1934-Contin ued

operations, the ship went full speed astern and aircraft

landed using the bow arresting gear.

30 June A contract was issued to Douglas for the

XTBD-l torpedo bomber. This aircraft was the proto-

type for the TBD Devastator which remained in opera-

tional use through June 1942.

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Devastator tOlpedo plane 1061904

18 July Fourteen Naval Academy graduates, Class

1933, reported at Pensacola, Fla., for special training

toward qualification as Naval Aviators. Their designa-

tion in January 1935 climaxed a series of events over

the somewhat devious route of an honorable dis-

charge upon graduation in 1933; because of lack of

vacancies in the Navy, enrollment and training as

Flying Cadets in the Army Air Corps; acceptance of the

Navy offer of a commission in either the Navy or

Marine Corps; and finally, completion of the special

course at Pensacola.

19 July Lieutenant Harold B. Miller and Lieutenant Ug)

Frederick N. Kivette, flying F9C-2s without their wheel

landing gear, dropped from the trapeze of Macon (ZRS-

5) to scout for Houston (CA 30) returning from a cruise

in the Pacific with President Franklin D. Roosevelt on

board. Because of the improved performance of the air-

UNITED STATES NAVAL AVIATION 1910-1995

87

II

Curtiss F9c-2s with airship hoop-on gear 441982

F9c-1 being hoisted into hangar of Akron 441980

craft on this first flight without landing gear, it became

standard operating procedure to fly Macon (ZRS 5)

planes from the trapeze in this configuration.

1 August Lieutenant Ug) Charles H. Kendall and

Lieutenant Ug) Howard T. Orville, in a 206.4-mile flight

from Birmingham, Ala., to Commerce, Ga., won the

National Elimination Balloon Race and qualified for

the international race.

1 November The Naval Aircraft Factory was autho-

rized to manufacture and test a flush-deck hydraulic

catapult, Type H Mark 1. This catapult was designed to

launch landplanes from aircraft carriers and was the

Navy's initial development of a hydraulic catapult, a

type which was to prove capable of extensive refine-

ment and which eventually was to be accepted as a

primary means of launching landplanes from carriers.