A photograph shows a biplane buzzing a Los Angeles beach in 1911.
A photograph shows a biplane buzzing a Los Angeles beach in 1911.
On 15 May 2017, the â€œHistory In Momentsâ€ Twitter account shared an image that purportedly shows a biplane flying over a crowded Los Angeles beach in 1911: Mays wrote on his Flickr page that theÂ two men were most likely photographed while sitting in a stationary airplane, then that negative was developed on top of a second photograph:Â < Fortunately, the two aeronautical gents pictured here in this souvenir real photo postcard are safely ensconced in a photographerâ€™s studio and arenâ€™t actually risking catastrophe by flying low over the heads of oblivious beachgoers. The â€œLos Angelesâ€ and â€œCaliforniaâ€ pennants hanging on the plane presumably identify the location. > Although we have not been able to pinpoint exactly when this image was created or identify the two men in the plane (Mays said the postcardÂ is dated 1911), we were able to track down the original picture of people on the beach, which was taken in Long Beach, California by C.C. Pierce. TheÂ Huntington Library, where the image is archived, did not provide a date for the photograph, but Pierce lived between 1861 and 1946, and established his own studio in 1900. For comparisonâ€™s sake, here is the souvenir postcard compared to Pierceâ€™s original image: It was very common in the past to physically manipulate photographs to make joke or hoax images (some of which made their way onto postcards), much as manipulated images are sometimes used online today.
"biplane" AND "Angeles" AND "beach" AND "1911"