THE STORY OF NAVAL AVIATION

these are the 1954 planes of your navy jet fighters heavy attack planes built to take off a carrier's deck and deliver a bomb load deep in enemy territory helicopters patrol bombers seaplanes every type of aircraft needed to guard our nation and to strike back at any aggressor but sleek and fast and modern as these planes are the ingenuity and inventiveness of aircraft designers will make them obsolete in a short time as obsolete as the planes of world war ii the planes of world war one or planes like the one in which the rights made their historic flight in 1903. for the story of naval aviation parallels the story of aviation itself it has progressed through conflict man against the air man against the sea man against the airplane culminating in the conquest of the air the sea the airplane just seven years after the rights flight at kitty hawk farsighted navy strategists assigned captain washington irving chambers the job of observing and reporting on aviation developments of particular concern to the navy in november 1910 eugene ely a civilian pilot successfully flew his curtis-built plane off the deck of the cruiser birmingham another demonstration a few months later ely used a crude arresting gear of cables and sandbags to land on the cruiser pennsylvania doubters were convinced an appropriation of thousand dollars in 1911 procured for the navy its first land plane and two seaplanes like this one three planes and one aviator lieutenant tg ellison trained by glenn curtis the first aviation training camp was established at annapolis in 1911. a very small group of officer students including the first marine aviator lieutenant a.a cunningham began to study the problems of flight catapult experiments from barges and later from ships were begun in 1912. seaplane operations had developed to the point where seaplane units could take part in the mexican intervention of 1914. at veracruz a plane piloted by a lieutenant later admiral ballinger was fired upon the first navy plane damaged in combat world war one gave naval aviation a chance to show what it had learned during its short existence nearly 3 000 planes were built by curtis martin boeing and others thousands of pilots and observers were trained to utilize the navy's new weapon haste was essential german u-boats were threatening our supply lines and periling the allied effort the naval aviation unit commanded by lieutenant kenneth whiting was one of the first american groups to reach europe from coast bases in england italy and france flyers took off on u-boat patrols and raided german submarine pens on the north sea the davis non-recoiling rifle was developed as an anti-submarine weapon naval aircraft designers had learned much from early wartime experiences their combined design talents produced the nc patrol planes a joint effort of curtis and navy these were completed too late to see action however but a greater future was planned for them under commander john towers three of the nc's left new york in may 1919 to attempt a transatlantic flight to portugal via newfoundland and the azores only the nc4 made it all the way the mc4 skipper lieutenant commander albert reed and his crew were given a dignified welcome in england and a noisy one in new york now came the 1920s a period of rapid development in aircraft and flight operations established to conduct the expanding program of naval air the bureau of aeronautics under its first chief rear admiral william moffat began to shape the destiny of aviation in naval planning the main purpose to send planes to sea on ships first gun turrets of capital ships were rigged to launch aircraft the equipment was not always dependable to take the risk out of such launchings catapults were strengthened so that cruisers and battleships could carry their own aerial scouts successful takeoff sent mines leaping ahead to the next logical step ships that could carry many planes floating airfields to provide the concentration of force necessary for effective sea air attack the time for the aircraft carrier was near but exhaustive tests with the resting gear had first to be conducted on land to find some way of stopping a fast plane from crashing into parked aircraft by 1922 a resting gear was available that could do the job and it was installed on the navy's first carrier a decked over old collier christened the uss langley lieutenant godfrey chevalier one of naval aviation's pioneers made the navy's first carrier landing in an aero marine there was still much to learn about deck operations but nothing discouraged the determined aviators they kept trying this was a new problem demanding the utmost in skill and precision these pioneers risked their lives to gain experience to test new ideas and perfect new techniques eventually their courage and determination paid off carrier operations became routine a model of speed and efficiency and the navy had a new weapon to use with the big guns of the battle fleet meanwhile designers were working with the first wind tunnel models to create aircraft specially adapted to the navy's needs one of the first of these was the martin torpedo bomber answering a long-standing hope of naval tacticians tests showed that in the torpedo plane the navy had a potent weapon against the threat of other large navies the performance of other navy planes was being improved development of the radial air cooled engine meant less weight for horsepower and the resultant weight saving committed heavier bomb loads and the longer range for the plane one of these new plane types the hell diver became world famous for dive bombing accuracy marine and navy interest in this precise form of bombing paid off in a big way when war came precision bombing of land and sea objectives was an art one that had been perfected by years of practice and teamwork gunnery training on land and target practice in the air developed training techniques that gave the navy a reputation for accurate shooting other schools trained crewmen in aircraft maintenance and engine repair in the 20s navy lieutenant al williams set many world speed records demonstrating the rapid improvement that was being made in naval aircraft design navy competition in international speed classics like the schneider trophy race for seaplanes accelerated design improvements that ultimately benefited all aviation civilian and military the washington disarmament conference of 1922 forced us to scrap plans for two half-built battle cruisers but allowed them to be converted and completed as aircraft carriers the secretary of the navy demonstrated how landings and takeoffs were to be made from the flight deck much longer and wider than the langleys these two carriers were christened saratoga and lexington beginning the tradition of naming aircraft carriers for great battles both participated in the war games of the late twenties these exercises confirmed beliefs that carrier-based and operated aircraft would open a new era of sea air power the saratoga and the lexington were joined by others in the 30s the ranger yorktown enterprise hornet and wasp for runners of a mighty armada soon to come after world war one the navy undertook the development of large rigid airships as long-range scouts the eyes of the fleet a virtual monopoly of helium gave the u.s a world advantage in airship development naval planners revealed great imagination and resourcefulness in adapting the airship to navy needs a navy tanker the patoka served as a sea-going base for the airships permitting them to operate with the fleet for extended periods an aircraft hook-on device allowed the airship to carry planes for its own defense or for attack it was in fact an airborne aircraft carrier but better performance of navy planes made the airship scouting value questionable when in the mid 30s the tragic loss of the akron and macon demonstrated their vulnerability to bad weather the navy's rigid airship program was abandoned however blimps the non-rigid airship did valuable work as convoy escorts a few years later in the battle of the atlantic in 1925 commander john rogers on the right and the crew of four men left san francisco in the first attempt to fly to hawaii the pn9 their metal hulled flying boat set a world's distance record of 1800 miles before being forced down at sea rigging a wing as a sail commander rogers proved himself a seaman as well as an airman sailing the pm-9 the remaining 450 miles to hawaii the constant effort to build long-range capabilities into naval patrol aircraft resulted in improved flying boat design what the navy learned about the great catalina was passed on to civilian airlines aiding the inauguration of scheduled trans-pacific flights in 1936 the highly accurate norton bomb site was developed under navy auspices and became the standard site for all u.s horizontal bombing aircraft the bulky undercarriage of the earlier fighters was eventually replaced by retractable landing gear decreasing drag and increasing speed the old biplane gave way to the monoplane and speeds jumped again all the development since the first world war the long-range flying boat the dive bomber the torpedo plane the concept of a mobile task force the development of tough and powerful fighters and above all the superb training of pilots and crew men were soon called to meet the greatest challenge our navy had yet faced japanese carrier aircraft struck when the smoke had cleared and losses were evaluated our proud pacific fleet was temporarily out of action gloom settled thickly over the country but the navy's top strategists thanked god that all our carriers were at sea december 7 and though few in number were ready to launch their planes in counter-attack now naval aviation would be given an opportunity to justify the years of its development the training of thousands of men the time and money and sweat expended on it airmen turned grimly to the task before them the carriers of the pacific fleet launched a series of raids on the japanese-held islands the marshals wake and the gilders in may 1942 they found and stopped the enemy in the coral sea the japanese were forced to turn back from their goal australia despite losses naval air won its first strategic victory and followed it a month later by battering the enemy at midway this was the turning point in the pacific war the enemy was stalled hawaii and the united states were spared attack back home thousands of aviation cadets were headed for action training facilities were expanded rapidly as the temple of war increased only the finest could become navy pilots long hours of practice taught exact landing techniques some learned the acrobatics essential for fighters others mastered multi-engine aircraft and with their crew men conditioned themselves for hours of monotonous yet vital patrols men were trained to keep the planes flying engine maintenance radar radio the accumulated knowledge of 30 years was packed into a few months america was in a hurry in the atlantic the navy was fighting another enemy one it had battled before the german u-boat hundreds of allied merchant ships went to the bottom before the u.s could organize its defenses navy patrol planes joined forces with surface units to range the atlantic from iceland to rio back and forth across the caribbean too searching searching searching for the telltale periscope for the foaming wake for the shadowy reflection of a submarine just below the surface blimps joined the hunt as convoy escorts but all this was not enough the mid-ocean areas could not be covered by land-based search planes the navy's answer was the escort carrier born of necessity these hastily built baby flat tops joined the fleet in 1943 and with their planes teamed with destroyers eventually scourged the german u-boats from the atlantic the capture and boarding of the u-505 by a jeep carrier and destroyer hunter killer group climaxed the navy's action in the atlantic at war's end naval air power had accounted for 99 enemy submarines in the pacific meanwhile our offensive was underway guadalcanal saw heroic holding action by navy and marine airmen flying from henderson field the offensive gained momentum with new fighters like the hellcat and the corsair torpedo bombers like the avenger rockets gave a mighty wallop to our navy planes radar came to our aid too on shipboard in planes and in anti-submarine operations no longer could the enemy evade us in darkness or in part the all-seeing eye of radar would find him plot his course and guide our planes in for the kill the pattern of the pacific war emerged as one of island hopping across the reaches of the once tranquil ocean army and marine invasion forces relied on naval air to soften up enemy defenses assault leaders spotted enemy emplacements called for air support to wipe them out men in the combat information centers aboard ship plotted quickly carefully american lives hung in the balance waiting for help from the floating airfields fighters swept over the beaches sought the enemy hidden in his bunkers blasted strafed burned until the island was secure in the battle of the philippine sea in 1944 naval air scored its greatest triumph over japanese carrier aircraft now remembered as the marianas turkey chute navy gunners on ship and in the air and in the space of one day shut down 400 attacking enemy planes japanese naval air was ruined its funeral was held at lady gulf japan fought back with land-based suicide planes all the aircraft she could get off the ground but it was too late she had been defeated on land on sea and most decisively in the air over the sea naval aviation had led the way across the pacific the coral sea midway the solomons the marshals the marianas the philippines finally okinawa and the japanese home islands 30 years of struggle in developing naval air power had paid off in victory now the navy turned to its new job keeping the peace the faster and heavier planes of the post-war navy required a new carrier class one with a longer reinforced flight deck the midway and others of her class were designed as carriers must be to keep pace with technological advances in ship and aircraft design for the jets were coming squadrons of phantoms banshees and panthers joined the fleet the jet age was here to stay to keep the peace an expanded naval air reserve was established at a number of naval air stations throughout the country enlisted reservists studied radio radar electronics and jet aircraft maintenance weekend warrior pilots filled the skies over naval air stations and participated in fleet operations during summer cruises valuable wartime skills were being retained ready for use in another emergency the navy's activities were far flung in the post-war years 1946 found a task force in the antarctic ocean on a mission of survey and exploration from the air planes like this pbm mapped 5500 miles of the coastline of antarctica the next year the truculent turtle a p2v patrol plane shattered all previous distance records by flying non-stop from perth australia to columbus ohio the turtle set a world's distance record of over 11 000 miles 55 hours in the air without refueling helicopters assumed the observation duties formerly performed by catapulted float planes the navy and the marine corps used these versatile craft in many ways in the post-war years new weapons were tested and added to the navy's arsenal this launching of a captured german rocket was only one of many operational tests to determine the feasibility of launching rockets and guided missiles from ships and aircraft the same explosive force was used to power the high-speed skyrocket beyond the sound barrier and into the future at speeds exceeding eleven hundred miles an hour aided by reserves of man and planes naval air was ready to strike back the moment the korean war started air attacks on aggressor strong points began within a few days with new attack aircraft and jets going into combat for the first time navy and marine airmen flew round-the-clock strikes to [ __ ] the enemy's communications and transport close air support of the troops at the front became a specialty the concept of carrier aviation devised so long ago by the pioneers once again proved a powerful force because of the carrier's mobility naval air was able to attack anywhere on the korean peninsula ship and shore based helicopters transported men and material in assault support evacuated wounded to hospital ships and rescued americans trapped behind enemy lines today in an uneasy world the navy stands ready to repel an aggressive attack wherever in the world it might occur carrier-based bombers carrying devastating weapons can attack far inland to strike at bases from which such attacks might originate the same plane equipped as a flying tanker can refuel the shorter range jet fighters while they are on the way to the target the significance of this flexibility the mobile striking power of carrier aviation is not lost on a potential enemy working closely with surface elements of the fleet is the new n-class airship crammed with electronic devices to find enemy submarines far beneath the sea great strides have been made in the design of carriers as well as aircraft the carrier antietam veteran of korean action was recently given a completely new look with the construction of an angled deck now for the first time planes can land from a mission at the same time another strike is being launched from the forward end of the ship the angled flight deck will be a feature on carriers of the forestall class shown here in this model huge fuel storage tanks will enable ships of this class to remain at sea for many months if necessary without replenishment the forest all and other carriers to come will handle the navy's newest jet aircraft as routinely as the langley learned to handle her slow speed propeller driven biplanes some of the pioneers of the early days are gone men like moffat ellison and rogers but new airmen have taken their places men who know that wars can no longer be won by land or sea power alone to be effective sea power must today have one mighty arm reaching high into the sky you