As we here at the Connecticut State Library delve deeper into our collections we continue to find some really cool stuff. While we would love to do long posts about lots of these items, we’d never get anything else done if we did. So we’ll be highlighting some of what we find each Friday in a feature call “Friday Finds”. These won’t be limited to the collections of Connecticut State Library either! So if you have something you’d like us to
feature let us know!
Now, on to this Friday’s Find!
Today’s Friday Find is actually a set. And it is something sure to make all the WWI aviation lover (looking at you League of WWI Aviation Historians) happy!
These images were all part of a donation by E.H. Crocker in 1921. They come from RG 012, Connecticut State Library Collection, Department of War Records, Historical Data Files, Box 130, #315.01. There are some inscriptions on the backs of the photos, but no dates or exact locations. The images seem to be a set, taken the same day. The captions on each of the images call the airplane an H.S. 2., which seems to refer to the Curtiss HS2 flying boat.
The caption on the back of this image informs us that on the left is Pilot Sanford and the right is Chief Pilot Musick. This would be Edwin Musick, an early aviator and commercial pilot who once graced the cover of Time magazine. The caption calls the airplane an HS2 , which was also known as a flying boat!
This one, presumably from the same day, shows Pilot Sanford standing on the left. Unfortunately, the caption on the back only identifies Pilot Sanford. If this is the same flight as the photo above, that would make the man on the right, Edwin Musick.
This one is an aerial image looking east at Saybrook Point in Old Saybrook, Connecticut. The Lynde Point (Saybrook Inner) Lighthouse can be seen near the top of the photo.
The caption on this image reads “Flying over Connecticut Valley near Middletown, Conn. by Seymour Smith. H.S.2; Via E.H. Crocker June 25, 1921”.
Saybrook Point is at the mouth of the Connecticut River and valley so these two aerial images are probably from the same flight. They are also both credited to Seymour Wemyss Smith, who was a writer for the Hartford Courant. He may be the man in the photo above, standing just to the left of Edwin Musick.
Okay WWI aviation history buffs – can you help us out? Are these Curtiss HS2 flying boats? Ever heard of Pilot Sanford? Any idea when these were taken?
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