We count our victories by the bombers we get to their targets, by the husbands we return to their wives, by the fathers we get back to their children.

Terrence Howard and Cuba Gooding, both are oscar winners, and this looks like the best aerial combat movie since Pearl Harbor, or Flyboys

1920 Dayton-Wright RB-1

Dayton-Wright RB-1 was built in 1920, a racing aircraft developed in the United States to participate in the 1920 Gordon Bennett Cup air race. The aircraft was a high-wing monoplane with retractable landing gear undercarriage operated by a hand-crank making it one of the first instances of undercarriage retraction for aerodynamic benefit alone, clearly ahead of his time. With a monocoque fuselage and cantilever wing (built of solid balsa wood covered in plywood and linen) that incorporated a mechanism to vary its camber in flight. Unfortunately he was unable to fully participate in the race, getting off the highway due to technical problems. After that the aircraft was taken to the Henry Ford Museum.
from http://dieselpunk.livejournal.com/
The pilot had no forward visibility, but was provided with side windows. Cockpit access was through a hatch in the top of the fuselage.

Dismantled and shipped to France, the RB-1 was flown by Howard Rinehart in the September 28 race, but was forced to withdraw from the competition due to mechanical failure in flight. It was returned to the United States, where it is preserved at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dayton-Wright_Racer

Just a gust of wind

This misfortunate pilot landed his vintage tri-plane on its nose. The man had been flying the famous Fokker Dreidecker aircraft at the Flying Legends airshow at the Imperial War Museum in Duxford, Cambsridgeshire. But when he landed the WW1 fighter aircraft a sudden gust of wind blew it on its nose. No one was hurt in the incident. (Philip Tyler / Rex) http://news.yahoo.com/photos/snapshots-week-of-june-3-1307133161-slideshow/#crsl=

Ruth Law, first of many record setting barnstormer pilots, bought her first airplane from the Wright Brothers

photo from http://steampunkvehicles.tumblr.com/  info from http://earlyaviators.com/eoliver.htm and http://www.ctie.monash.edu.au/hargrave/law.html

Ruth Law Oliver, the first woman to loop the loop in an airplane, the first to make a night flight and the one- time holder of the Chicago to New York aerial speed record bought her first airplane in 1912 from Orville Wright when she was 21 years old.  "I purchased a Wright biplane because it seemed to me they had the greatest success"

in 1912 she went to work as a commercial pilot, flying passengers to and from the Sea Breeze Hotel, in Florida.

From that time she proceeded to pile up new records in flying and was the outstanding woman barnstormer of her era. She was so successful that, in 1917, she earned as much as $9,000 a week for exhibition flights.

In 1917, Miss Law was the first woman authorized to wear a military uniform at America's entry into World War I. She applied to the United States Army to fly combat missions, when she was turned down she wrote an article for Air Travel ("Let Women Fly!") that inspired many future women aviators. She was told that she could do a lot of good just by teaching others to fly. (Sexism is such bs)

She was sent to Europe - directly to the battle fronts in order to gain first hand knowledge of the actual fighting. She returned fired with enthusiasm, and enlisted in the U.S. Aviation Corps, as a recruiting officer. Her efforts were responsible for recruiting many of our fighter pilots.

While doing this important war work, Miss Law found time to break a few records on her own. In 1916 she set the world's altitude record of 11,200' at sheepshead Bay, N.Y. In the same year she flew 511 miles non-stop, from Chicago to Hornell, N.Y.. then on to New York City in 8 hr. 55 min. 25 sec. using a Curtis bi-plane.

She carried the first official air mail to the Philippine Islands in 1919

After the war, there came the Ruth Law Flying Circus, a three plane troupe that left crowds at state and county fairs astonished. She flew her old Curtiss plane, with Wright controls, and the two male pilots flew Jennys in close formation with her 25 feet above racing cars on county tracks.

Wilbert Robinson, manager of the Dodgers went down in baseball lore for his attempt to catch a ball dropped from an airplane. In 1908, Gabby Street had caught a ball dropped from the Washington Monument. Robbie scoffed that this was all that difficult a feat and so Ruth Law, a famous aviatrix, was enlisted to fly a plane higher than the Washington Monument and drop a ball for Robbie to catch.

 When Robinson, now 53 years old, caught the object he saw falling from the plane, he was splattered with warm juice from a grapefruit. The impact knocked him to the ground whereupon he exclaimed: "Help me, lads, I'm covered with my own blood."

Law explained that she had forgotten the baseball back in her hotel room and when she discovered the situation it was too late to retrieve the ball. So she took a grapefruit from the lunch of one of the ground crew and dropped it instead

Sopwith Pup was on display at the La Jolla Motor Car Classic

If you are ever in San Diego, I recommend highly the Air and Space museum here... it has a lot of WW1 and WW2 aircraft, including the Ryan X-13 vertical take off jet

Also, stop over at the 94th Aero Squadron (restaurant) for a WW1 feel of a french restaurant with (what appear to be) WW1 airplanes (look close enough for a restaurant, but aren't authentic)