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Photographs

Airplane vs. Battleship

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This photograph from the album of aviation pioneer Jesse Brabazon is described by him as the "first simulated bombing in history, using an aeroplane versus a warship." The print was presented to Brabazon by Lincoln Beachey. In the photograph it is Beachey who is dropping smoke bombs from his Curtiss pusher on to the Gorgonzola, a captured Spanish-American War battleship. In the background is the yacht Lyndonia. Brabazon recalled that the source of Beachey's unsuccessful attempt to draw attention to the strategic potential of airplanes was a game of catch at Cicero Field between a pilot in an airplane and a man on the ground. This event predated the sinking of the Ostfriesland by several years.

Date Created:
1913

Publication Information

Date Created 1913

Physical Description

Format Image
Dimensions 22 x 20 cm

Collection Information

Source Collection Subject albums, 1753?-1990? (bulk circa 1850s-circa 1950s)
Call Number Album 24.40

Copyright Information

Copyright Status NO COPYRIGHT - UNITED STATES
Rights Holder Wisconsin Historical Society
Unique ID
W013IJU
Legacy ID
WHi 10497

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