US Navy Seaplane Division One Way (Queens)
Present name:None
Location:Northeast corner of Beach Channel Drive and Beach 169th Street
Honoree: In April of 1919, the US Navy created Naval Seaplane Division One, consisting of four NC (Navy Curtiss) seaplanes, for the express purpose of planning and executing the first transatlantic flight. To accomplish this mission, hundreds of Naval personnel, including pilots, mechanics, riggers and support staff, were transferred to the Rockaway Naval Air Station along with employees of the Curtiss Aviation Company. The parts for the aircraft were built at factories in Manhattan, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Garden City, Long Island, and were assembled and flight-tested in Rockaway. On May 8, 1919, three of the aircraft took off from Jamaica Bay with planned stops in Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, the Azores, and Lisbon. On May 27, 1919, one of the aircraft, the NC-4, landed in Lisbon, becoming the first aircraft to fly across the ocean. The other two aircraft had mechanical issues and only made it as far as the Azores. Navigator (Navy LCDR) Albert Read, Pilots (Navy Lt.) Walter Hinton and (CG Lt.) Elmer Stone, (Navy Lt.) Radioman Herbert Rodd, and mechanics (Navy CMM) Eugene Rhoads and (Navy CMM) James Breese were honored for being “First Across.” Four days later, the crew completed the mission by flying to Plymouth, England to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the Pilgrims sailing in the opposite direction. (Ulrich)
LL:2018/139