112 years ago today, a first in Naval Aviation

Eugene Burton Eli lands an airplane on a ship.

https://www.thisdayinaviation.com/18-january-1911/

This is the plane landing, the prop is in back. Arresting hook to catch on ropes between pairs of sandbags “precisely weighed so that the Curtis would not slew to one side” 🙂

[Linked Image from i.postimg.cc]

And now we have thousands of belly button pilots!

Seriously, every step in aviation has had a first step, and this was one was quite remarkable. 8 years after Wilbur and Orville leaped into the sky. 36 years later we went supersonic....

Nother shot from the previous November (1910), taking off from a ship.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_Burton_Ely

[Linked Image from i.postimg.cc]

Sadly, Mr Ely crashed on 10/19/2011 when he failed to pull out of a dive in time, jumped free of the wreck, died shortly thereafter

I often think about the fact that my grandfather, when he was alive, had seen man go from the first flight at Kitty Hawk to men walking on the moon. If you think about that, it is almost incomrehensible for that much technology advancement in that little time.

Originally Posted by Birdwatcher

Nother shot from the previous November (1910), taking off from a ship.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_Burton_Ely

[Linked Image from i.postimg.cc]

Sadly, Mr Ely crashed on 10/19/2011 when he failed to pull out of a dive in time, jumped free of the wreck, died shortly thereafter

Damn that's purty awesome exactly 100years after he died he did the exact same thing and died again. NOW I don't care who you are, that's accomplishing something!

My hat is off to the guys who fought the enemy, fatigue, damage, and wounds to successfully land a crippled plane in WWII.

Amazing.

Originally Posted by deltakid

I often think about the fact that my grandfather, when he was alive, had seen man go from the first flight at Kitty Hawk to men walking on the moon. If you think about that, it is almost incomrehensible for that much technology advancement in that little time.

Amazing !

Originally Posted by Birdwatcher

Nother shot from the previous November (1910), taking off from a ship.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_Burton_Ely

[Linked Image from i.postimg.cc]

Sadly, Mr Ely crashed on 10/19/2011 when he failed to pull out of a dive in time, jumped free of the wreck, died shortly thereafter

I believe he died in 1911, Birdy. Got away from the wreck and died of a broken neck.

Originally Posted by deltakid

I often think about the fact that my grandfather, when he was alive, had seen man go from the first flight at Kitty Hawk to men walking on the moon. If you think about that, it is almost incomrehensible for that much technology advancement in that little time.

I, too, have often thought about the technological changes my grandfather saw in his lifetime.
He was born in 1856 and died in 1955.
A short list:
trains, electricity, lightbulbs, indoor plumbing, toilet paper, horseless carriages, Wright bros first flight, radio, television, atomic bombs, super sonic jets.....

Simply mind blowing and all within the lifetime of a single generation.

My wife's grandmother moved to MT from CO in a horse drawn Conestoga. She flew for the first time in 1978, to Alaska from Miles City in a jet (2 actually) passenger plane, to our wedding.

Any and all interested in Naval Aviation, you owe it to yourself to visit the museum at NAS Pensacola.. Truly an amazing place.

The first guy to perform a “proof of concept” about carrier aviation. It’s one thing to propose something and talk about it; it’s another thing to take bull by the horns and actually do it for the first time. 🫡

Jorge is right about the museum at NAS Pensacola.