Ellyson, Theodore Gordon, 1885-1928

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Theodore Gordon Ellyson (1885-1928) was the first Navy officer to qualify as an airplane pilot. Born on February 27, 1885 in Richmond, Virginia, Ellyson entered the United States Naval Academy in 1901 and graduated with the class of 1905. In December 1910, Ellyson was ordered to Los Angeles, California to take flight lessons offered to the Navy by Glenn Curtiss, a pioneering aviator who had offered to train a pilot for the Navy free of charge. From the time Ellyson began instruction in aviation in January 1911, until April 29, 1913, he devoted all of his time to active flying and experimental work in aviation. In June 1918 Lieutenant Ellyson arrived England for duty with a Submarine Chaser Squadron at US Naval Base #27, at Plymouth, England. For his war service he was awarded the Navy Cross and cited: “For distinguished service in the line of his profession as Assistant for Operations to the Commander, Submarine Chaser Detachment ONE. He was largely responsible for the development of successful submarine-chaser tactics and doctrine.” On October 21, 2021 Commander Ellyson became the first Head of the Plans Division of the Department of the Navy’s Bureau of Aeronautics. He remained in that assignment until December 1922, when he became the Aviation Member of the US Naval Mission to Brazil, cooperating in the reorganization of the Brazilian Navy. He returned to the Bureau of Aeronautics in May 1925. Commander Ellyson was killed on February 27, 1928, his forty-third birthday, in a crash of an airplane in lower Chesapeake Bay, while on a night flight from Norfolk, Virginia, to Annapolis, Maryland.
Archival Resources
Role Title Holding Repository
creatorOf Ellyson, Theodore Gordon, 1885-1928. Papers of Theodore Gordon Ellyson [manuscript] 1845- 1901-1928. University of Virginia. Library
creatorOf Ellyson, Theodore Gordon, 1885-1928. Papers, 1918-1928. Operational Archive Branch, Naval History Center
referencedIn Washington Irving Chambers Papers, 1871-1943, (bulk 1911-1919) Library of Congress. Manuscript Division
creatorOf Theodore Gordon Ellyson Papers, 1912-1951, (bulk 1913-1920) Library of Congress. Manuscript Division
Relation Name
correspondedWith Chambers, Washington Irving, 1856-1934. person
associatedWith Ellison family. family
associatedWith Ellison family. family
associatedWith Ellyson, Helen Mildred Lewis Glenn. person
associatedWith Ellyson, Helen Mildred Lewis Glenn. person
associatedWith Ellyson, Henry K., person
memberOf United States. Navy corporateBody
Place Name Admin Code Country
Richmond VA US
Chesapeake Bay VA US
Subject
Air pilots, Military
Naval aviation
Naval aviation
Navy Cross (Medal)
World War, 1914-1918
World War, 1914-1918
Occupation
Aviators
Naval officers
Activity

Person

Birth 1885-02-27

Death 1928-02-27

Male

Americans

English

Information

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SNAC ID: 7931247