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Naval History and Heritage Command

Naval History and Heritage Command

80-G-427990 Early Naval Aviation Pioneers

Early Naval Aviation Pioneers
Title: Early Naval Aviation Pioneers
Caption: Lieutenant Theodore G. Ellyson, Naval Aviator No.1 (right); Lieutenant John H. Towers, Naval Aviator No. 3 (left); man a Curtiss biplane for flight. Lieutenant Theodore G. Ellyson, Nicknamed "Spuds", was the first United States Navy Officer designated as an aviator. Ellyson served in the experimental development of aviation in the years before and after World War I. He also spent several years before the was as part of the Navy's new submarine service. A recipient of the Navy Cross for his antisubmarine service in World War I, Ellyson died in 1928 when his aircraft crashed over the Chesapeake Bay. Lieutenant John H. Towers, Naval Aviator No. 3 (left), Became the Navy's third aviator, following Theodore Gordon Ellyson and John Rodgers. He learned to fly the Navy's first airplane, a Curtiss seaplane called the A-1. Later, he took over the training of the other young Navy pilots. One day in June 1313, he was a passenger in the Wright seaplane that Ensign William Billingsley was piloting. Suddenly, 1600 feet above the Chesapeake Bay, the two hit severe turbulence. without warning Billingsley was hurled out of his seat and fell to his death on the water far below. This tragically made Billingsley the first navy pilot to make the supreme sacrifice. Incredibly, Towers managed to catch and cling to a wing strut and ride the plummeting unpiloted plane down, miraculously surviving the crash. After that incident, he ordered safety belts for all the Navy planes.
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Catalog #: 80-G-427990
Copyright Owner: National Archives
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Original Medium: BW Photo
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