B Smith

B Smith's eyes and cameras documented Wichita. His primary interest was the aviation industry and his photos offered bird's-eye views of a growing Wichita from a plane piloted by Walter Beech, founder of Beech Aircraft Corp. Flying with Beech during the "spit and wire" days of aviation was, at best, unnerving.

Smith was born in Wichita in 1896. By the time he was in high school, he had become an apprentice photographer for another early Wichita photographer, Homer T. Harden. During World War I, Smith served as a photographer in the Army Signal Corps. Following the war he returned to Wichita and began his own commercial photography business in the 100 block of East Douglas.

Besides Beech, Smith flew with other Wichita aviation legends -- including Lloyd Stearman, Clyde Cessna and Matty Laird. In fact, Cessna taught him to fly. Smith took photos of Charles Lindbergh landing his "Spirit of St. Louis" at the Wichita airport. "Walter motioned for me to get back in the plane. In my haste, I dropped most of the plates that I had exposed while flying over this city... There we were over the city and no parachute."