I spent several years of my Navy career aboard aircraft carriers such as the U.S.S. Intrepid, U.S.S. Franklin D. Roosevelt, and the U.S.S. Boxer. I also served aboard the destroyers U.S.S. Putnam and U.S.S. Charles F. Adams and spent many hours of plane-guard duty (closely following carriers during flight operations to be available quickly to rescue pilots whose planes crashed during landings and launches.) Thinking back, that seems like a long time ago. I was especially interested to read that forty years earlier Eugene Burton Ely (October 21, 1886 - October 19, 1911,) the aviation pioneer, was credited with the first shipboard aircraft take off and landing in 1910.
First airplane takeoff from a warship - Eugene B. Ely flies his Curtiss pusher airplane from USS Birmingham (Scout Cruiser # 2), in Hampton Roads, Virginia, during the afternoon of 14 November 1910. USS Roe (Destroyer # 24), serving as plane guard, is visible in the background.
First airplane landing on a warship: Eugene Ely landing his plan on board the USS Pennsylvania in San Francisco Bay, 18 January 1911 You can read more about Ely and naval aviation at Wikipedia.
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