14

UNITED STATES NAVAL AVIATION 1910-1995

1914-Continued

16 February Lieutenant Ug) James M. Murray, Naval

Aviator No. 10, on a flight at Pensacola, Fla., in the

Burgess D-1 flying boat, crashed to the water from 200

feet and was drowned.

20 February The beginnings of Aviation Medicine

were apparent in a letter to the Commanding

Officer at Pensacola, Fla., on the subject of physical

requirements for aviator candidates which expressed

the opinion that useful information could be

obtained by observing pilots during flight and by

physical examination before and after flight. The let-

ter further directed that this be considered and a

program developed that would permit incorporation

of such practice in the work of the flight training

school.

9 March The wind tunnel at the Washington Navy

Yard was tested. Calibration required about three

months, and its first use in July was a test of ship's

ventilator cowling.

27 March The original designations of aircraft were

changed to two letters and a number of which the

first letter denoted class, the second type within a

class, and the number the order in which aircraft

within class were acquired. Four classes were set up;

A for all heavier-than-air craft, D for airships or dirigi-

bles, B for balloons and K for Kites. Within the A

Class, the letters L, H, B, X and C represented land

machines, hydro aeroplanes, flying boats, combination

land and water machines, and convertibles, respec-

tively. Thus the third hydroaeroplane, formerly A-3,

became AH-3, and the first flying boat, formerly C-l,

became AB-l.

20 April First call to action-In less than 24 hours

after receiving orders, an aviation detachment of 3

pilots, 12 enlisted men, and 3 aircraft, under command

of Lieutenant John H. Towers, sailed from Pensacola,

Fla., on board Birmingham (CL 2) to join Atlantic Fleet

forces operating off Tampico in the Mexican crisis.

20 April Mr. A. B. Lambert of St. Louis, Mo.,

informed the Secretary of the Navy that the services of

the Aviation Reserve, which he had organized the year

before, were available for use in the Mexican crisis

and listed the names of 44 members, 20 of whom

could furnish their own aircraft.

21 April A second aviation detachment from

Pensacola, Fla., of one pilot, three student pilots, and

two aircraft, commanded by Lieutenant Ug) Patrick N.

1. Bellinger, embarked on Mississippi (BB 23) and

A viation detachment at Veracruz 1914, Bellinger (ljght) in front of first plane to be hit by hostile gunfire 391984