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Photo # NH 77609:  Eugene Ely's's airplane at rest immediately after it landed on board USS Pennsylvania, 18 January 1911

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- EVENTS -- The 1910s -- 1911

Eugene Ely's Flight to USS Pennsylvania, 18 January 1911 -- Immediately after the Landing


This page features all the views we have taken immediately after Eugene Ely's 18 January 1911 landing on USS Pennsylvania (Armored Cruiser # 4).
These photographs are presented in approximate chronological order.

For a historical overview of Ely's historic flight to USS Pennsylvania, and links to comprehensive pictorial coverage on other aspects of the event, see:

  • Eugene Ely's Flight to USS Pennsylvania, 18 January 1911 -- Narrative and Special Image Selection.


    If you want higher resolution reproductions than the Online Library's digital images, see: How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions.

    Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.

    Photo #: NH 77609

    First airplane landing on a warship, 18 January 1911


    Eugene B. Ely's Curtiss pusher biplane at rest on board USS Pennsylvania (Armored Cruiser # 4), immediately after it landed during the morning of 18 January 1911. The ship was then anchored in San Francisco Bay, California. Ely (with rubber inner tubes around his shoulders, and wearing a leather helmet) has dismounted from the plane and is talking with a man standing in front of the plane.
    Note the sand bags attached to lines behind the plane, used to stop it after it reached the deck.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 102KB; 740 x 530 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 77502

    First airplane landing on a warship, 18 January 1911


    Eugene B. Ely (with rubber inner tubes around his shoulders) walks away from his Curtiss pusher biplane, just after his successful landing on USS Pennsylvania (Armored Cruiser # 4), during the morning of 18 January 1911. The ship was then anchored in San Francisco Bay, California.
    Note the sand bag and line arresting gear behind the plane, and the canvas barriers rigged on the landing platform in front of it.

    Photograph from the Eugene B. Ely scrapbooks.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 145KB; 740 x 615 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 77583

    First airplane landing on a warship, 18 January 1911


    Eugene B. Ely's Curtiss pusher biplane on board USS Pennsylvania (Armored Cruiser # 4), just after his successful landing during the morning of 18 January 1911. The ship was then anchored in San Francisco Bay, California.
    Ely has now walked out of view, to the left.

    Photograph from the Eugene B. Ely scrapbooks.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 120KB; 740 x 595 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 77509

    First airplane landing on a warship, 18 January 1911


    Eugene B. Ely's Curtiss pusher biplane on board USS Pennsylvania (Armored Cruiser # 4), just after his successful landing during the morning of 18 January 1911. The ship was then anchored in San Francisco Bay, California.
    Ely is in the lower left, wearing rubber inner tubes around his shoulders.
    Note the photographer working from the ship's after searchlight platform, in the foreground. Sailors are beginning to remove the sandbag and line arresting gear.

    Photograph from the Eugene B. Ely scrapbooks.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 111KB; 740 x 555 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 77510

    First airplane landing on a warship, 18 January 1911


    Eugene B. Ely's Curtiss pusher biplane on board USS Pennsylvania (Armored Cruiser # 4), just after his successful landing. Crewmen and guests are crowding around the plane, while other Sailors are removing the sandbag and line arresting gear behind it.
    Ely and his wife, Mabel, are in the center, standing just in front of the plane's right wing. She is reported to have greeted him by exclaiming "Oh, boy! I knew you could do it."

    Photograph from the Eugene B. Ely scrapbooks.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 108KB; 740 x 540 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 77610

    First airplane landing on a warship, 18 January 1911


    Eugene B. Ely's Curtiss pusher biplane on board USS Pennsylvania (Armored Cruiser # 4), shortly after it landed during the morning of 18 January 1911. The ship was then anchored in San Francisco Bay, California.
    The officer in the lower left is Lieutenant John Rodgers, who would become an airplane pilot a few months later, the second Naval Aviator.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 96KB; 740 x 515 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 77584

    First airplane landing on a warship, 18 January 1911


    Ship's crewmen and guests gather around Eugene B. Ely's Curtiss pusher biplane, shortly after he successfully landed on board USS Pennsylvania (Armored Cruiser # 4). Some of the Sailors are removing the sandbag and line arresting gear behind the plane.

    Photograph from the Eugene B. Ely scrapbooks.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 106KB; 740 x 595 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 77503

    First airplane landing on a warship, 18 January 1911


    Ship's crewmen and guests looking over Eugene B. Ely's Curtiss pusher biplane, shortly after his successful landing on USS Pennsylvania (Armored Cruiser # 4). Some of the Sailors are removing the sandbag and line arresting gear behind the plane.

    Photograph from the Eugene B. Ely scrapbooks.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 155KB; 740 x 610 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 77504

    First airplane landing on a warship, 18 January 1911


    Crewmen and guests look over Eugene B. Ely's Curtiss pusher biplane on USS Pennsylvania's aircraft platform, soon after it landed on board.
    Note the Sailor using a camera, in left center.
    The awnings at the platform's edge were rigged as a safety precaution, to prevent the plane from going over the side if it went off the platform while landing.

    Photograph from the Eugene B. Ely scrapbooks.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 61KB; 740 x 525 pixels

     

    For a historical overview of Ely's historic flight to USS Pennsylvania, and links to comprehensive pictorial coverage on other aspects of the event, see:

  • Eugene Ely's Flight to USS Pennsylvania, 18 January 1911 -- Narrative and Special Image Selection.


    If you want higher resolution reproductions than the Online Library's digital images, see: How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions.


    Return to Naval Historical Center home page.

    Page made 31 December 2002