View source for Godfrey Chevalier

{{Infobox military person
 | name                 = Godfrey de Courcelles Chevalier
 | birth_date           = {{Birth date|1889|3|7}}
 | death_date           = {{death date and age|1922|11|14|1889|3|7}}
 | birth_place          = [[Providence, Rhode Island|Providence]], [[Rhode Island]]
 | death_place          = [[Norfolk, Virginia|Norfolk]], [[Virginia]]
 | image                = LCDR Godfrey Chevalier.jpg
 | caption              = 
 | allegiance           = [[United States|United States of America]]
 | branch               = [[United States Navy]]
 | serviceyears         = 1907-1922
 | rank                 = [[Lieutenant Commander (United States)|Lieutenant Commander]]
 | commands             = Naval Air Station [[Dunkerque]], [[France]]
 | unit                 = 
 | battles              = [[World War I]]
*[[Western Front (World War I)]]
 | awards               = [[Navy Distinguished Service Medal|Distinguished Service Medal]]<br>''[[Croix de Guerre]]''
 | laterwork            = 
}}
[[File:LCDR Godfrey Chevalier first landing aboard USS Langley (CV-1).jpg|thumb|right|300px|{{center|An [[Aeromarine 39]]B piloted by Chevalier is seen just before it touches down on the [[flight deck]] of {{USS|Langley|CV-1}} on 26 October 1922 &ndash; the first landing aboard an American aircraft carrier.}}]]
[[Lieutenant Commander (United States)|Lieutenant Commander]] '''Godfrey de Courcelles Chevalier''', USN (7 March 1889 &ndash; 14 November 1922) was a pioneering [[naval aviator]] of the [[United States Navy]] of [[World War I]] and the early 1920s.

==Biography==
Born in [[Providence, Rhode Island|Providence]], [[Rhode Island]] on 7 March 1889, Chevalier graduated from the [[United States Naval Academy]] in June 1910. He was appointed a Naval Air Pilot on 7 November 1915 and a Naval Aviator on 7 November 1918.

On 8 May 1913, [[Ensign (rank)|ensign]] Chevalier was the passenger in a long-distance flight of 169 miles, flown in a Curtiss flying boat piloted by Lieutenant [[John Henry Towers]], Naval Aviator No. 3, from the [[Washington Navy Yard]] in [[Washington, D.C.]] down the [[Potomac River]] and then up the [[Chesapeake Bay]] to the U.S. Naval Academy at [[Annapolis, Maryland|Annapolis]], [[Maryland]]. The flight took three hours and five minutes.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://home.earthlink.net/~ralphcooper/pimage5.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19991007161420/http://home.earthlink.net/%7Eralphcooper/pimage5.htm |archive-date=1999-10-07 |title=Lieut. Towers Makes Long Flying Boat Run}}</ref>

On 12 July 1916 he participated in the installation of the first real [[aircraft catapult]] used in the U.S. Navy and piloted the first plane to be launched by catapult, from the [[armored cruiser]] {{USS|North Carolina|ACR-12|6}}. In November 1917 he commanded the first [[naval air station]] in [[France]], at [[Dunkerque]], and for [[World War I]] service was awarded the [[Navy Distinguished Service Medal|Distinguished Service Medal]]. On 9 March 1919 he was also awarded the ''[[Croix de Guerre]]''.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y9sDAAAAYAAJ&q=GODFREY+de+COURCELLES+CHEVALIER+LIEUTENANT+COMMANDER%2C+U.S.+NAVAL+AVIATION+SERVICE&pg=PA418|title=New England Aviators 1914-1918: Their Portraits and Their Records, Volume 1|editor=Ticknor, Carol|date=1919|publisher=Houghton Mifflin|page=418|access-date=13 April 2018}}</ref>

In 1922 he was attached to {{USS|Langley|CV-1}}, the first American [[aircraft carrier]], in connection with fitting her out. On 26 October 1922 Lieutenant Commander Chevalier made the first landing on ''Langley''{{'}}s deck, flying [[Aeromarine 39]]B No. 606.

A distinguished pioneer of naval aviation, Chevalier died at the Norfolk Naval Hospital at [[Naval Station Norfolk]] in [[Norfolk, Virginia|Norfolk]], [[Virginia]], on 14 November 1922 as a result of injuries sustained in the 12 November 1922 crash near [[Lockhaven, Virginia|Lockhaven]], Virginia, of a [[Vought VE-7]] he was flying from Naval Air Station Norfolk to [[Yorktown, Virginia|Yorktown]], Virginia.<ref>Linder, Bruce, "Tidewater's Navy", Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Maryland, Library of Congress card number 2005019790, {{ISBN|1-59114-465-5}}, page 154.</ref>

==Namesake==
Two U.S. Navy [[destroyer]]s have been named {{USS|Chevalier}} in his honor, as was [[Chevalier Field]], an airfield at [[Naval Air Station Pensacola]] in [[Pensacola, Florida|Pensacola]], [[Florida]]. The Chevalier Theatre in Medford, Massachusetts is also named for him.

==Awards & Decorations==
{|
|-
|{{ribbon devices|number=0|type=award-star|ribbon=Navy Distinguished Service Medal ribbon.svg|width=80}} [[Navy Distinguished Service Medal]]
|-
|{{ribbon devices|number=1|type=service-star|ribbon=World War I Victory Medal ribbon.svg|width=80}} [[World War I Victory Medal (United States)|World War I Victory Medal]] with one bronze [[service star]]
|}

==Photo gallery==
<gallery>
File:Godfrey Chevalier in whites.jpg|Godfrey de C. Chevalier
File:William d billingsley guantanamo 1913.jpg|Early navy aviators; de C. Chevalier at lower right
File:Early aviators at Pensacola, Florida, 1914.jpg|{{center|Early aviators at the [[Naval Air Station Pensacola|Naval Aeronautic Station]]) in [[Pensacola, Florida|Pensacola]], [[Florida]], in 1914. Ensign Godfrey de C. Chevalier is second from right.}}
File:Five early American naval aviators at Pensacola, Florida.jpg|
File:Godfrey Chevalier in cockpit.jpg|{{center|Godfrey Chevalier in the [[cockpit]] of an unidentified aircraft.}}
</gallery>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{commons category}}
*[https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/c/chevalier-i.html www.history.navy.mil: USS ''Chevalier'']

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chevalier, Godfrey}}
[[Category:1889 births]]
[[Category:1922 deaths]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Rhode Island]]
[[Category:United States Naval Academy alumni]]
[[Category:United States Navy officers]]
[[Category:United States Naval Aviators]]
[[Category:United States Navy personnel of World War I]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Navy Distinguished Service Medal]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Croix de Guerre (France)]]
[[Category:Aviators killed in aviation accidents or incidents in the United States]]
[[Category:Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1922]]