Aircraft Over Clinton

When I first saw this photograph hanging in the restaurant of the Clinton Inn, I thought it was a striking reminder of a time when both airborne vehicles and horse-drawn carriages coexisted. The horse-drawn carriages are there, though difficult to see in this image. It also raised a question: why were there planes flying above Clinton? The aircraft depicted looked very early, not much different from the Wright brothers' original flyer. So why would such a brand-new, novel technology be in a small town like Clinton? Henry Ford had an interest in both Clinton and aviation—was that the link? But where was the airstrip? What event caused two aircraft to be flying at the same time?

I returned to Clinton, notebook in hand, to search the archives for answers to this little-known but intriguing story. When I asked one of the owners of the Clinton Inn, his response was both exciting and disappointing: "It's a fake." He explained that he had read an article in a local magazine pointing out that if the children were out of focus, why was the plane in focus? I checked the photograph and, indeed, the (presumably) faster-moving plane was in fairly sharp focus, while the children were not. I was fairly convinced I had hit a dead end, but a small doubt lingered because I could not access the source myself. I asked for the article at the local library, but they did not have it. I wondered how much effort I should put into erasing that small scrap of doubt.

Soon after, I read a pamphlet commemorating the 50th anniversary of Belleville's founding (written in 1955, republished in 2005, and available for purchase at the Belleville Area Museum). In it, I found a photo of Belleville with one of the planes from the previous photgraph flying over it. I asked the museum director about it, and her response was familiar: "It's a fake."

With the museum director's input, I felt comfortable laying the matter to rest. Now I have to wonder, how many villages have done something similar and why? Today, we might assume it was an attempt to deceive, but that would be anachronistic.

I thought the matter would end there. But when I showed the picture from Clinton to a photographer and asked why the children were out of focus while the plane was in focus, I expected to hear "It's a fake" for the third time. Instead, he explained how the plane might have just been where the camera's focus was.

Finally, I decided to do my due diligence and see how fake the plane was. Could the cameras of the time take a clear photograph of a plane in flight? The answer is yes: https://waterandpower.org/museum/Aviation_in_Early_LA.html

For more on the pre-digital manipulation of photographs click here

Photograph of Clinton reproduced with the permission of the owners of The Clinton Inn: http://www.theclintoninn.com/restaurant.html

Photograph of Bellville courtesy of the Belleville Area Museum.

For more about the Clinton Inn, visit their website: http://www.theclintoninn.com/restaurant.html