20 June 1913

William Devotie Billingsley, designated as Naval Aviator No. 9, was the first naval aviator killed in an airplane crash. On June 20, 1913, while piloting the Wright B-2 at 1,600 feet over water near Annapolis, Maryland, he was thrown from the plane and fell to his death. Admiral John Henry Towers, also unseated in the turbulence, was nearly killed in the same accident as he clung to the plane and fell with it into the water.