On 17 October 1922, the first aircraft, a Vought VE-7 biplane, was launched from USS Langley, the first aircraft carrier of the US Navy. Although it was neither the first time an aeroplane had taken off from a ship nor was the Langley the first vessel to have a flight deck, this event marked a significant milestone in American naval aviation.
The Vought VE-7, nicknamed “Bluebird”, was one of the first aircraft designed by Chance M. Vought for the newly established Lewis & Vought Corporation. The aeroplane made its maiden flight in 1917 and was powered by a single V-8 Wright-Hispano engine, generating 180 hp. Initially developed as a two-seat training aircraft for the US Army Air Service, the VE-7 was shortly after the Great War adopted by the US Navy as a fighter and observation aircraft.
USS Langley (CV-1) was the first purpose-built aircraft carrier of the US Navy. The vessel was originally commissioned in 1913 as the bulk cargo ship USS Jupiter, also known as Navy Fleet Collier No. 3. The Jupiter was also the first turbo-electric-powered ship in the US Navy’s fleet.
In July 1919, the American naval authorities approved her conversion into an aircraft carrier. In April of the following year, the ship was renamed Langley – after Samuel Pierpont Langley, an American astronomer, physicist, aeronautics pioneer and aircraft engineer – and given the hull number CV-1. The first American aircraft carrier was officially recommissioned on 20 March 1922.
On 17 October that year, Lieutenant Virgil C. Griffin made aviation history with the first take-off from the new carrier, thereby opening a new chapter in US naval aviation.
However, this was only the first of several US Navy milestones connected with Langley. On 26 October 1922, Lieutenant Commander Godfrey de Courcelles Chevalier successfully completed the first landing on a US Navy aircraft carrier, flying an Aeromarine 39B biplane. In November that year, Commander Kenneth Whiting became the first person to be catapulted from the deck of an aircraft carrier.
USS Langley became home to the first two fighter squadrons of the US Navy, designated VF-1 and VF-2, both operating the VE-7 biplanes. The aircraft were officially retired from operational service in 1928.
The first aircraft carrier of the US Navy remained in service until 1936 and was then converted into a seaplane tender. Assigned the new hull number AV-3, she served in this role until February 1942, when she was scuttled following a Japanese air attack.
Cover photo: Vought VE-7 (National Archives, 17341884)
