F I R S TP R E V167NEXTLAST

Incoming Cargo Ship, San Francisco Bay
In 1911 a San Francisco daredevil pilot named Eugene Ely convinced naval officer, Captain Washington Chambers that he could land a plane onto the deck of a ship. Believing it might be possible Chambers had a cruiser, the USS Pennsylvania rigged with a landing deck. On January 18th, with thousands of spectators lining the docks Ely approached the ship, dove toward the deck, fought a sudden updraft, and snagged the deck's catch rope with his plane's hook to become the first pilot ever to successfully land an airplane on the deck of a ship and thus ushered in a new age in aviation.
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