Eugene B. Ely flies his Curtiss pusher airplane from USS Birmingham (CV-2), 14 November 1910. The USS Roe, serving as plane guard, is visible in the background.
Lieutenant John Towers was convinced of the importance of an aviation program in spite of the skepticism of senior officers.
The Consolidated PBY or Catalina had a 1,000-mile range. By 1941, the U.S. Navy had 330 in service.
The Honorable Frank Knox, Secretary of the Navy (right), with Rear Admiral C. C. Bloch, Naval Air Station, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, September 1940.
The U.S. Navy’s largest non-rigid airships, the ZPG-3W class, flew until 1962.
Early naval aviators pose at the Naval Aeronautic Station, Pensacola, Florida, spring 1914.
Naval Reserve Freshmen, class of 1930, University of California.
Admiral Joseph Mason “Bull” Reeves.
DT-2 taking off from USS Langley, circa 1925.
USS Langley in Pearl Harbor in 1928.
The USS Lexington with Martin bombers on deck.
Left to right: Representative Carl Vinson (D-GA); Secretary of Navy Francis P. Matthews; Admiral Louis E. Denfeld, Chief of Naval Operations; and Admiral Arthur W. Radford, Commander, Pacific Fleet, 6 October 1949.
The USS Saratoga (CV-3), recovering her aircraft, June 1935.
The USS Midway in a gale off Sicily, February 1949. Photograph taken from the Essex-class carrier Philippine Sea.
The first successful torpedo plane design was Douglas Aircraft Company’s DT.
U.S. Navy Curtiss SB2C Helldiver returns from a strike on Japanese shipping.
The pontoon-equipped XR-4 flights from the USS Bunker Hill in May 1943 marked the birth of naval rotary-wing aviation.
SH-3A (HSS-2) flown publicly for first time, 24 March 1959.
A-6 Intruder on the USS Independence’s catapult, March 1965.
U.S. Navy Fighters F4U Corsairs return to carrier USS Boxer (CV-21) after a strike over Korea, September 1951.
U.S. Navy F-4B Phantom II from the USS Ranger, February 1968.
P-3 Orion conducting ship surveillance in mid-Pacific, September 1974.
Consolidated B-24 Liberator designated by the U.S. Navy as the PB4Y-1.
Official 1948 sketch of the supercarrier United States, which was designed to carry heavy bombers.
USS Abraham Lincoln, typical of modern U.S. nuclear carriers, October 1994.
Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) with guided-missile cruiser USS Chancellorsville (CG 62).