1887?-1967

American aviator who commanded the first heavier-than-air craft to fly across the Atlantic Ocean. Read, then a Lieutenant Commander in the U. S. Navy, commanded one of three five-man navy flying boats that left Newfoundland on May 16, 1919, bound for the Azores island chain and ultimately Portugal. The other two planes were forced to land at sea, by Read's NC-4 remained airborne for the entire trip, flying 1,400 miles (2,253 km) in roughly 15 hours.