This is from a collection of 34 photographs that were in a book about World War 1, ‘Death in the Air: The War Dairy and Photographs of a Flying Corps Pilot’ published in 1933.

The photos were presented to the book publisher by Mrs. Gladys Cockburn-Lange, a purported widow of a RAF pilot killed in the war.

It was only in 1984 that the Smithsonian discovered that “Mrs Gladys Cockburn-Lange” was actually Betty Archer. The wife of Wesley David Archer, a man who was a prop maker for movies. The pictures were discovered to be fakes. Wesley made miniature fake planes and pilots, and superimposed them on photographed sky backdrops to create the illusion.

Source.

National Air And Space Museum.

Smithsonian.