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UNITED STATES NAVAL AVIATION 1910-1995
1917-Continued
19 May The Chief of Naval Operations requested
that two small seaplanes and one pilot be detailed for
duty in connection with radio experimentation at
Pensacola, Fla.
23 May The initial production program to equip the
Navy with the aircraft necessary for war was recom-
mended by the Joint Technical Board on Aircraft, to
consist of 300 school machines, 200 service seaplanes,
100 speed scouts and 100 large seaplanes. The N-9
and R-6 were listed as the most satisfactory for school
and service seaplanes, but the remaining two types
were not sufficiently developed to permit a selection.
28 May Huntington (ACR 5) arrived at Pensacola,
Fla., from Mare Island, Calif. While there, and until 1
August 1917, she was used in various aeronautic
experiments involving the operation of seaplanes and
kite balloons from her deck.
29 May The Navy awarded a contract to the
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company of Akron, Ohio, to
train 20 men as LTA pilots.
30 May The Navy's first successful dirigible, the B-1,
landed in a meadow 10 miles from Akron, Ohio, com-
pleting an overnight test flight from Chicago, Ill. The
B-1 was manufactured at Akron by Goodyear, assem-
bled in Chicago, and piloted on this flight by
Goodyear pilot, Ralph H. Upson.

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4 June The construction of five prototype models of
8- and 12-cylinder Liberty motors was authorized by
the Aircraft Production Board and the Joint Technical
Board on Aircraft. The design of these engines, based
on conservative engineering practices especially adapt-
ed to mass production techniques, had been worked
out in a room in a Washington, D.C., hotel by 1. G.
Vincent of the Packard Motor Car Company and E. 1.
Hall of the Hall-Scott Motor Car Company.
5 June The first U.S. military unit sent to France in
World War I, the First Aeronautic Detachment, arrived
in Pauillac, France, aboard Jupiter (AC 3). The
Detachment, consisting of seven officers and 122
enlisted men, including the element aboard Neptune
(AC 8) which arrived at St. Nazaire on 8 June, was
commanded by Lieutenant Kenneth Whiting.
Offloading was completed by 10 June.
11 June All aviation personnel and aircraft were
transferred from Seattle (Armored cruiser No. 11) as
she made ready for convoy duty at the Brooklyn Navy
Yard, N.Y. Her raised catapult, while left on board,
was lowered and secured to the deck where it would
not interfere with normal operations at sea.
14 June The establishment of patrol stations along
the Atlantic coast was implemented as the first con-
tract for base construction was let. The contract cov-
ered sites on Long Island, N.Y., located at Montauk,
Rockaway and Bay Shore.
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Hispano-Suiza engine version of the N-9 trainer /3/2

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