Harry Bishop was an early enthusiast of air flight, covering the aviation pioneers in the San Diego area from the 1910s into the 1930s.
Knox Martin’s “flying boat” (seaplane) coming in for a landing on San Diego Bay, January 12, 1915. Fare was $15 per person (more than $350 in today’s dollars) for a short flight around the bay.Knox’s plane tied up along the windjammer Annie Larsen, after crashing into the bay.Harry Bishop (3rd from left). Here’s the story about this.Harry on his perch.The T-2 monoplane after completing the first non-stop transcontinental flight.Harry (far right) and others stand next to the plane.The official photo of the refueling.Army Captain Lowell Smith (left) and Lieutenant John Richter set many endurance, speed, and distance records in the early days of military flight. August 23, 1923.Smith and Richter in a gag photo. The gun show is actually of their invention; it makes a particularly loud sound and is used to attract attention of those on the ground (this is before planes had radio communication with the ground).Richter and Smith before one of their endurance flights.Crowds inspect the airplanes to be used in the first round-the-world flight. March 11, 1924.Several of the pilots involved in the round-the-world flight. (left to right) Major Frederick Martin, Lieutenant Lowell Smith, Lieutenant L. D. Schultz, Lieutenant Leslie Arnold, Lieutenant John Richter.Ben Thrash dives into the waters of San Diego Bay from a biplane piloted by Frank Sheltz. June 19, 1923.Rabbit holes were a problem for planes taking off and landing at Rockwell Field (now NAS North Island, Coronado). Here, Lieutenant T. Giffis and Captain J. H. Houghton take shots at reducing the problem. February 21, 1925.A plane taking off from the deck of the Langley. January 23, 1925.January 10, 1925. A collection of aviation pioneers. Left to right: “Col. Frank P. Lahm, pioneer balloon aeronaut and aviator, now chief of air forces of the 9th Corps Area; Col. Harry Graham, command of Rockwell Field; Capt. Lowell Smith, world flight commander; Frank S. Lahm of France (Frank P. Lahm’s father), vice president of the Federation Aeronautique Internationale; Captain William Ocker, famous aviator who was the first enlisted man in the army to learn to fly”.Charles Lindbergh.Charles Lindbergh, Hawley Bowles, and Ann Lindbergh at Mt. Soledad, when Mrs. Lindbergh obtained her glider pilot’s license. January 29, 1930.
Harry Bishop and Knox Martin in the “flying boat”. May 1915.Early balloon rides in downtown San Diego.Harry catches a ride on the “tourist balloon” in order to task some aerial photos.Lieut. James “Jimmy” Doolittle arrives at Rockwell Field, September 5, 1922, after a one-stop flight from Jacksonville, Florida. Twenty years later, Doolittle, then a lieutenant colonel, would lead a raid of B-25 bombers on Japan, early in World War II. Harry Bishop’s story about the flight, and the pilots.Bishop’s shot from the ground of the first mid-air refueling, June 1923. Read about it here.Early airplane crash in San Diego Bay. De Havilland seaplane soon after it plunged into the bay while Secretary of the Navy Edwin Denby was aboard the nearby USS Henderson. June 8, 1922.Richter and Smith before a four-day endurance flight. June 27, 1923.Richter and Smith.Lowell Smith and Harry Bishop.The crowd at Rockwell Field (now North Island NAS).Col. Harry Graham (right) awards a distinguished service medal to Captain Lowell Smith (left) and Lieutenant Eric Nelson for their round-the-world flight. August 15, 1925.Floyd Parsons transfers from the speedboat “Miss San Diego” to a biplane piloted by Frank Sheltz. July 21, 1924.The Navy’s first aircraft carrier, the Langley, in San Diego harbor on January 23, 1925.A plane about to land on the deck of the Langley.Charles Lindbergh as he prepares to leave San Diego on the first leg of his flight to St. Louis, and then on to his historic solo flight across the Atlantic. May 10, 1927.The Spirit of St. Louis getting fueled up.Lindbergh taking off from Rockwell Field, May 10, 1927.Ann Lindbergh at the controls of the glider.
