A-1 Triad

The museum’s A-1 Triad is one of two replicas of the Navy’s first airplane built to commemorate the 50^th anniversary of Naval Aviation in 1961.  The name Triad reflected the fact that it could operate from the water using the single float, on land using wheels and in the air.  The A-1 was the airplane in which Lieutenant Theodore G. Ellyson, the Navy’s first aviator, made many of his early flights, including testing catapults that would allow airplanes to fly from ships.