Navy

/Tag:Navy
2 08, 2014

Commander Theodore G. Ellyson

Inducted in 1984

First United States Naval Aviator, 1911

1885 – 1928

Theodore “Spuds” Ellyson began training in 1910 at the Glen Curtiss flight training school in San Diego and was Curtiss’ first seaplane pupil. As the United States Navy’s first pilot, Lieutenant Ellyson accompanied Curtiss on test flights of the first practical seaplane on January 26, 1911.

Flying a Curtiss seaplane, Ellyson and Navy Lieutenant J. H. Towers made the longest over-water flight yet attempted in October 1911. They flew from Annapolis, Maryland, to within two miles of Fort Monroe, Virginia, traveling over the Chesapeake Bay nearly the entire flight.

Ellyson was at the controls for the first successful catapult launch of the Curtis A-1 “Flying Boat” from an anchored barge at the Washington Navy Yard in November 1912. This was an important early step toward flying airplanes from ships and led to the development of aircraft carriers.

Commander Ellyson was a leader in naval […]

2 08, 2014

First Transatlantic Flight 1919

Inducted in 1979

Lieutenant Commander Albert Read, US Navy

Lieutenant James Breese, US Navy

Ensign Herbert Rodd, US Navy

Lieutenant Elmer Stone, US Coast Guard

Lieutenant Walter Hinton, US Navy

Chief Mechanic’s Mate Eugene Rhoads, US Navy

Commander Albert Read and crew, in their fuel laden Curtiss NC-4 “flying boat,” lifted off the waters of the Newfoundland coast on May 16, 1919. The NC-4 was one of three four-engine Navy planes attempting the first flight across the Atlantic Ocean.

On the first day each plane fared well. They maintained constant radio contact with Navy ships positioned at 50-mile intervals along the route. Conditions changed on the second day. Dense fog and heavy rains forced the NC-1 and NC-3 to land at sea. All of the crewmen were rescued, but the two airplanes were damaged beyond repair.

The NC-4 continued through the fog and bad weather to the Azores Island and waited for the weather to clear. The NC-4 reached […]

1 08, 2014

Major Alford Williams, Jr.

Inducted in 1976

United States Navy’s First Chief Test Pilot; The Father Of Dive Bombing

1891 – 1958

Alford Williams enlisted in the United States Navy at the beginning of World War I and qualified as an aviator and a flight instructor. After being appointed the Navy’s chief test pilot and the head of high-speed research, Lieutenant Williams represented the Navy in the high-speed Pulitzer Trophy air races. In 1923 he achieved a world speed record of 243.7 mph in a Curtiss R2C-1 Racer at the St. Louis Airport and was dubbed the “American speed king.” In October of the same year, he broke the world’s straightaway speed record by flying 266.7 mph at Mitchell Field, New York, in the same airplane.

For 13 years Williams specialized in developing fighter tactics and maneuvers. He conceived and developed the technique of vertical dive-bombing, which became a revolutionary air tactic in World War II.

Williams resigned from […]