This did not end well...

I do not enjoy leading off with photos like this.  In fact, this whole post has been rather depressing to put together.  The photos do represent something that was important enough to Ivan to place in his scrapbook, though, so I'll include them.  It does represent a chance to play hangar pilot, or FAA crash scene investigator  if you're feeling really curious, or bored.  The twisty nature of the fuselage in this first wreck seems to suggest a ground loop, but that's just my very mildly educated guess.

This next photo is a Conway capture, and if you take the time to look carefully, there are some fun interactions in the various groups of onlookers.  Also, notice the tail number.  We saw this plane in one of the first photos of the Curtiss school, here.  It's sad to see these planes in such a state. (If you'd like to see one being restored, I recommend this site).  I did find it heartening to see the guys laughing in this photo.  It's hard to imagine this was too serious, when they're clowning around with each other.

Here's another water landing that was intended to be a water landing, anyway.  I'll go so far as to wager the gentleman planned a good landing, as well.  It's hard to tell what kind of plane it is, until you find that there are quite a few photos of this accident in the collection.

Still a bit difficult to tell...

This is enough to identify it as a Curtiss flying boat.  Notice the dual wheel yoke.

Now you can see the forward fuselage section, and the interplane aileron tucked into the fuselage.  Hope they reused that gauge right in the middle of the wreckage.

Plenty more destruction coming in the next post!  See you then.

-kpw