Hampton Roads Naval Museum

45. Birth of Naval Aviation

Norfolk, VA

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In 1909, military aviation began with the purchase of the Wright Military Flyer by the U.S. Army. The Navy sprouted wings two years later in 1911 with a number of significant firsts. The first U.S Navy officers were trained to fly, the Navy purchased its first airplanes from Glenn Curtiss and the Wrights, and sites for naval aircraft operations were established at Annapolis, MD, and at North Island, San Diego, CA. But the most dramatic demonstration that the skies and the seas were now joined occurred on January 18, 1911, when Eugene Burton Ely made the first successful landing and take-off from a naval vessel. After receiving an engineering degree in 1904 from Iowa State University, Ely began a career in the fledging automobile industry as a salesman, mechanic, and racing driver. He taught himself to fly in 1910 and never looked back. He had natural skills as an aviator and quickly became a well-known pilot with the Curtiss Exhibition Team that toured all around the county. In the fall of 1910, the Navy identified Captain Washington Chambers "to observe everything that will be of use in the study of aviation and its influence upon the problems of naval warfare." Chambers quickly realized the most important first step to prove that the airplane could operate at sea was to show that landings and take-offs from ships were possible. Chambers attended one of the first major flying meetings, being held at Belmont Park, NY, in October 1910. He met Glenn Curtiss and Eugene Ely at the competition and made a proposition. If he would supply the ship, would they make the attempt to land on board? Ely was excited at the prospect and agreed. On November 14, 1910, the light cruiser USS Birmingham was readied at Norfolk, VA, with a wooden platform erected on the bow. Ely's Curtiss Pusher aircraft (similar to the Curtiss D-III Headless Pusher on display at the National Mall Building), equipped with floats under the wings, was hoisted aboard and the ship moved offshore. Ely barely succeeded in making the first take-off from a ship. The Curtiss rolled off the edge of the platform, settled, and briefly skipped off the water, damaging the propeller. Ely managed to stay airborne and landed 2.5 miles away on the nearest land, called Willoughby Spit.