42

UNITED STATES NAVAL AVIATION 1910-1995

1919-Continued

1 August To merge aviation with other naval activi-

ties, the Aviation Division of the Office of the Chief of

Naval Operations was abolished and its functions reas-

signed to other divisions and to the Bureau of

Navigation. The Director of Naval Aviation retained his

title as head of the Aviation Section of the Planning

Division. In the reorganization, the Aircraft Test Board

was transferred to the Board of Inspection and Survey.

9 August Construction of the rigid airship ZR-l, the

future Shenandoah and the Navy's first rigid airship,

was authorized by the Secretary of the Navy. This air-

ship was constructed at the Naval Aircraft Factory and

assembled at Lakehurst, N.J.

19 August The Secretary of the Navy ordered use of

the pre-war white star national insignia on all naval

aircraft in place of the concentric circle design adopt-

ed for the war. By this order, the red, white and blue

vertical bands on the rudder reverted to their prewar

position, blue being forward.

23 August A general order directed that during dirigi-

ble flights parachutes be carried for each person on

board. The following November, this directive was

amplified to apply also to flights in kite balloons and

added the further requirement that life preservers be car-

ried in all lighter-than-air craft during flights over water.

22 October The Secretary of War approved the

Navy's request that 18 Naval Aviators and 10 mechan-

ics be given landplane training at the Air Service

F-5L American adap-

tation of British flying

boat 644471

Training School at Carlstrom Field, Arcadia, Fla., and

two days later approved a similar program at March

Field, Riverside, Calif. This training, an extension of

the program already conducted under the Army at

Langley Field, Va., had been requested by the

Secretary of the Navy as necessary to the successful

operation of scouting aircraft from battleship turrets.

1 November The Aerological School at NAS

Pensacola, Fla., opened with a class of one Marine

Corps and four Navy officers.

18 November The Secretary of the Navy informed

the Secretary of War that, in response to his request,

arrangements had been made for six Army men to

attend the enlisted men's course in meteorology at

Pensacola, Fla., and suggested they report about 1

December when classes were scheduled to start.

21 November Engineering plans for the conversion

of Jupiter (AC 3) to an aircraft carrier, originally com-

pleted 5 July were modified, and a summary specifica-

tion was issued by the Bureau of Construction and

Repair. In addition to an unobstructed "flying-on and

flying-off deck," stowage space for aircraft and facili-

ties for repair of aircraft, the new plans provided for

catapults to be fitted on both forward and aft ends of

the flying-off deck.

5 December The Secretary of the Navy approved

the basic agreement covering procurement of the R-38

(ZR-2) rigid airship from the British Air Ministry.

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