Happy Birthday John Bevins Moisant! (April 25, 1868 – December 31, 1910)
Known as the "King of Aviators," he was an American aviator, aeronautical engineer, flight instructor, businessman, and revolutionary. As a pilot, he was the first to conduct passenger flights over a city, across the English Channel, from Paris to London, in the state of Mississippi, and the co-founder of a prominent flying circus, the Moisant International Aviators.
Moisant died on December 31, 1910, in Kenner, Louisiana in an air crash while making a preparatory flight in his attempt to win the 1910 Michelin Cup and its $4,000 prize. (Wikipedia)
Monoplane viewed from directly below. Typed on photograph back: "How a Moisant monoplane driven by Rene Barrier looks when exactly overhead."
Courtesy of the Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library