OCR Text |
Show I THERE HAD TO BE A FIRST TIME i ' lillilllsili J t ttlltiilM V-'- ' t "i :' ' FT" -I -'r'S.l : -;' " ' , , ' " . i " ; " 1 1 , ; , ... - - - -1 j i - L- - r - - ' . - i. i ' - ; . . - i , r - . - . - ! : " . ' , ; Advances in American naval ships and equipment have been marked ; throughout the century and a half of the Navy Department's history by ; important milestones of progress. One of these was the first flight from the deck of a ship, made in 1910 by Lt. Eugene Ely, when he took off ; from a miniature flight deck on the foredeck of the USS Birmingham (upper). Three years later naval aviation had its actual start when j Admiral George Dewey signed the report of the General Board, which , recommnded the establishment of a Naval air arm. Today aviation is one of the elements in the three-pronged American Navy. Flowering of "Navy Air" can be symbolized in such scenes as the lower photo ; In which an FJ-1 "Fury," a jet-propelled Navy fighter, makes a landing aboard the USS Boxer while the ship cruises off the California coast. ' (Official Navy Photograph) |