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1930s Airplane Crash Wreckage Hillside & Cockpit Crowd Glass Negatives (2) OOAK
Pair of original, one-of-a-kind (OOAK) camera-original antique 4x5 gelatin silver glass plate negatives captured in the 1930s: an exceptional sequential aviation disaster investigation sequence: a high-wing cabin monoplane crash-landed on a brushy New England hillside, documented in a dramatic wide crowd survey and a forensic close-up of the crushed cockpit.
Accompanied by its original vintage tan kraft darkroom morgue filing sleeve:
Historical & Visual Content:
During the golden age of 1930s aviation, the development and testing of early civil transport and private cabin monoplanes involved inherent structural and navigational risks. Off-field forced landings and structural failures in rough rural pastures drew immediate crowds of local townspeople, civil aeronautics inspectors, and press photographers documenting airframe wreckage for crash boards and front-page news.
Captured on the hillside with sharp documentary precision by Boston Herald-Traveler staff photojournalist Leslie Jones:
Plate 1 — Wide Scene & Spectator Gathering: An expansive hillside establishing view showing the monoplane resting in the pasture turf. The fuselage has buckled severely behind the wing root, elevating the vertical tail fin and tail skid into the sky. Over a dozen local residents, constables, and townspeople in Great Depression-era attire—men in flat caps and mackinaw jackets, and women in long winter wool coats and cloche hats—stand along the slope inspecting the wreckage.
Plate 2 — Crushed Cockpit & Airframe Close-Up: A tight, forensic macro-study of the impact zone. The high-wing cabin is sheared open, revealing fractured wooden ribs, bent tubular steel frame members, flight control linkages, and instrument panel dials, flanked by a streamlined disc-hub main landing wheel wedged into the ground.
Specifications:
Format: Pair of two (2) heavy antique silver gelatin 4x5 glass plate negatives, exposed directly in a press camera, circa 1930s.
Archive Ephemera Included: Accompanied by the original vintage tan kraft newspaper darkroom morgue filing envelope.
Please Note: This listing is for the two (2) original antique glass plate negatives and their period paper archive sleeve only. Any positive photographic images shown in this listing are modern inverted digital scans provided solely as a visual representation to show what finished photographs print like. No physical paper photographs, modern prints, or paper products of any kind are included with this purchase.
Condition:
Very Good to Excellent antique condition. Both heavy glass plates are structurally sound with no cracks, fractures, or perimeter glass breaks. The silver gelatin emulsions are remarkably clean, crisp, and stable throughout, capturing outstanding detail in the fractured aircraft components, clothing textures, and rural hillside terrain. Displays only minor authentic edge silvering and faint handling wear strictly along the extreme outer borders outside the primary image area. Accompanied by the original period kraft morgue filing sleeve.
The glass plate negative measures 4 x 5In.
If you collect glass negatives, please check out our collection in our store. We are currently listing thousands of original glass photo negatives from this DJD collection through the remainder of the year. Follow our store, and feel free to reach out about any questions about the negatives in this collection.
Ships with extreme care in archival materials to ensure safe transit. Feel free to reach out with any requests or questions).
Combined shipping is available (with other glass negatives)
