Aeromarine 39-B approaches the flight deck of USS Langley, CV-1, for a landing in 1922. Photo NH 93178

On 26 October 1922, Lieutenant Commander Godfrey de Chevalier, USN, flew his Aeromarine 39-B on to the flight deck of the United States Navy’s first aircraft carrier, USS Langley (CV-1), while cruising off Cape Henry, Virginia.

Chevalier had launched from the Navy’s Yorktown Naval Aviation Field at Yorktown, Virginia (more on Yorktown Airfield).

Yorktown's Naval Aviation Field in the early 1920's.

History was made with America’s first carrier landing, vice the ship landings made earlier.

Lieutenant Commander Godfrey de Chevalier, USN. Library of Congress collection.

Unfortunately, young naval aviator de Chevalier died a few weeks after his moment in history when he crashed near Norfolk, Virginia.  A theater in his hometown of Medford, Massachusetts was later named for him, read more about de Chevalier here…