July 2023

Photo: archive

One of the Zeppelins is flying over the German light cruiser S.M.S. Frankfurt during WWI.

The French ship Fauvette II is just launching the reconnaissance balloon during the trials in the bay near Toulon.

Photo: archive

meters long jump performed by Wilbur Wright

in the afternoon of March 17, 1903, and that the

first attempts of take off and landing on the

ships deck were made by British and Americans

in 1910, we learn how rapid the progress of the

aviation was in the beginning of the 20th century

and we will become aware of the enormous

courage demonstrated by those aviation

pioneers. In the beginning of the development

of the aircraft designated for the naval service

two trends became apparent. The deployment

of the ground-based aircraft was limited by the

take off and landing on the platform installed

somewhere on the ship. If it was a fast vessel,

for example a light cruiser sailing at 30 knots,

approximately 55 kph, and against the wind, the

relative speed of the first aircraft and the ship

herself did not differ much. The smaller airplane

could easily take off from the ships’ platform

and land back on it or fly to the ground base if

it was in the airplane range. And it happened

like that during the first attempt to take off from

the 25 by 7 meters platform mounted on the USS

Birmingham (CL-2) bow. On November 14, 1910,

Eugene Burton Ely at the controls of his Curtiss

biplane successfully took off from the cruiser

which was at anchor in Hampton Roads port in

Virginia. After a short flight Ely landed on the

ground. The first landing on the ship’s deck

is again credited to Ely when on January 18,

1911, he landed on the USS Pennsylvania stern

(ACR/CA-4) in San Francisco Bay. Really

courageous “amazing aviator” died the same

year during the air show in Macon on October 19,

1911, when he failed to recover from the dive. He

emerged from the wreck, however passed away

after a while due to a broken neck spine. Just

a note, that in 1933, the US Congress

posthumously awarded Ely DFC (Distinguished

Flying Cross) for his “extraordinary success

as a civil aviation pioneer and his important

contribution to the aviation development in the

US Navy.”

In January 1912, the British launched the

aeronautical experiments on board of the HMS

Africa and HMS Hibernia battleships. The test

flights were performed by Commander Charles

Samson flying Short Improved S.27 biplane

“S.38” (or “RNAS No.2”). The first successful

take off was made in the beginning of May,

either 2nd, 4th or 9th, as various sources state

different dates. What we know for sure is that

Samson took off from HMS Hibernia while the

ship was sailing at 10.5 knots i. e., 19.4 kph in

the bay of Weymouth in England. Coincidentally

King George V was on the fleet’s inspection and

witnessed the series of flights performed in

Portland in four days. Further experiments were

conducted on board the HMS London battleship

where the take off platform from HMS Hibernia

was installed. All these trials led the Royal Navy

to the conclusion that the airplanes are useful

on the board of the ships for reconnaissance

Photo: archive

HISTORY

In the beginning of May 1912, Commander Charles Samson is taking off in his Short Improved S.27 biplane

off the HMS Hibernia deck in the bay of Weymouth in England.

INFO Eduard

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