8 Bells Lecture | William Miller: Eugene Ely, Daredevil Aviator
Channel: U.S. Naval War College
Date: 19/05/2015

William Miller, "Eugene Ely, Daredevil Aviator: First Shipboard Landing and Takeoff," Eight Bells Book Lecture, Naval War College Museum, May 14, 2015.

This is a biography of one of the most influential, early contributor to aviation. Eugene Ely taught himself to fly and by 1910 was a member of the Curtiss Exhibition Team. It was that year that his plane was lifted onto USS Birmingham an he made the first takeoff from the deck of a naval vessel. Two months later, on 18 January 1911, he made the first aircraft landing on the USS Pennsylvania. A short while later he took off from that same deck, proving the adaptability of airplanes to operations at sea.

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