Reactive Shell Company Photo Album

Scope and Contents

This collection consists of part of a 9.25 by 5.5 inch photo album containing black and white photography (including several stereo photographs) of the rocket bomb shell experiments by Reactive Shell Company in 1918. The title on the photo album is as follows: "Photographs taken of the Rocket Bomb Shell Experiments, said work was in progress from May 1918 to February 1919; These experiments were carried out through the International Commercial Co., 1 Madison Ave,. New York City on behalf of the Syndicate which worked at Spencerport NY under the name Reactive Shell Co." The photos show the following: the Reactive Shell Company Plant, a series of images from company's rocket trials at the United States War College in July of 1918; and the various individuals involved in the experiments -- Captain Dibovsky, R. W. Tully, Lieutenant Colonel Prokopief Seversky; E. M. de Shebinin, Lieutenant Commander Timofieff, Lieutenant Commander V. V. Utgoff, E. Finkbaine, and Colonel A. I. Sidorkin.

Biographical / Historical

In 1917, a group of Russian Naval officers and one Russian Artillery officer were ordered by the Russian Imperial Navy to undertake a study of flying boats which were being built for the Russians at the Curtiss Buffalo, New York, plant. After the outbreak of the Russian Revolution, these men were stranded in the United States and were then associated with the Reactive Shell Company and its rocket bomb shell experiments. According to one source, the Curtiss Company was involved in setting the Russians up in this venture.