What aircraft made the first landing on the USS Langley?

On 26 October 1922, Lieutenant Commander Godfrey de Chevalier brought his Aeromarine 39-B onto the flight deck of the USS Langley (CV-1), the United States Navy's first aircraft carrier, while the ship sailed off Cape Henry, Virginia. It was the country's first carrier landing, distinct from earlier shipboard landings. The maneuver was carried out with the Langley underway. In the records, the pilot appears as Godfrey DeCourcelles Chevalier.

Fifty examples of the original design, later known as the 39A, were produced, with twin floats and a Hall-Scott A-7 engine. Then came a redesign that increased the wingspan to generate more lift on takeoffs from water, and that variant came to be called the 39B. The other changes included a switch to a single float with outrigger floats, a larger vertical stabilizer, and replacement of the powerplant with a Curtiss OXX.

The aircraft that Chevalier set down on the Langley was a 39B. The operation took place off Cape Henry with the carrier underway.