1911-Continued
7 September A memorable experiment in the
Navy's search for a shipboard launching device was
completed at Hammondsport, N.Y., when Lieutenant
Theodore G. Ellyson made a successful takeoff from
an inclined wire rigged from the beach down to the
water. Ellyson's report contained the following
description of the run: "The engine was started and
run at full speed and then I gave the signal to release
the machine. . . . I held the machine on the wire as long
as possible as I wanted to be sure that I had enough
headway to rise and not run the risk of the machine
partly rising and then falling. . . . Everything happened
so quickly and went off so smoothly that I hardly
knew what happened except that I did have to use the
ailerons, and that the machine was sensitive to their
action."
16 September Plans to purchase flight clothing
were described in a letter from Lieutenant Theodore
G. Ellyson, who hoped to get the Navy Department
to pay for them later. Requirements were previously
outlined as a light helmet with detachable goggles, or
a visor, with covering for the ears and yet holes so
that the engine could be heard; a leather coat lined
with fur or wool; leather trousers; high rubber
galoshes and gauntlets; and a life preserver of some
description.
20 September The attempt to equip aircraft with
navigational instruments was reflected in a request
of the Bureau of Navigation to the Naval Obser-
vatory for temporary use of a boat compass in
experimental work connected with the development
of aviation.
John Towers and Theodore Ellyson 427990
UNITED STATES NAVAL AVIATION 1910-1995
7
10 October Lieu-
tenant Holden C.
Richardson, CC,
USN, reported to
aviation at the Wash-
ington Navy Yard.
Richardson became
the Navy's first engi-
neering and mainte-
nance officer for
aviation.
16 October Plans
for a scientific test
of hydro aeroplane
floats at the Wash-
ington Navy Yard
Model Basin were
described in a letter
from Captain Wash-
ington 1. Chambers in which he stated that a model of
the pontoons with Forlanini planes (hydrovanes) was
nearly ready for test.
Holden C. Richardson (CC) 650871
17 October Searching for improved powerplants,
Captain Washington 1. Chambers, in a letter to Glenn
H. Curtiss, discussed heavy oil (or diesel) engines and
turbine engines similar in principle to those that, some
30 years later, would make jet propulsion practical.
Chambers wrote, "In my opinion, this turbine is the
surest step of all, and the aeroplane manufacturer who
gets in with it first is going to do wonders."
25 October Lieutenants Theodore G. Ellyson and
John H. Towers, on a flight in the A-I from Annapolis,
Md., to Fort Monroe, Va., to test the durability of the
aircraft on cross-country flight, were forced down by a
leaking radiator near Milford Haven, Va., having cov-
ered 112 miles in 122 minutes.
8 November Ensign Victor D. Herbster, later desig-
nated Naval Aviator No.4, reported for flight instruc-
tion at the Aviation Camp at Greenbury Point,
Annapolis, Md.
14 November The Navy's first major aircraft modifi-
cation, conversion of the Wright B-1 landplane into a
hydro aeroplane, was initiated with a telegraphic order
to the Burgess Company and Curtiss, Marblehead,
Mass., for a suitable float.
20 December Experiments with airborne wireless
transmission were conducted at Annapolis, Md., by
Ensign Charles H. Maddox in the A-I airplane piloted
by Lieutenant John H. Towers. The trailing wire anten-

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