This week the U.S. Navy celebrates the birthday of its naval aviation program that began with the purchase of the Curtiss A-1 Triad, the first naval aviation airplane.
First Takeoff and Landing
Leading up to the purchase, the Navy appointed its first aviation officer and civilian pilot, Eugene Ely, in 1910. Ely was the first to take off from a Navy vessel, the USS Birmingham, anchored off the coast of Virginia. A temporary platform had been erected over the bow of the Birmingham as part of the experiment. Just two months later, Ely landed aboard the USS Pennsylvania for the first successful shipboard landing of an aircraft. The landing was also the first ever use of the tailhook system.
At the end of 1910, aviation pioneer Glenn Curtiss, who developed and manufactured the A-1, established an encampment to provide free flight training to the Navy at North Island, San Diego. It was at North Island that the Navy’s first aviators learned to fly using the A-1 Triad. The original sight of the Curtiss encampment is now part of the Naval Air Station North Island and is referred to as the “Birthplace of Naval Aviation”. At the “birthplace”, Navy Lieutenant Theodore Ellyson, nicknamed “Spuds”, became the first naval aviator with his maiden flight in January 1911.
The A-1 Triad and Beyond
The A-1 was one of the earliest hydroaeroplanes (floatplanes) and was built with retractable landing gear. It operated from land, sea and air. The A-1 was also the platform for early naval experiments, making the first night water landing without landing lights, testing airborne wireless communication, and making a cross-country flight covering a distance of 112 miles in 122 minutes.
From this modest beginning, the Navy’s aircraft inventory has grown to more than 30 types of fixed wing, 13 rotary wing and a number remotely piloted aircraft today.
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