8

UNITED STATES NAVAL AVIATION 1910-1995

1911-Continued

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Herbstel; Rodgers and Wiegand with B-1 1053801 (NHF)

na, reeled out after take-off, was found to be too

weak, and no definite results were obtained.

26 December Search for a shipboard launching

device continued as Captain Washington 1. Chambers

reported that the Bureau of Ordnance was interested in

experimenting with a catapult for launching aeroplanes

somewhat after the manner of launching torpedoes.

29 December The aviators at Annapolis, Md., were

ordered to transfer with their equipment to North

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Na vy Wljght, B-1 after installation of pontoon 428225

Island, San Diego, Calif. to set up an Aviation Camp

on land offered for the purpose by Glenn H. Curtiss.

1912

9 March Interest in steel and aluminum as aircraft

structural materials was evident in a letter from

Assistant Naval Constructor Holden C. Richardson,

who wrote to Captain Washington 1. Chambers, "From

all I can gather, there is little doubt that much greater

confidence would be felt if pontoons were constructed

with a metal skin. . . . It would be unwise to make any

requisition for such a construction until a practically

standard design has been developed."

11 March An early, if limited, interest in the heli-

copter was shown as the Secretary of the Navy autho-

rized expenditure of not more than $50 for developing

models of a helicopter design proposed by Chief

Machinist's Mate F.E. Nelson of West Virginia

(Armored Cruiser No.5). The Secretary's accompany-

ing policy implication was followed with a few excep-

tions for the next 30 years: "The Department recog-

nizes the value of the helicopter principle in the

design of naval aircraft and is following closely the

efforts of others in this direction."

23 March Chief Electrician Howard E. Morin con-

ducted experiments with wireless at Mare Island Navy

Yard, San Francisco, Calif., in which he made transmis-

sions from a dummy airplane fuselage hoisted to a

height of 85 feet, which were received by a station at

Point Richmond, Calif., 20 miles distant.

22 May 1 st Lieutenant Alfred A. Cunningham,

USMC, the first Marine Corps officer assigned to flight

instruction and later designated Naval Aviator No.5,

reported to the Superintendent of the Naval Academy

for "duty in connection with aviation" and subsequent-

ly was ordered to the Burgess Company at Marble-

head, Mass., for flight instruction. This date is recog-

nized as the birthday of Marine Corps aviation.

21 June Lieutenant Theodore G. Ellyson ascended

900 feet over Annapolis, Md. in 3 minutes and 30 sec-

onds in the A-I.

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20 July Comparative tests of Wright steel wire and

Monel wire were conducted at Engineering

Experiment Station Annapolis, Md., by the Aviation

Camp. These, the earliest recorded Navy tests of air-

craft structural materials, showed the Monel wire to be

both free of corrosion and 50 percent stronger than

the steel wire.