First Flight Across the Bay -- February 1, 2012

James Radley made the first flight across San Francisco Bay, from the city to Oakland.  He flew in a Blériot monoplane.  The lower photo shows him flying past the cruiser Pennsylvania.  Eugene Ely would land on a platform erected on the bow of the ship a few days later.  From the 16-January-1911 San Francisco Call.

Eugene Ely -- November 1, 2008

On 18-January-1911 Eugene Ely, a Curtiss pilot, took off from Tanforan race track and landed on a temporary deck built on the cruiser Pennsylvania. This was the first time an airplane landed on a ship. On 14-November-1910, Ely had taken off from a temporary deck built on the cruiser Birmingham at Hampton Roads, Virginia. Ely's two pioneering flights were a step towards the development of the aircraft carrier. Ely died in a crash later in 1911.

I took the photo on 11-October-2008 at Tanforan.

It rained hard today and the wind blew heavily at times.

The ad hominem attacks on Senator Obama are getting worse.