Wings, Wind and Sail: A Confluence of the Ages

Today's post is a very special edition of the Jenny Project. When I first saw this photo, it spoke volumes, and I felt compelled to acquire it for the Archive. It is at the same time poignant and poetic, so instead of filling this space with my ramblings, I'll let the image speak for itself.

As the Age of Sail heads for the horizon, the Age of the Air takes wing.

The planes shown are both Curtiss Model N-9s, which were the float-plane variant of the JN-4 Jenny, and which first flew in late 1916. The paper on which this photo is printed was manufactured between 1904 and the first part of 1918, so the window of when this photo was taken is pretty narrow.

Of the 560 or so N-9s built by Curtiss and licensee Burgess Company, only one has survived, and is preserved at NASM.

Note the extreme aileron deflection!

While it's impossible to know what ship this is, windjammers were still used
into the 1920s. Combining modern steel hulls with three to five square-rigged
masts, these ships could still outperform steam on ultra-long-haul routes.

In Memory of Leo Nomis

Live hard, fly fast, die young. That was the fate a many of the early pilots of the Golden Age of aviation, when the industry attracted individuals that were drawn to the glamor that accompanied danger like moths to a flame. Ernest Simon was one of those. He was limber, had no fear and enjoyed taking risks...the one thing he didn't like was for newspapers, while reporting on his stunts, to nickname him "Simple" Simon. He reversed the spelling of the last name, and added Leo as his first, becoming Leo Ernest Nomis.

After making a name for himself as a daredevil on the county fair circuit parachuting from tethered balloons and the like, he served for a short time as an instructor teaching Army pilots to fly at the beginning of WWI, and then moved to Hollywood in 1914 in order to get into film stunts.Of course, the most glamorous stunts - and some of the best paying - were those performed with aircraft. He was a natural pilot, and flew in numerous films, including Birth of a Nation (1915), Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages (1916), Manslaughter (1922), Hell's Angels (1930), The Dawn Patrol (1930), and The Lost Squadron (1932).

I initially bought these three photos for the Jenny Project, before realizing who they depicted or where they were taken. Having recently read Barbara Schultz's Flying Carpet, Flying Wings (a bio of Northrop test pilot Moye Stephens, which I'll be writing about in a couple of weeks), I recognized Nomis from photos included in the book. The other thing that caught my eye were the faint oil derricks that can be seen in the background of the three photos, indicating that this is probably De Mille Airfield (later known as Rogers Airfield; compare with the photos on this Hollywood history website and this architecture blog) in Los Angeles. With the various WWI planes line up in the background of the second image, I'm suspecting that these three 8x10 photos are movie stills.

Always looking for a thrill, Nomis also tried air racing, tying for second place with Paul Richter at the 1927 Santa Ana Air Jubilee Carnival. He also taught others to fly. Among his students were Pancho Barnes and Moye Stephens. When  Pancho Barnes sought to form a stunt pilots' union, Associated Motion Picture Pilots, in order to promote better pay and safety, Nomis (along with Barnes, Dick Grace, Frank Clarke and Al Wilson) became a charter member, and was elected to its presidency.

However, only a month after assuming the position, Nomis was killed in a crash 81 years ago today while filming Sky Bride. The United Press article, published on February 5, 1932 (and revived by the Hollywood Heyday blog), stated, "Hollywood, Cal – Feb 5 (UP) Leo Nomis, one of Hollywood’s most prominent stunt fliers, was killed today during the filming of scenes in a picture called Sky Brides [sic]. The fatal crash took place while the movie company was working at the Metropolitan airport.Nomis and two other movie pilots were engaging in a 'dog fight' on a battle sequence at about 1500 feet. Nomis’ plane was supposed to 'shudder' [other sources indicate he was performing a spin] as part of the picture. It never came out of the shudder but plunged straight to the earth.The other members of the 'dog fight' told studio officials that they believed Nomis fainted at the stick."

Leo Nomis is interred at Glendale's Forest Lawn Memorial Park.

The Davis-Monthan Register web site includes a page on Nomis.

The Jenny Project

Sometimes, the photographs that I come across are in really poor shape, but no matter how bad they are, there's something inside me that wants to try and save them. Add to their physical condition the problem that many of these photos have absolutely no context information accompanying them, or discernable within them.

Because the Airco DH-4, Standard J-1 and Curtiss JN-4 Jenny were such popular trainers during and after WWI (keep in mind, there were almost 7,000 Jennys built!), there are a lot of photos of these aircraft still existing that fall into this category. The quantity of photos taken of trainees with their planes, plus the poor quality and lack of information, means that unless there's something special, many of these nearly century old photographs are shunned by collectors and assigned little value.

This first photo, of a group of guys working on an Airco DH-4, is a good case in point. By the subject and by the paper, this print was probably made sometime before 1920, making it nearly a hundred years old. When I found it, it was extremely faded, and you could barely see any detail in it. By scanning and essentially over-processing it, a surprising amount of detail can be brought out, but at the sacrifice of the sky (which in the original print doesn't look nearly as "dirty" as it does here).

I have no clue as to where this was shot, or the circumstances surrounding the scene, but it appears that the small group of men are standing around two who are knelt down, possibly over an open tool box.

The second set of photos, all three of which came from the same collection and appear to be of the same plane on the same day, show several Army trainees and a civilian standing with a JN-4 Jenny. Two of the photos are in fairly decent condition, but the third has become so dark with age that it is difficult to make out much with the naked eye. Again, with over-processing of contrast along with tone mapping can bring out a lot, though at a price.

Without any kind of historical context to give them meaning, are prints like this even worth saving? I'd like to think so, so I'm starting "The Jenny Project", which will actively seek out photos of this sort. If anyone has such prints that they don't want, and can't find anyone else who will value them, send them my way!

The top view shows the photo as it looks to the eye, the bottom 

shows some of the additional detail discernable with overprocessing.

Thirsty Jennys

Note: Starting today, we will be occasionally be making mid-week updates featuring images from "guest" archive collections. Today's post is the first of several generously provided by Mojave Transportation Museum Director Cathy Hansen.

Two U.S. Army Jennys getting fueled. Clearly, both aircraft and fuel trucks
have come a long way in the intervening years!

Modern civil aviation is what it is in part thanks to the Curtiss JN-4, which was affectionately know as the Jenny. Glen Curtiss hired Sopwith designer Benjamin Thomas to develop the aircraft, taking the best features of their previous J model and N model trainers. First flown in 1915, the JN-4's docile handling qualities made it an ideal platform for beginner pilot training. Over 6,800 of the type were eventually built, with 95% of all American WWI pilots getting their initial training in the type.

With the end of the war, the Army sold off much of their surplus stock of Jennys to the civilian market, many still unassembled in their original crates. With so many cheap planes on the market, aviation thrived, and the era of the barnstormer was born. Numerous people fell in love with flying after their first airplane ride in a Jenny, and subsequently took flying lessons. Even Charles Lindbergh first soloed in a Jenny, and his plane is one of about 50 that have survived into the 21st Century (Lindbergh's Jenny is housed at the Cradle of Aviation Museum).