Eugene Ely

American pilot

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June 26, 2026

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Eugene Ely was an American pilot who made history in 1910. He was the first person to fly an airplane off a specially constructed platform on the deck of a U.S. cruiser. This pioneering flight took place in November 1910 off the coast of Virginia. These early experiments with ship-based takeoffs were crucial in the development of aircraft carriers as we know them today.1

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aircraft carrier
…1910, an American civilian pilot, Eugene Ely, flew a plane off a specially built platform on the deck of the U.S. cruiser Birmingham at Hampton Roads, Virginia. On January 18, 1911, in San Francisco Bay, Ely landed on a platform built on the quarterdeck of the battleship Pennsylvania, using wires…
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…1910, an American civilian pilot, Eugene Ely, flew a plane off a specially built platform on the deck of the U.S. cruiser Birmingham at Hampton Roads, Virginia. On January 18, 1911, in San Francisco Bay, Ely landed on a platform built on the quarterdeck of the battleship Pennsylvania, using wires…
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United States Navy
Theories of force projection and World War I
…1910 when a civilian pilot, Eugene Ely, flew an airplane off a cruiser at Hampton Roads, Virginia. The next year he landed on and took off from a cruiser in San Francisco Bay.
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…1910 when a civilian pilot, Eugene Ely, flew an airplane off a cruiser at Hampton Roads, Virginia. The next year he landed on and took off from a cruiser in San Francisco Bay.
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