This is a Photograph of aviator Eugene Ely flying in his Curtis Bi-plane, The photo is accredited to C. H. Chase.  The size of the photo is 6 1/2 x 4 1/2.

Eugene Ely (1886-1911), was the first aviator to take off from a ship, the U.S.S. Birmingham, at Hampton Roads, Virginia on November 14, 1910.  Soon after, he becomes the first aviator to land a plane on a ship, January 18, 1911, landing on the U.S.S. Pennsylvania in San Francisco Bay.   On October 19, 1911, while flying at an exhibition in Macon, Georgia, Ely was killed when his plane pulled late out of a dive and crashed. 

The photograph shows just a couple very minor imperfections.  See photograph provided.

This photograph is from the personal collection of Adams Claflin, who besides being an early aviation enthusiast, served as the General Manager of both the 1910 and 1911 Harvard-Boston Aero Meets.