Wow, the historian finally ID'd that old
Globe-Democrat glass-plate-negative photograph. THANKs for that LINK, and for answering that old question about the real origin of that photo
[shown in first message of this thread].
From just above, from "Trike Flyer" dated Jan'19th,
"... photo was made in September 1914...."
That link (message just above) took several minutes of poking, then I found that historic research, in the story
"Museum Curator and Aviation Historian Solves Photo ID Mystery, Published November 22, 2011,
"AVIATOR AND AEROPLANE ON OLD PHOTOGRAPH IDENTIFIED",
by Jack M. Abercrombie,
News
Story includes several other old photo's, and his description of how the mislabeled photo was finally ID'd:
"... Noted aviation historians have observed ... that the pictured aeroplane is not the 'Red Devil.' Some historians have suggested that the aeroplane configuration more nearly resembles one of the “Little Looper” airframes flown by Lincoln Beachey. But there the matter lay dormant for nearly three decades.
"... a break-through of sorts occurred. ... Museum received a donation of a large, 20 x 24 inch, photograph identical to that shown ...
"... The photograph is sufficiently large to show details not heretofore available–details which lead to identification of both the time period as well as the pilot and aeroplane.
"The first clue as to the date of the photograph was a sign on the side of the ship which identified the owners of “St. Louis”—the St. Louis & Tennessee River Packet Co. Since there have been at least a half dozen steamers named “St. Louis,” this total identification was important because this specific boat was not built until 1912—two years after the “Red Devil” flew under the bridge. (The steamer sank in 1918 after being wrecked by a snag ...
"... Lincoln Beachey had, indeed, visited St. Louis during the 1914 tour. On 20 September, he performed at the old Maxwelton Racetrack in St. Louis County, where in addition to performing several aerial stunts, he “raced” against an automobile driven by Barney Oldfield in one of 35 or so staged events ... [see the photos] ...
"... the aeroplane aerodynamic configuration is one of several that Beachey flew during his exhibition days. This particular one is that on display as the original aeroplane in the Hiller Aviation Museum in California. It is the same configuration that a week after his St. Louis visit, Beachey flew over the U.S. Capitol building and the Whitehouse on 28 September 1914 ...
"But there is more to the story—a comparison of the aeroplane in the “over-the-riverfront” image to the “Oldfield Leads” image in the next morning’s newspaper shows that the two aeroplane images are identical! There are several indications that the Globe-Democrat superimposed the aeroplane image from the over-the-riverfront photograph onto the racetrack photo for some unknown reason. ... As a result, the riverfront photographer got no credit for one of the greatest St. Louis aviation historic photographs of all time."