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 Lisbon, Portugal, on May 27, completing the first crossing of the Atlantic Ocean by an airplane in 27 hours’ flight time.
This feat was accomplished a scant 19 days before two British flyers, John Alcock and Albert Brown, made the first non-stop transatlantic air flight, crossing from Newfoundland to Ireland in 16.5 hours on June 15, 1919