On the Oklahoma, a first for aviation
Dec. 1, 1922: “Sea-flying took a great forward swoop” when, for the first time, the Navy launched a plane off the deck of a ship by catapult, The Times reported.
The event took place off Los Angeles Harbor, on the battleship Oklahoma.
“Though airplanes have been flown from runways aboard ships, the scheme was deemed impracticable for actual service and discarded,” The Times said.
“After 12 years of designing and experimentation, the staff of the Pacific Fleet stood upon the quarterdeck of the Oklahoma and saw the light flier hurdled into the air and sail gallantly away. The United States Navy today is the only naval organization which possesses the means to send from the decks of its men-o’-war its air protection.”
Updated in the late 1920s, the Oklahoma was in Pearl Harbor when the Japanese attacked Dec. 7, 1941. It was torpedoed and capsized, killing 429 people on board.
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