12

UNITED STATES NAVAL AVIATION 1910-1995

1913-Continued

Company and Curtiss D-l, were listed as: compass,

altimeter, inclinometer, speed indicator, chart board,

radio, and generator. Although the radio and generator

were not installed, the remaining equipment was repre-

sentative instrumentation on naval aircraft of the period.

10 April Performance standards for qualification as a

Navy Air Pilot, and issuance of a certificate to all offi-

cers meeting the requirements, were approved by the

Secretary of the Navy. They were described by

Chambers as being different from those of the "land

pilot" and more exacting than the requirements of the

international accrediting agency, the Federation

Aeronautique Internationale.

28 April Chief of the Bureau of Navigation Rear

Admiral Victor Blue approved a proposal that the

Navy Department, Glenn Curtiss, and the Sperry

Company cooperate in testing the gyroscopic stabilizer

on a new Navy airplane.

9 May President Woodrow Wilson approved the

designation of representatives of governmental depart-

ments to serve on an advisory committee for the

Langley Aerodynamical Laboratory which had been

reopened by the Smithsonian Institution on 1 May.

Navy members of the advisory committee were

Captain Washington 1. Chambers and Lieutenant

Holden C. Richardson, CC, USN.

12 June Secretary of the Navy approved detailing

Lieutenant Jerome C. Hunsaker, CC, USN, to the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology to develop "a

course of lectures and experiments on the design of

aeroplanes and dirigibles, and to undertake research

in that field." After making a tour of aeronautical

research facilities in Europe, Hunsaker participated in

establishing a course of aeronautical engineering at

M.1.T. in the Department of Naval Architecture.

13 June Lieutenant Ug) Patrick N. 1. Bellinger, flying

the Curtiss A-3 at Annapolis, Md., set an American alti-

tude record for seaplanes, reaching 6,200 feet.

20 June Ensign William D. Billingsley, piloting the

B-2 at 1,600 feet over the water near Annapolis, Md.,

was thrown from the plane and fell to his death, the

first fatality of Naval Aviation. Lieutenant John H.

Towers, riding as passenger, was also unseated but

clung to the plane and fell with it into the water,

.

.

.

...

receIvIng senous InJunes.

23 June

A General Order fixed the cognizance of

various bureaus in aviation in a manner paralleling the

division of responsibility for naval vessels.

30 August A Sperry gyroscopic stabilizer (automatic

pilot) was flight tested in the C-2 Curtiss flying boat by

Lieutenant (jg) Patrick N. 1. Bellinger at

Hammondsport, N. Y.

30 August In a report to the Secretary of the Navy,

the General Board expressed its opinion that "the

organization of an efficient naval air service should be

immediately taken in hand and pushed to fulfillment."

5 October Initial trials of the Navy's first amphibian fly-

ing boat-the OWL, or Over- Water-Land type-were

completed at Hammondsport, N.Y., under the supervi-

sion of Lieutenant Holden C. Richardson, CC, USN. The

aircraft, subsequently redesignated E-1, was the A-2

hydroaeroplane in which the pontoon was replaced with

a flying boat hull containing a three-wheel landing gear.

7 October The Secretary of the Navy appointed a

board of officers, with Captain Washington 1.

Chambers as senior member, to draw up "a compre-

hensive plan for the organization of a Naval

Aeronautic Service." Its report, submitted after 12 days

of deliberation, emphasized the need for expansion

and for the integration of aviation with the fleet, and

was in all respects the first comprehensive program for

an orderly development of Naval Aviation. Its recom-

mendations included the establishment of an

Aeronautic Center at Pensacola, Fla., for flight and

ground training and for the study of advanced aero-

nautic engineering; establishment of a central aviation

office under the Secretary to coordinate the aviation

work of the Bureaus; the assignment of a ship for

training in operations at sea and to make practical

tests of equipment necessary for such operations; the

assignment of one aircraft to every major combatant

ship; and the expenditure of $1,297,700 to implement

the program.

17 December Captain Mark 1. Bristol reported to

the Navy Department for special duty as officer in

charge of aviation, thereby relieving Captain

Washington 1. Chambers of that duty.

1914

6 January The Marine Corps element of the Aviation

Camp at Annapolis, Md., under Lieutenant Bernard 1.

Smith, USMC, and equipped with a flying boat, an

amphibian, spare parts, and hangar tents, was ordered

to Culebra Island, P.R., for exercises with the Advance

Base Unit.