Original U.S. WWI Era US Army Air Service Aero Squadron Helmet, Goggles and Photo Grouping With Album Made from Aircraft Skin and Frames made from Curtiss JN Jenny Wing Spars - Carlstrom Field
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Original Items: Only One Grouping Available. Now this is a fantastic, early Air Force grouping attributed to a member of an Aero Squadron in the US Army Air Service. We believe the items to have all once belonged to the same person due to his likeness being in multiple pictures on the different items. The items consists of 1 soft “summer” flight helmet, 1 leather flight helmet, a pair of teardrop goggles (broken strap) and various photos and different albums/displays.
The photo album is one of the most interesting items in this grouping. It is labeled as being from Carlstrom Field 1919 and is constructed out of aircraft skin, so do handle with caution while looking at the different pages. Carlstrom Field is a former military airfield, located 6.4 miles (10.3 km) southeast of Arcadia, Florida. The airfield was one of thirty-two Air Service training camps established in 1917 after the United States entry into World War I. There are a lot of photos of him on liberty in the Arcadia area, whether he was from there or just stationed in the area we are unsure. There are multiple pages with names and locations written on the pictures, so identification is a high possibility.
The other interesting items are the display frames made from the wing spars from a Curtiss JN Jenny. One is a partial spar, but the other is a full 65 inch long example. In a fixed-wing aircraft, the spar is often the main structural member of the wing, running spanwise at right angles (or thereabouts depending on wing sweep) to the fuselage. The spar carries flight loads and the weight of the wings while on the ground. Other structural and forming members such as ribs may be attached to the spar or spars, with stressed skin construction also sharing the loads where it is used. The Curtiss JN "Jenny" was a series of biplanes built by the Curtiss Aeroplane Company of Hammondsport, New York, later the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company. Although the Curtiss JN series was originally produced as a training aircraft for the US Army, the "Jenny" (the common nickname derived from "JN") continued after World War I as a civil aircraft, as it became the "backbone of American postwar [civil] aviation".
Thousands of surplus Jennys were sold at bargain prices to private owners in the years after the war and became central to the barnstorming era that helped awaken the US to civil aviation through much of the 1920s.
The images are the same quality and type that can be found in the album. The photos all across the board vary from military life and civilian life. The military photos are interesting as we cannot determine exactly what his job was. There are many pictures of crews in front of aircraft, aircraft being worked on, in flight and being dismantled so whether he was a pilot, mechanic or other we do not know, making this grouping a wonderful research opportunity.
All items are in wonderful condition and are perfect for the early air forces collector! Comes more than ready for further research and display.
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