[5] Ely was living in San Francisco at the time of the great earthquake and fire of 1906[6] and was active there in the early days of the sales and racing of automobiles.

[7] He flew it in the Portland area, then headed to Minneapolis, Minnesota, in June 1910 to participate in an exhibition, where he met Curtiss and started working for him.

[7] After an unsuccessful attempt in Sioux City, Iowa,[11] Ely's first reported exhibition on behalf of Curtiss was in Winnipeg in July 1910.

On November 14, 1910, Ely took off in a Curtiss Pusher from a temporary platform erected over the bow of the light cruiser USS Birmingham.

[7][nb 1] The airplane plunged downward as soon as it cleared the 83-foot platform runway; and the aircraft wheels dipped into the water before rising.

[7] John Barry Ryan, head of the U.S. Aeronautical Reserve, offered $500 to build the platform, and a $500 prize, for a ship-to-shore flight.

[14] Two months later, on January 18, 1911, Ely landed his Curtiss Pusher airplane on a platform on the armored cruiser USS Pennsylvania anchored in San Francisco Bay.

"[7] To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the flight, navy commander Bob Coolbaugh flew a personally built replica of Ely's Curtiss from the runway at NAS Norfolk on November 12, 2010.