Harry Lyon (aviator)

Harry Lyon [navigator] left, James Warner [right] ca. 1928
The Southern Cross landing in Brisbane in 1928.

American Harry Lyon (1885?–1963?[1]), was the navigator for the first flight across the Pacific in 1928 with Charles Kingsford Smith (as pilot), Charles Ulm (as co-pilot) and fellow-American James Warner as the (radio operator) in the Southern Cross.[2][3]

According to the Spokane Daily Chronicle, he was a son of US Navy Rear Admiral Henry W. Lyon and served as a lieutenant commander on the transport USS Westerner and as first lieutenant aboard the cruiser USS St. Louis during World War I.[4] However, an article of uncertain reliability but much greater detail states that though he was accepted into the United States Naval Academy in 1905, he flunked out and worked in the Merchant Marine, eventually rising to captain of the S.S. Likliki.[1]

After the pioneering flight, he took up rum running in San Francisco, California.[5]

  1. ^ a b McDonald, Ann. "Henry Lyon Jr.: An Old Sea Dog Takes to the Air". www.mainememory.net.
  2. ^ Old Newspaper Articles - various Australian newspaper clippings, with reports and photos about the Pacific Ocean crossing in 1928 Archived 2012-03-15 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ Freeman, Donald B. (2010). The Pacific. Routledge. pp. 122–123. ISBN 9780415775724.
  4. ^ "Four Men Make Hop". Spokane Daily Chronicle. Associated Press. May 31, 1928.
  5. ^ "Harry Lyon the Adventurer". Sausalito News. June 16, 1928.