it is Coronado because of the street layout and the presence of the Hotel del Coronado ( partially hidden by the lower aircraft).

My grandfather, Lyle Carringer, loved all sorts of technology - cars, aircraft, cameras, etc.  I think that he purchased this photograph at some point in time.

I wonder why there is a tow line between the two aircraft.  Was that to keep them flying in tandem? 

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5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I would suggest it is an early effort at air to air refueling?

Jean said...

It looks to be what is called a "real photo postcard." The copyright to H. A. Erickson means the photographer was (according to a catalog I found online) "H. A. 'Harry' Erickson who in 1911 was the first person to take a photo from an airplane." Yours not only shows two biplanes but was taken from a third. How cool!

MNFamilyHistorian said...

I think Anonymous is right; that was my first guess. There's a similar photo on the Wikipedia article on aerial refueling.

rawi-warin said...

This is a pretty cool photo. You are lucky to have something like this. It is rare that we see action shots of these old airplanes in pictures.

Margaret River said...

Sounds great. I always love reading all these stories and books about travels.