View source for Harry Lyon (aviator)


[[File:Warner Lyons slnsw P1-1041.jpg|thumb| Harry Lyon [navigator] left, James Warner [right] ca. 1928]]
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[[File:StateLibQld 1 139254 Landing the aircraft, Southern Cross in Brisbane, Queensland, ca. 1928.jpg|thumb|The ''Southern Cross'' landing in Brisbane in 1928.]]
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American '''Harry Lyon''' (1885?–1963?<ref name=MMN>{{cite web |url=https://www.mainememory.net/sitebuilder/site/272/page/531/display?use_mmn=1 |title=Henry Lyon Jr.: An Old Sea Dog Takes to the Air |first=Ann |last=McDonald |website=www.mainememory.net}}</ref>), 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 (aviator)|James Warner]] as the ([[radio operator]]) in the [[Southern Cross (aircraft)|Southern Cross]].<ref>[http://www.pirep.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1967&sid=d972bca075fe42c7e4de50d7e3623724 Old Newspaper Articles - various Australian newspaper clippings, with reports and photos about the Pacific Ocean crossing in 1928] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120315053356/http://www.pirep.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1967&sid=d972bca075fe42c7e4de50d7e3623724 |date=2012-03-15 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Freeman|first=Donald B.|title=The Pacific|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Im8_io3M_2oC&pg=PA122|year=2010|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9780415775724|pages=122–123}}</ref>

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|ID-2890|6}} and as first lieutenant aboard the cruiser {{USS|St. Louis|C-20|6}} during [[World War I]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1338&dat=19280531&id=Hc1XAAAAIBAJ&sjid=pfQDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4763,5859919&hl=en |title=Four Men Make Hop |date=May 31, 1928 |newspaper=Spokane Daily Chronicle |agency=[[Associated Press]]}}</ref> 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 [[United States Merchant Marine|Merchant Marine]], eventually rising to captain of the S.S. ''Likliki''.<ref name=MMN/>

After the pioneering flight, he took up [[rum running]] in San Francisco, California.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=SN19280616.2.18 |title=Harry Lyon the Adventurer |date=June 16, 1928 |newspaper=[[Sausalito News]]}}</ref>

==References==
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==External links==
* [http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-158023292/view 1928 photograph of Warner and Lyon], [[National Library of Australia]]
* [https://mirc.sc.edu/islandora/object/usc:4438 Southern Cross crew welcomed--outtakes], [[University of South Carolina]] Moving Image Research Collections
* [https://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn181369 Harry Lyon Map Collection], [[National Library of Australia]]

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[[Category:Year of death missing]]
[[Category:American aviators]]
[[Category:American navigators]]
[[Category:Flight navigators]]
[[Category:Year of birth uncertain]]


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