36

UNITED STATES NAVAL AVIATION 1910-1995

1918-Continued

5 August A flying boat piloted by Ensign Ashton W.

Hawkins with Lieutenant (jg) George F. Lawrence as

second pilot, took off from NAS Killingholme,

England, in rain and poor visibility at 10:30 p.m. to

patrol a course intercepting a reported Zeppelin raid.

The patrol was made in good weather above the

clouds without sighting the enemy and came down

through heavy weather at South Shields, England, at

5:30 a.m. almost out of fuel. It was the first American

night combat patrol out of Killingholme and may have

been the first of the war by a U.S. Naval Aviator.

11 August Ensign James B. Taylor made the initial

flight in the Loening M-2 Kitten landplane at Mineola,

Long Island, N.Y. This aircraft, which was intended for

use aboard ship, was not successful; but is of special

interest because it was the first monoplane developed

under Navy contract; was one of the smallest aircraft

ever built for the Navy with an empty weight of less

than 300 pounds, and, although equipped with a

British ABC motor for flight, was designed for use with

a two-cylinder Lawrance 30-horsepower air-cooled

engine which was the predecessor of the large

American air-cooled radial engines.

15 August Independent offensive operations of the

Northern Bombing Group began as Ensign Leslie R.

Taber of Air Squadron 1, piloted a Caproni bomber in

a night raid on the submarine repair docks at Ostend,

Germany. Ensign Charles Fahy was second pilot and

D. C. Hale rear gunner on the flight.

19 August NAS Halifax, Nova Scotia, the first of two

air stations established in Canada, was placed in oper-

ating status to conduct patrols over the northern

approaches to the Atlantic coast, Lieutenant Richard E.

Byrd commanding.

19 August In trial runs observed by Naval

Constructors Holden C. Richardson and Charles N.

Liqued, the Kirkham 18-T experimental triplane fight-

er, built by the Curtiss Company, achieved speeds of

161, 162, and 158 miles per hour, over a measured

course.

21 August A flight of bombers and fighters from

NAS Porto Corsini, Italy, was intercepted by a superior

force of Austro-Hungarian planes over the Austro-

Hungarian naval base at Pola on the Adriatic Sea.

During the ensuing fight, one American plane was

forced down 3 miles from the harbor entrance. Ensign

Charles H. Hammann, whose fighter plane was also

damaged, evaded his pursuers and landed alongside

the downed pilot; took him on board and flew back to

base. For his extraordinary heroism in effecting the

rescue under hazardous conditions, Ensign Hammann

was later awarded the Medal of Honor.

1 September In a reorganization of aviation forces

abroad, the Commander, U.S. Naval Aviation Forces,

Foreign Service, was assigned to the Staff of the

Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Operating in European

Waters, as the Aide for Aviation, and unit commands

were set up for France, England, Ireland, Italy, and the

Northern Bombing Group to control and direct the

operations of stations and units in their respective areas.

3 September The first naval air operations from

bases in Ireland began from NAS Lough Foyle with

patrols over the North Channel entrance to the Irish

Sea.

23 September The flywheel catapult, a forerunner

of those installed aboard the Lexington and Saratoga,

was used successfully to launch a flying bomb at

Copiague, Long Island, N.Y. Development of this cata-

pult by the Sperry Company had been undertaken in

connection with the Bureau of Ordnance flying bomb

project.

23 September The Aircraft Radio School at

Pensacola, Fla., began a course of instruction for

Aircraft Radio Electricians which included code work,

semaphore and blinker study, gunnery, and laboratory

work. This school was transferred subsequently to

Harvard University.

24 September Lieutenant (jg) David S. Ingalls,

while on a test flight in a Sopwith Camel, sighted an

enemy two-seat Rumpler over Nieuport. In company

with another Camel he attacked and scored his fifth

aerial victory in 6 weeks to become the Navy's first

ace. For this and other meritorious acts while serving

as a fighter pilot with Royal Air Force Squadron 213,

he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross by the

British Government and the Distinguished Service

Medal by the president of the United States.

25 September Chief Machinist's Mate Francis E.

Ormsbee went to the rescue of two men in a plane

which had crashed in Pensacola Bay, Fla. He pulled out

the gunner and held him above water until help arrived,

then made repeated dives into the wreckage in an

unsuccessful attempt to rescue the pilot. For his hero-

ism, Chief Ormsbee was awarded the Medal of Honor.

1 October Some of the earliest recorded food-drop-

ping missions were flown by Marine Corps pilots