Incongruities

“Fox chained to automobile,” 1940. By John Vachon. Note the water dish.

“Members of the Ku-Klux-Klan about to take off with the literature which was scattered over the suburbs of the city.” 1922.

Comments

[mlrosty]

Note the water dish.

It's not a water dish. The fox is busking.

Members of the Ku-Klux-Klan about to take off...

So it's not the X-Men then?

[TimT]

Klan man on the right looks a bit on the tubby side. Bit of slim and trim would be good for him, I reckon.

[David]

I’m pretty sure chunkiness was the least of his problems.

[pissoir dubuque]

busking. very good. i liked that.

[Spiny Norman]

A Curtiss Jenny wearing a swastika. Never thought I'd see that...

[Rich Rostrom]

Spiny Norman: A Curtiss Jenny wearing a swastika. Never thought I'd see that...

What swastika? There's no marking of any kind visible on the airplane. The Klansmen have the Klan insignia on their breasts: a white saltire cross on red surmounted with a white square bearing a red drop. No swastikas.

In any case, in 1922 the Nazis were an obscure German political gang, and nobody outside Germany associated the swastika with them. It was still thought of as a Hindu symbol. I have a volume of the complete verse of Kipling from 1920 or so, which has a swastika embossed on the cover (to represent Kipling's Indian roots).

[Wm T Sherman]

The swastika is on the aircraft's tail. It is a mirror image of the Nazi version, i.e. appears to be the ancient, non-20th-century-fascist version (assuming that the photograph itself is not reversed). It's possible that the aircraft is being chartered and that the symbol has nothing to do with the Klansmen.

[Wm T Sherman]

And from the comments at Shorpy, complete with photograph to illustrate the point:

"The symbol was popular as a good luck charm with early aviators. A swastika was also painted on the inside of the nosecone of the Spirit of St. Louis."