Aircraft technical Basics: Introduction to Airplanes - Navy Training Courses Edition of 1944: Chapter 8 Naval Aviation

CHAPTER 8 NAVAL AVIATION

FORWARD FROM FORT MYER

In 1908, the Wright brothers demonstrated a new flying machine to a board of military officials gathered at Fort Myer, Va. The NAVY DEPARTMENT detailed two officers to report on the demonstration. They officially recommended that an air-plane equipped with floats be tested in operations from the water.

That was the real beginning of NAVAL AVIATION.

In 1910, Capt. W. I. Chambers approached the Wrights with a proposal that they fly an airplane from the deck of a battleship. The Wrights, however, believed that such a venture was too hazardous and declined the invitation.

Meanwhile, in a bicycle shop at Hammondsport, N. Y., Glenn H. Curtiss was busy building engines for bicycles. The light-weight Curtiss bicycle engines attracted the attention of a California air-ship builder who was up against apparently unsolvable engine difficulties. This chap made a deal with Curtiss to produce engines for his motor balloons. This was the beginning of Glenn Curtiss' interest in aviation. In due time he produced an AIRPLANE all his own - the "Junebug." It was followed by other successful airplanes of Curtiss design, and Curtiss soon was known throughout the world as a leading figure in aviation.

Captain Chambers proposed that Curtiss arrange a demonstration flight from a battleship deck. Curtiss, answering opportunity's knock, agreed to try. The U. S. S. Birmingham, then lying at Hampton Roads, Va., was chosen for the trial. A 60-foot wooden platform was constructed on her bow to provide a take-off runway.

Picked by Curtiss for this important task was a pilot named Eugene Ely. In November 1910 he gave his airplane the gun on the Birmingham's deck, roared down the platform and calmly flew to TERRA FIRMA - dry land to you.

Opportunity had not gone begging. Sensing the favorable impression Ely's flight had made, Curtiss lost no time in offering to teach a Naval officer to fly. The Navy responded by ordering Lt. T. G. Ellyson to report to the Curtiss camp.

Before enthusiasm could cool off, Curtiss also cooked up another demonstration with even more punch to it than the first. Taking off from the Presidio in San Francisco, Pilot Ely flew to the U. S. S. Pennsylvania, at anchor in the harbor, and landed aboard a 120-foot platform on her deck. Later he turned about, took off, and flew back to shore.

OF WHAT USE was the airplane to the Navy ? That was a fair question. To be useful, the air-plane should IMPROVE rather than lessen the efficiency of a fighting ship. The platform on the Pennsylvania INTERFERED with the normal operation of some of her guns, making them useless for action.

The Secretary of the Navy informed Curtiss that the airplane would be useful only when it could fly alongside a battleship, alight on water, and be HOISTED ABOARD without using any false deck. With Lieutenant Ellyson's help, the Curtiss organization built, tested, and discarded float after float in an effort to find suitable methods for air-planes to alight on water. In January 1911 a floating airplane was ready. It flew out to the Pennsylvania and was hoisted aboard. Later when lowered again to the water by crane, the seaplane was flown back to shore.

Here was something the Navy COULD use. Captain Chambers was detailed to the Bureau of Navigation (now Bureau of Naval Personnel) to devote all his time to the establishment of a NAVAL AVIATION SERVICE. He went after more airplanes and pilots. A camp was established near Annapolis, Md., and the first Naval aviation organization began functioning. By 1912 the Navy boasted 10 pilots and 3 airplanes.

Progress continued slowly until war came to America in 1917 and brought the Navy face to face with the problem of IMMEDIATE expansion. One air station, 38 Naval aviators, 163 enlisted men, 54 airplanes - that was Naval aviation when America entered World War I. More . . . MORE  .....  MORE, airplanes were needed. The Navy built its own aircraft factory at the Philadelphia Navy Yard. In terms of World War I requirements it did a bang-up job.

At the time of the Armistice, 183 twin-engine flying boats had been delivered by this factory. In addition, 21 Naval Aviation Schools and stations were in operation, 22 aviation bases had been established abroad, and 2,107 airplanes, 2,049 officers, and 43,452 enlisted men were attached to the Navy's air arm.

Just as the war ended, Curtiss delivered four large four-engine flying boats to the Navy. They comprised the later famous "NC" Division. In May 1919 the NC-1, NC-3, and NC-4 flying boats took off from Newfoundland for Europe. Heavy fogs made it necessary for the NC-1 and NC-3 to come down near the Azores. But the NC-4 MADE IT ! With Lt. Comdr. A. C. Read in charge, it reached the Azores a day after the Newfoundland take-off and proceeded thereafter to Portugal and England. It was the FIRST AIRPLANE TO FLY ACROSS THE ATLANTIC !

The production of new airplane types fell off during the decade following the war. But the Navy made strides in the air, nevertheless. The AIRCRAFT CARRIER was developed. In 1921 an act of Congress authorized the establishment of the Navy's BUREAU OF AERONAUTICS. President Harding named Rear Admiral W. A. Moffett as its first chief. In the years that followed, Naval aviation compiled an impressive list of aviational FIRSTS, and developed countless improvements in the techniques and machinery of military flying.

Today the soundness of the Navy's planning is being proved in all theaters of combat. Naval aviation has MET THE TEST, and will continue to meet it. Its success could not have been the product of haste and sudden necessity, however. In point of fact, it has been the result of the Navy's dissatisfaction with things that were merely "good enough," and the pioneering spirit that such dissatisfaction engendered.

It was Uncle Sam's Navy - YOUR Navy - that first brought out the dive bomber, the torpedo bomber, and the catapult used for launching sea-planes from the decks of cruisers and battleships. It was YOUR Navy that fostered the development of the air-cooled radial engine which has now reached such high stages of perfection. And it was YOUR Navy that insisted on the inclusion of heavy firepower, heavy armor, and selfsealing  gasoline tanks in its airplanes for the protection of pilots and crews.

DESIGNATION SYMBOLS

Naval aircraft are divided into a number of classes, according to the missions they are designed to perform. A system of symbols has been worked out to make it simpler for you to identify these classes.

Each general classification of aircraft has its own designation in the Navy.

"V" DESIGNATES HEAVIER-THAN-AIR CRAFT. "Z " DENOTES LIGHTER-THAN-AIR CRAFT. "VL" IDENTIFIES GLIDERS. "VH" DESIGNATES HELICOPTERS.

The mission for which each craft has been de-signed is indicated by the addition of another letter or, in cases where it performs two functions, by two letters. Where two letters are used, the first indicates the primary function and the other denotes the secondary function. Such mission-identifying letters follow the general aircraft designation.

When you're referring to an individual model of any class of airplane, you add on a number identifying the model (unless it is the first model), a letter indicating the manufacturer, and a dash followed by a number denoting the modification of the model. The letter "V" at the beginning is omitted. Thus, the airplane known as PB2Y–2 tells its story right in its symbols. The letters and numbers indicate that it is a patrol bomber, the second model made by Consolidated-Vultee Aircraft Corp. (for which company the symbol "Y" is used), and that the airplane model in question has been modified to some degree from the original design.

Naval aircraft manufacturers are designated by the following letters.

MEET THE AIR FLEET

How does the Navy's air fleet stack up in this war?

It's TOPS!

In each major combat type - fighters, dive bombers, and torpedo planes - the Navy has airplanes far superior to corresponding types with which it fought so successfully during even the earlier months of the war. These new types have increased the advantage over the enemy in those crucial split-seconds of action that spell the difference between victory and defeat. They have more power, more speed, more range, than any comparable airplanes yet seen in action.

Similar improvements in the Navy's patrol, transport, scouting, and cargo planes give the good men in these important branches of the service greater and greater assistance in carrying out their vital missions.

Turn the page and meet the AIR FLEET - some of the outstanding airplanes of Naval Aviation.

(From this point (page 86 to 113) follows a section with aircraft descriptions, silhouettes and photos. Since the information contained is very limited, this section is left out)