The North Island era: Birth of naval aviation

December, 1910: Curtiss arrives on North Island

	North Island, ca. 1911. A larger picture and more information are available (68k).

In the winter of 1910, Glenn Curtiss leased North Island in San Diego Bay as a location for flight training during the winter and to develop a hydroplane, a plane that could take off and alight on water. Lake Keuka, near the Curtiss factory at Hammondsport, N.Y., froze over in the winter so it was not a suitable location.

Curtiss arrived at North Island in late December 1910. He hired mechanics from the Baker Machine Works across the bay. Besides Curtiss himself, the only person on North Island from the Curtiss organization was John H. Whitney, who served as Curtiss’ secretary and photographer.

North Island was immediately north of Coronado and separated from it by a strip of water called Spanish Bight. It was on Spanish Bight that most of Curtiss’ hydroplane experiments were conducted. The isolation of North Island was ideal, since Curtiss did not wish others to be present during his developmental work. Because of this isolation, most of the pictures of work on North Island were made by John H. Whitney, even though few are so credited.

Curtiss offered to train Army and Navy pilots at no charge, in order to interest the services in airplanes. The Army sent three people, Lt. George E. M. Kelly, Lt. John C. Walker, Jr. and Lt. Paul M. Beck. The Navy sent one man, Lt. Theodore Gordon Ellyson.

Next Page: Curtiss' prior "hydroplane" experiments

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