Holden C. Richardson

Holden C. Richardson (1878-1960), was a pioneer in U.S. Naval Aviation.

Biography
He was born in 1878.

Richardson learned to fly from Glenn Curtiss in 1913 and he was designated Naval Aviator No. 13. He was the Navy’s first engineering test pilot and helped develop the first Navy-built seaplane, pontoons and hulls that overcame water suction, and a catapult to launch aircraft.

On October 4, 1918, Richardson performed the crucial test flight of the NC-1 flying boat from Jamaica Bay. He then took the plane, with a full crew, for a shakedown flight to the Washington Navy Yard for inspection by Navy leadership. Four days later, the Armistice ended World War I and the military’s need for flying boats abruptly ended.

While Chief Engineer of the Naval Aircraft Factory, Richardson developed a rotatable catapult enabling aircraft to operate from capital ships. In 1925 he led efforts to develop carrier aircraft and patrol planes. He was the first secretary of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics.

He died in 1960.

Legacy
Richardson was enshrined in the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 1978 and in the Naval Aviation Hall of Honor in 1981.