THE FIRST SEAPLANE Glenn Curtiss Arrival At North Island

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1 Assocation of Naval Aviation San Diego Squadron NEWSLETTER Published Quarterly Annual subscription rate $30.00 Vol. IV, No. 2 April 2010 John Fry, Editor mail@johnfry.com THE FIRST SEAPLANE Glenn Curtiss Arrival At North Island by John Fry On January 18, 1911, as Eugene Ely was making the first landing aboard a Navy ship in San Francisco, Glenn Curtiss and Spuds Ellyson were not around to join in the celebration. Accompanied by Mrs. Curtiss, they had left the day before day to prepare for the upcoming air show in San Diego. Curtiss mechanic W. J. Shackelford had preceded the group, arriving in San Diego with three aircraft the previous week. At North Island, separated from Coronado s South Island by a body of water known as Spanish Bight, he appropriated a deserted barn for a hangar and began to prepare a landing strip. San Diegans were embarrassed at the primitive site that awaited Curtiss. Thinking, perhaps, to add a little romance to the operation they briefly considered changing A deserted barn became North Island s first hanagar the name of North Island. The San Diego Union received suggestions that included Aviation Island, Aero Island, Aero Isle, and Birdman s Paradise. 1 The names apparently fell on deaf ears. All of the Curtiss fliers were assembled at North Island by the third week in January. The newspapers were filled with items on the fliers, their planes and the upcoming meet. Curtiss mind was elsewhere, however. Secretary of the Navy Meyer had written Curtiss a letter congratulating him on Ely s flight. Meyer saw the future of naval aviation elsewhere, however, saying When you have invented an aeroplane that can be picked up by a boat crane and dropped over the side to the water, so that the flyer can go off 1

2 Aviation students often had to don bathing suits and help Curtiss drag the hydroaeroplane in and out of the chilly waters of San Diego Bay. on an errand and later return to the water alongside, get picked up by the crane and brought back to the deck... well, then I shall be ready to say that the Navy Department is convinced. 2 The day after Curtiss and Ellyson reached San Diego from San Francisco, Spuds wrote to Chambers, Today we commenced putting the hydroplanes and floats on the machine and inside of four days Mr. Curtiss will carry out his experiment of rising from and landing on the water, which he hopes to accomplish before the meet here In previous experiments on New York s Lake Keuka, near his Hammondsport workshop, Curtiss had tried over fifty times to break free of the water s grip and rise into the air. In San Diego, local mechanics who had worked with power boats, made suggestions on floats that Curtiss incorporated into a new design. In The Curtiss Aviation Book, published in 1912, Curtiss stated that he had not expected to make a flight on 26 January The San Diego Union seemed to know that something was afoot, however, and in its January 26 issue noted that Curtiss was confident he can lift hydroplane from surface of ocean. 4 Curtiss recalled, in his book, that he only wanted to test the float when he went out on Spanish Bight that morning. Ellyson waded out into the water with Curtiss and spun the propeller to start the engine. Curtiss headed the plane into the wind and was soon so excited about the float s performance that he nearly ran aground. At the last moment he swerved to avoid the accident, the float broke the water s plane, and Curtiss was airborne. He soon landed and returned to shore to the cheers of his workers. Curtiss later returned to the plane, taxied out into San Diego bay, and took off even more easily than the first time. 5 He flew around the bay getting the feel of the plane with the new float. As he passed the naval repair ship Iris the ship blew its siren and soon other ships in the harbor were whistling and honking. It wasn t bad publicity for the upcoming air meet. On Saturday, 28 January, 1500 spectators gathered in the grandstand of the Coronado Country Club across Spanish Bight from North Island. Under threatening skies, Curtiss took to the air at 2 p.m., buzzed around Coronado, then landed neatly in front of the stands. Eugene Ely and Hugh Robinson soon followed, and the three aviators entertained the crowd for two hours. Sunday s weather was much improved and an estimated 10,000 fans gathered for the 2

3 First planes at North island show. Curtiss and Ely entertained the crowds with thrilling aerobatics. Ellyson said Ely gave the prettiest exhibition of flying that I have ever seen, but if he keeps on taking the same chances, he won t last six months. 6 Spuds crashed the Curtiss trainer in what the San Diego Union called Ellyson s first attempt to leave the ground 7, which was ironically correct. Curtiss had placed a wooden block under the front stabilizer s controls and told Ellyson to simply taxi in front of the grandstand. The plane hit a bump however, the block fell out, and Ellyson suddenly found himself momentarily airborne. Ellyson was uninjured and the plane suffered minor damage. After the air show Curtiss got about the business of opening his aviation school. Ellyson was already in camp, of course, and Army Lieutenants Paul Beck, John Walker, and G. E. M. Kelly soon arrived from San Francisco. Civilians Charles J. Witmer and Bob St. Henry rounded out the class. The students spent February learning to rise from the ground, make short straightaway flights, circle and land. 8 Their aircraft was Lizzy, the four-cylinder grasscutter that Ellyson had accidentally flown at the Coronado air show. Ellyson made his first flight on February 4th, made short jumps on the 11th, and completed a flight of 100 feet on the 15th. A broken crankshaft grounded Lizzy for two weeks and the students spent that time helping Curtiss with his water experiments. On February 17th Curtiss felt he was ready to answer the challenge issued by Navy Secretary Meyer. He contacted Captain Pond aboard the Pennsylvania, moored in San Diego Bay, and said he would like to fly over to the ship and be hoisted aboard. Captain Pond, who had already shown his belief in the future of naval aviation when Ely landed aboard his ship in San Francisco, told Curtiss to come ahead. Ellyson and Charlie Witmer rode out to the ship on a launch to await Curtiss. Just before noon Curtiss took to the air from Spanish Bight and landed along side the ship after a flight of less than four minutes. The engine was shut down and the plane drifted toward the ship. Ellyson grabbed a line thrown from the ship and made it fast to a wire sling attached to the wing. Curtiss and the plane were hoisted aboard the Pennsylvania where they posed for pictures on the deck. After a few minutes the 3

4 (Clockwise, from upper left) Curtiss brings the hydroaeroplane alongside the USS Pennsylvania; He stands on the wing to adjust the hook; Curtiss rides the plane up to the deck; Ellyson, in bathing suit at left center, checks the plane before lowering it back down. Curtiss is the gentleman with the mustache at the lower center of the photo. aircraft was lowered to the water, Ellyson cranked the propeller, and Curtiss flew back to the sandy slope of Spanish Bight. INTREPID BIRDMAN PROVES VALUE OF AIRSHIPS IN WARFARE, read the headline in the San Diego Union, Gives Successful Demonstration of Test Needed to Convince Secretary of the Navy. 9 Curtiss had rigged the plane as a tractor for this flight the opposite of a pusher. The tractor configuration was never revived by Curtiss due to the visual obstruction, the prop blast in the pilot s face, and certainly not the least hot oil spraying on the operator s clothing. Nearly a week later Curtiss took off in the world s first amphibian. On 23 February he arose from the water on pontoons, snapped down a tricycle landing gear and landed on the beach near the Hotel del Coronado. Curtiss eventually named this craft the Triad because of its ability to operate on land, at sea, and in the air. Lizzy s crankshaft was repaired at the end of February and the students were back in the air. Spuds wrote his mother excitedly that, on 5 March, he had made his first real flights four flights of over a mile and a half. He also wrote to Chambers, telling him that Curtiss planned to close the school at North Island at the end of the month and return to Hammondsport, New York. Spuds asked Chambers to send him with Curtiss, so that he could learn to fly in the eight-cylinder plane, then the hydroaeroplane, then the Triad. 10 Shortly thereafter the hydro split in two and sank in shallow water. Curtiss re-rigged it as a land plane, installed an eightcylinder engine, and allowed Beck, Ellyson, and Witmer to try it out. Ellyson was enthused about flying a real plane, but quickly realized he had his hands full once he became airborne. Later in March he felt qualified in the machine and said so in a letter to Chambers. On 14 March Beck, Kelly and Walker were ordered to report to San Antonio, Texas because of unrest along the Mexican border. Said the San Diego Union, For the first time in the history of warfare an aeronautical squad is 4

5 (Left) Glenn Curtiss stands in ankle-deep water. Spuds straps on the A-1. (Above) the A-1 flies over a Japanese sailing ship in San Diego Bay. to be attached to an army corps for actual war service. 11 In Washington Secretary of the Navy Meyer was appearing before the House Naval Affairs Committee trying to obtain the $25,000 that had been proposed for the Bureau of Navigation to work on the development of aviation for naval purposes. 12 Chambers had waited patiently for his share of the money with which to purchase aircraft. Finally Chambers asked Ellyson to forward specifications for a training plane and a hydroaeroplane, to be built by Curtiss. Chambers approved Ellyson s request to continue his training at Hammondsport, with the proviso that Spuds get familiar with the hydroaeroplane, teach another man to fly, and to inspect the planes Curtiss was expected to build for the Navy. Curtiss broke camp at North Island on April 1st and, with Ellyson in tow, headed east for Hammondsport, New York. Footnotes 1 San Diego Union, January 16, 1911, 8:3. 2 Scharff, Walter and Walter S. Taylor, Over Land and Sea, p Van Deurs, George, Anchors in the Sky, p San Diego Union, January 26, 1911, 5:1. 5 Curtiss, Glenn, The Curtiss Aviation Book, p Sudsbury, Elretta, Jackrabbits to Jets, p San Diego Union, January 30, 1911, 5:3. 8 Van Deurs, George, Anchors in the Sky, p San Diego Union, February 18, 1911, 7:1. 10 van Deurs, George, Anchors in the Sky, p San Diego Union, March 15, 1911, 7:1. 12 van Deurs, George, Anchors in the Sky, p