Vedrines and his military aircraft. French aviator Jules Vedrines (1881-1919) with his military aircraft. Vedrines is at lower left, with a French soldier behind him. The roundel on the wings of the single-seater monoplane is that of the early French air force (the Armee de l'Air), and a machine gun is mounted in front of the cockpit. The aircraft is based on the Deperdussin racer, with which Vedrines had won the Gordon Bennett Trophy in 1912. Vedrines flew reconnaissance and clandestine missions during World War I. This photograph, dating from around the period 1913 to 1915, is from the Bain News Service, one of the USA's earliest news picture libraries.