![Atop Empire State- in construction; Chrysler Bldg & [Daily] News in middle foreground. (1931)](http://www.retronaut.co/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Atop-Empire-State-in-construction-Chrysler-Bldg-Daily-News-in-middle-foreground.-1931--199x123.jpg "Balancing on the Empire State, 1920s")
‘On November 14, 1910, Eugene Ely became the first pilot to successfully launch a plane from a stationary ship. The Curtiss pusher airplane, one of the first models in the world to be built in any significant quantity, flew for two miles before Ely landed on a beach. Using the same aircraft, Ely landed on the USS Pennsylvania on January 18, 1911, while the ship was anchored at the San Francisco waterfront. He had to use a braking system made of ropes and sandbags, but he was able to quickly turn around and take off once again’
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Thank you to The Atlantic
http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2010/12/photographs-of-the-worlds-first-aircraft-carrier/68567/#slide1
Amazing moments in history.
First aircraft carrier? Uh, sorry, no.
While Ely’s exploits were amazing, in actuality they were no more than proof-of-concept exercises. They did, however, lead to the first real aircraft carriers – the British Furious and Argus, the Japanese Honsho, and the American Langley.