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Article: Aircraft Carriers and Naval Aircraft
- Article from:
- Dictionary of American History
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 The Gale Group Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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AIRCRAFT CARRIERS AND NAVAL AIRCRAFT
Carriers
The first airplane launched from a ship flew from a jury-rigged platform on the bow of the American light cruiser
Birmingham
on 10 November 1910. The civilian pilot, Eugene B. Ely, made the first shipboard landing on 18 January 1911, on a platform over the stern guns of the cruiser
Pennsylvania.
It remained until World War I, however, for the British Royal Navy to take the steps essential to the development of a true aircraft carrier. The Royal Navy succeeded in taking fighter aircraft to sea that scored kills on German zeppelins over the sea approaches to Britain.
The first U.S. carrier was
Langley,
converted in 1922 from the collier
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