India, March 14 -- A 1931 photo of the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro. Buckham had been commissioned by Fortune Magazine to capture photos from across the Americas. He travelled 19,000 miles from New York to Brazil to do so, flying over active volcanos and capturing spectacular images of mountains and monuments.

"This was an incredible feat for a man in his 50s who had a serious throat injury following the ninth crash of his military career," says Louise Pearson, who is curator of an ongoing exhibition that showcases over 100 of Buckham's images.

Buckham began his career as a photographer in London in 1905, after some failed experiments with painting. He survived nine crash landings as a pilot during World War 1, and serve...