Eugene B. Ely piloting his Curtiss Model D biplane for an imminent landing on platform constructed (note sandbags on either side of platform) on the stern of US Navy ship USS Pennsylvania (Armored Cruiser # 4, later CA-4), anchored in San Francisco Bay, California on January 18, 1911. This was the first time an airplane landed on a ship. 

ID#:

SI-77-3592

Credit:

Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum (NASM 77-3592)

Source:

National Air and Space Museum Archives, Smithsonian Institution

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Smithsonian Institution

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