Just Thought I'd Share These

[Ryan Ruck]

This thread on ARFCOM inspired me to take some pictures of a couple uncommon items I have from my grandfather that I thought I'd share here too.

My grandfather, before he fought in the Army Air Corps in WW2, was a newsboy. These are from when he was 16 & 17 years old.



He had these Associated Press photos from the mid-'30s among his things and I suspect he picked them up on his job. A couple are pretty standard AP type photos but a couple are pretty unique! Included are the photos and the accompanying AP blurb on them. Sorry these aren't better but I've only got a cheap Kodak point-and-shoot and my photography skills suck.





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Now, here are the extra special ones...





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Note the lines on the photo from it being "radioed" from London to NY.

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It's hard to tell but that is Ms. Earhart second from the left in the group on the right.

[vector7]

Wow!!!

Those are some rare historic items.

Thanks for sharing.

[Backstop]

Very cool!

Thanks, Ryan.

[samizdat]

Bodacious! I'm curious on how the refueling was engineered. Maybe Rick can fill us in. How did the males hook up w/ the females to couple? The spout appears to emerge from a left flap, and notwithstanding precision flight- how did the hose get to the tank? (8-20-32) ap.
Just tossin a q in the air. Please dont tell me it was amazin feet. Flappin in de wind.

[Ryan Ruck]

sami,
This link details the history of aerial refueling.

If you look at that photo, you can see the person in the tanker and the person in the receiving aircraft. They either used a direct connection where the hose from the tanker is dangled by a person in the tanker to a person in the receiver or, they could possibly be using the Atcherley method mentioned in the link above. Looking closely you can see a cable running from the tanker to the receiver separate from the hose.

At this time in history, aerial refueling was still very new and experimental!

(By the way, I believe both aircraft are Curtiss Robin's.)

[American Patriot]

I'm afraid I can't see the pictures for some reason... so I assume air refueling? Otherwise, I raised my children Sami and "that talk" is done with. The only time I talk like that now is to get dirty in my wife's ear (and she giggles).

lol

[samizdat]

thanks. "Then he would manhandle it through the hole and line it up with the tank’s opening."
I guess the left plane's left flap is just an anchor or winch, and the tank is nearer to the cockpit. Sad day when the hose got caught in the propeller.

[Ryan Ruck]

I received the following information from ARFCOM member retgarr via IM and am posting it here with his permission:

I don't have much more interesting information to add but there is a little. Both of those photos were taken at Purdue's own airport. From what I've been told, she was there as faculty to research human factors in flight and to serve as a role model for women in education. I had most of my classes in college in the same building where she worked. Also, in the photo they refer to her plane as a "Flying Laboratory". Many sources will say that name is just a publicity thing but Purdue has always and continues to refer to it's aircraft has flying laboratories since time spent flying is considered lab time.

Adds a little more background to the picture.