The photograph shows Lincoln Beachey in the seat of his biplane. The plane is on the ground in the middle of a field. A low building can be seen in the distance. Two men are attending to the airplane. One is looking at the engine behind the pilot seat and another is handling the propeller in the rear of the airplane. Beachey's airplane is a biplane with three wheels and a single seat. Handwritten in pencil on the back of the photo, "Lincoln Beachey". A newspaper clipping is glued to the back of the photo. It is stamped "Feb. 14 1960" and it reads, "The air held plenty of perils but no fear for Lincoln Beachey. With a twist of his cap, he climbed into his precarious seat and took of into the oh, so wild blue yonder." The following information is from Carroll F. Gray 5856 Nagle Avenue Van Nuys, Ca 91401-4025 818-994-6141 "Lincoln Beachey (3 March 1887-14 March 1915) Lincoln was a San Fransisco native, born to a poor family. He and his brother, Hillery, took an active interest in aviation about 1900, and worked with pioneer parachutist, aeronaut and aviator Thomas S. Baldwin, builder of one person airships. Idora park (an amusement park owned by Oakland's "Realty Syndicate" and located in the area around 65th Avenue in Oakland) was the site of many early flights by airships, notably by Baldwin in his California Arrow and the Heatons, in their California Messenger. Lincoln first took to the air in 1905, at Idora Park. He flew one-person airships around the U.S. in Canada and in Mexico until 1910, when he began to fly "aeroplanes." He flew at the old Emeryville Race Track on a number of occasions, most notably racing the legendary race car driver Barney Oldfield during the 1913-14 season. Beachey invented many of the aerobatic maneuversused today, and was one of the first, if not the first, aviator to intentionally upset his machine, to be able to test methods of recovery. Between November of 1913 and November of 1914, Beachey flew at 126 locations, before a total of some 15-17 million people. He died on 14 March 1915, while exhibiting (Beachey prefferred the term exhibition to performance, hence "exhibiting an aeroplane, never giving a "performance in one) a new monoplane at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Fransisco" The following information is taken from "Ceiling Unlimited" by LLoyd Morris and Kendall Smith published in 1953. "Another flight-astounding and having significant implications-claimed widespread attention in 1911. It was made by Lincoln Beachey, whose death-defying aerial exploits had already made him notorious as the "flying fool". In a curtiss biplane he flew through the mists over Niagra Falls, dived within thirty feet of the raging waters below, passed under the suspension bridge and on down the winding gorge. A more spectacular demonstration of the airplane's manueverability had never been made." "In 1913, Lincoln Beachey announced that he was quitting aviation. In a bitter, scathing statement, he accused the crowds that paid to see him fly of a morbid lust to watch him crash to his death. But perhaps anger at blood lust was not his only motive for retiring. He went on to list the names of twenty-two fliers who had died as a result of trying to emulate his exploits. Two years later, Beachey was flying once more, to entertain crowds at the San Fransisco Exposition. At 2,000 feet the wings of his monoplane collapsed. He crashed to his death.