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[John Ousterhout]

"Archie" Stone was the pilot and navigator on the Navy Curtis flying boat NC-4, the first aircraft to cross the Atlantic (8-31 May, 1919 - that's right, 23 days!).  While researching early Navy aviator training I was surprised to read that Archie Stone served on the the revenue cutter Itasca in 1914!  He later became an aviator (Coast Guard aviator #1) and eventually was responsible for much the pre-WWII training regimen and early Coast Guard aviation.  He was also quite a character by what I've read so far.
I still haven't learned exactly what training early Navy and Coast Guard aviators had.  It has a bearing on the flyover search of Gardner.  Commander Stone was heavily involved in search and rescue training of his day (prior to 1935).

[Bruce Thomas]

"Archie" Stone was the pilot and navigator on the Navy Curtis flying boat NC-4, the first aircraft to cross the Atlantic (8-31 May, 1919 - that's right, 23 days!).  While researching early Navy aviator training I was surprised to read that Archie Stone served on the the revenue cutter Itasca in 1914!  He later became an aviator (Coast Guard aviator #1) and eventually was responsible for much the pre-WWII training regimen and early Coast Guard aviation.  He was also quite a character by what I've read so far.
I still haven't learned exactly what training early Navy and Coast Guard aviators had.  It has a bearing on the flyover search of Gardner.  Commander Stone was heavily involved in search and rescue training of his day (prior to 1935).

John, of course that was an earlier ship named Itasca. It was originally built for the Navy in 1893 (as USS Bancroft), became a Revenue Cutter Service vessel in 1907, and was decommissioned in 1922. The USCGC Itasca of Amelia Earhart fame was commissioned in 1930.