The North Island era: Birth of naval aviation

Detail: First take-off from a ship

Above is a cropped version of a photo from page 5 of Martin Caidin's book, Golden Wings: A Pictorial History of the United States Navy and Marine Corps in the Air, published in 1972 by Arno Press (ISBN 0405037554)

A smaller version of the entire photo appears at right.

Caidin wrote the following caption:

November 14, 1910: Loading Curtiss pusher on 83-foot sloping deck of Cruiser USS Birmingham; here Eugene Ely made first ship take-off. On January 18, 1911, Ely landed on 120-foot deck built on USS Pennsylvania, took off (see page 1) again 57 minutes later.

Caidin credited the image as an official U.S. Navy photograph

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