High-Angle Air-to-Air View of Hall X-1 Over San Diego Harbor (1928)

A high-angle air-to-air perspective looking down at the Hall X-1 prototype banking over a vast urban street grid and harbor. — High-Angle Air-to-Air View of Hall X-1 Over San Diego Harbor (1928) · Donald A. Hall Estate Collection

Captured from an escort aircraft flying above, this dramatic photograph shows the Hall X-1 prototype banking through clear skies over the coastal plain of San Diego. The high-contrast negative records the rectangular planform of the forward wing, the broad aft stabilator, and the pilot in the open cockpit, set against the sprawling geometric grid of city avenues and harbor shipping channels below.