Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1955-05-01
Admiral John H. Towers Dies,
Pioneer in Naval Aviution

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Of cancer at st. Adams Naval
Hospital. New York.
The story of Admiral Towers
career is the story of naval avia-
ton.
He was the Nays No. / air.
man in point of service. He saw
the Nays air force grow from
three airplanes to thousands.
] Admiral Towers was the third
man to qualify as a Naval air.
man. That was in 1911. He
was one of three young officers
taught to fly by Glenn Curtiss
in return for the Nays promise
to take three of the Curtiss
planes. The other two pilots
died later in accidents.
Set Endurance Mark
In 1912, Admiral Towers set
a world record for endurance
tsix hours and 10 minutes) in a
Curtiss seaplane. 1t was an
American record for endurance
in any type of plane. These
feats were done while he was In
charge of the Naval Aviation
Camp at the Nays first air sta
ton at Annapolis. He piloted
test flights that helped develop
the Nays earliest seaplanes,
catapult launchings, night flying
and bomb dropping.
/ Once he was thrown from q
Wright seaplane while 1,700 feet
] up in the air. 1t was in June
1912, while he was a passenger
in a plane hit by a sudden at
.mospheric disturbance. The pill
OF was thrown and was killed
Admiral Towers, however
grabbed a forward projection on
the plane and fell with it into
Chesapeake Bay. The plane fell
on top of him. but he hung on
until he was rescued. He suf-
fered severe injuries which made
it necessary for him always to
fly with a co-pilot.
AS a result of the accident
Curtiss designed the safety belt
and it was adopted for use by
the Navy.
| Transatlantic Flight
Seven years later, Admiral
Towers was again involved In
an airplane accident. Convinced
that long-distance flights were
practicable, he applied for anC
was assigned to a proposed
| transatlantic flight.
/ He organized and commanded
a unit of flying boats which in
1919 made the worlds first trans
Atlantic flight. His own NC-3,
the flagship. was forced down by
fog in a rough sea off the Azores
Admiral Towers and the crew
rugged sails. Without charts and
guided only by his knowledge of
currents and wind, he TAXED the
plane for So hours until 1t
reached Ponta Delgada 200 miles
| away.
One of the seaplanes in the
division arrived in Lisbon, Por-
tugal. completing the first cross
ing Of the Atlantic by airplane.
For his leadership of the fight,
Admiral Towers received the
Navy Cross.
Trained on Square Riggers
The Rome (Ga.) native orig
inally went to Georgia Tech with
the idea of becoming a civil
engineer so he could build rail-
roads in the Andes. But a Con-
gresham, who had had bad luck
with his Annapolis appoint
ments tthey couldn't survive the
CURRICULUM heard young Towers
was leading his class at Tech and
asked him if he wanted to go to
the Naval Academy. He was
graduated from the academy in
1906. His early naval training
was on old square-riggers.
He was commended by the
President and the Secretary Of
the Navy for his work as fire
control officer and spottel
aboard the U. S. S. Michigan in
1911.
The same year he began his
aviation duty.
During the Mexican disturb
ance in the summer Of 1914, Ad-
miral Towers, then a lieutenant
commanded aviation units al
Vera Cruz. When the European
war broke out. he became ar
aviation observer in Europe anc
was attached to the American
Embassy in London for more
than two years.
Duty in Washington
| Admiral Towers came &c
Washington in 1915 in charge OF
naval aviation in the Operations
Office. He also was made q
supervisor in the Naval Aviation
Flying Corps, which was then
Just beginning. He was made as
sistant director of Naval avia-
ton when the Division of Avia-
ton in Operations was estab-
lished.
An aviator who always kept
one foot wet" Admiral Towers
commanded the destroyer Mug
ford and then in 1921 became
executive officer of the Naval Air
Station at Pensacola.
Ashore he built up equipment
and techniques; at sea, he put
them to the test. From the early
'20s, he was a strong proponent
of the aircraft carrier, which he
visualized as spearheading the
/ fleets attack.
Admiral Towers was assistant
attache for aviation at the EN-
bassies in England, France,
Italy, Germany and the Neither
lands. Returning to the United
States in 1925, he was made a
. member of the hoard Of innlliru