LIEUT. TOWERS MAKES LONG FLYING BOAT RUN 1913 Washington, D. C., May 8 -- Lieut. John H. Towers, head of the Naval Aviation Corps, with Ensign Godfrey de C. Chevalier as a passenger, made a remarkable flight from Washington to Annapolis today over an all-water course. The distance covered was approximately 169 miles and the actual flying time was three hours and five minutes, so that the machine was driven at an average speed of nearly fifty miles an hour. The flight was made in what is known as the flying boat, a product of the Curtiss factory, which was recently added to the equipment at the aviation camp at Annapolis.

MAP SHOWING LIEUT. TOWER'S RECENT FLIGHT The course was from the Washington navy yard, down the Potomac river and up Chesapeake bay to the Naval Academy. The airmen maintained an average altitude of 1,700 feet. The craft ascended from the navy yard at 7:40 this morning, and it was 10:45 when it alighted on the aviation grounds at the Naval Academy. The flight was the longest continuous one that has been made by a service aviator in this type of craft. Lieut. Towers said to an AERO AND HYDRO correspondent, after the flight: "We bucked light head winds going down river and had a cross wind coming up the bay, rather puffing in spots. The flight was absolutely without accident, everything worked perfectly. The motor did not miss an explosion. We used our supplementary air all the way and flew with about two-thirds open throttle. Chevalier and I alternated in control. We started with 35 gallons of gasoline and 3 gallons of oil. We used 23.25 gallons of gasoline or 7.536 gallons per hour and used 1.625 gallons of oil, or 0.527 gallons per hour."

 

NAVAL AVIATION IN 1913      In January, 1913, the naval aviation detachment was transported by a Navy collier to Guantanamo for its first operation with the fleet. The Cuban camp was commanded by Lieutenant Towers, subject to orders from the commander in chief of the fleet. Numerous interesting and practical tests were made of the employment of planes in cooperation with ships and many of the fleet officers became more or less familiar with aviation. At this time several notable flights were made along the Cuban coast and the usefulness of aircraft as scouts in discovering the approach of a distant fleet and in detecting mine fields and submarines were amply and practically demonstrated. With the return of the fleet to the United States after the wimter maneuvers, the aviation detachment was transferred back to Annapolis again and continued under command of J. H. Towers.      In 1913 Lieut. (Junior Grade) J. D. Murray, United States Navy, Second Lieut. William McIlvaine, United States Marine Corps, First Lieutenant A. A. Cunningham, United States Marine Corps, Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Saufley, Lieut. (Junior Grade) M. L. Stolz, and Ensign W. D. Lamont joined the ranks of naval aviators. In June of this year Lieutenant Bellinger hung up a world's seaplane record for altitude by ascending to 6,200 feet in 45 minutes in a Curtiss seaplane. First Lieut. B. L. Smith, United States Marine Corps, by starting from the water, alighting on the land, and then returning to the water, made the first successful flight in an amphibian or combined land an water aircraft in the summer of 1913. This item was extracted from United States Navy Department, Bureau of Aeronautics, Technical Note No. 18, Series of 1930 A HISTORY OF U.S. NAVAL AVIATION by Capt. W.H.Sitz, USMC United States Government Printing Office Washington: 1930

 

Note on LtCdr Godfrey Chevalier Aircraft Carrier Landing, Oct. 21, 1922. LtCdr Godfrey Chevalier made the first carrier landing in an Aeromarine 39-B on the USS Langley. He was killed in a crash two weeks later. This from the Chronology Section of theAerofiles website courtesy of K O Ecklund   Back