1922 â The 11,500-ton Langley was commissioned into the U.S. Navy as Americaâs first aircraft carrier. Langley was not regarded as a beautiful ship. Her flight deck was 533 feet long and 64 feet wide with an open-sided hanger deck, inspiring the nickname âthe Old Covered Wagon.â Under the leadership of Commander Kenneth Whiting, Langley served as a base for reconnaissance aircraft and a laboratory to develop new procedures for launching and recovering planes, such as the use of cross-deck arresting wires to brake incoming aircraft.
The model of the USS Langley was built by Bill Emerson of Rochester, NY. The build took 5 years to complete and now is in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.
MILITARY HISTORY SOCIETY OF ROCHESTER
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