92

UNITED STATES NAVAL AVIATION 1910-1995

1937-Continued

efforts in standardization changed from a part-time

program of annual conferences to one employing a

joint staff of officers and civilians on a full-time basis.

15 March The Bureau of Aeronautics assigned dis-

tinguishing colors to each aircraft carrier for use as tail

markings by all squadrons on board, thereby changing

the existing practice of assigning colors to squadrons

and eliminating the confusion resulting when

squadrons transferred from one carrier to another.

21-22 June Patrol Squadron 3, with 12 PBY-l

Catalinas under the command of Lieutenant Robert W.

Morse, flew nonstop from San Diego, Calif., to Coco

Solo in the Canal Zone, completing the 3,292-mile

flight in 27 hours and 58 minutes.

30 May A contract was issued to the Martin

Company for the XPBM-I two-engined flying boat

patrol plane. The aircraft was the initial prototype in

the PBM Mariner series of flying boats used during

and after World War II.

1 July The system of designating squadrons was

revised to provide for numbering each carrier

squadron according to the hull number of its carrier,

each battleship and cruiser squadron the same as the

number of its ship division, each Marine Corps

squadron according to its Aircraft Group, and patrol

squadrons serially without regard to assignment. The

change also abolished the use of suffix letters to indi-

cate organizational assignment, except for Naval

District and Reserve squadrons, and interposed the M

for Marine Corps squadrons between the V prefix and

mission letters.

2 July The Navy agreed to accept transfer of Army

airships and lighter-than-air equipment. Included in

the transfer were the airships TC-13 and TC-14, used

for antisubmarine patrol in the early stages of World

War II.

15 July The Ship Experimental Unit was placed in

operating status at the Naval Aircraft Factory and made

responsible for development and testing of equipment

and techniques for carrier landings. This unit consisted

of officers and men which were transferred from NAS

Norfolk, Va., where this function had been performed

since 1921.

6 August A contract was issued to Goodyear for

two new non-rigid airships, the L-l for training pur-

poses, and the K-2 for coastal patrol.

9 August The contractor's demonstration flights of

the XOZ-I rotary-winged aircraft, which included a

water takeoff, were completed at the Naval Aircraft

Factory. Pennsylvania Aircraft Corporation had modi-

fied this aircraft from an N2Y-l trainer into an experi-

mental gyroplane by installing a new engine and a

rotary wing with cyclic control.

9 September The XPBS-l, a four-engined mono-

plane flying boat built by Sikorsky Aircraft, made its

first flight. This aircraft, constructed as a long-range

patrol plane, was later used as a transport.

30 September

Norfolk, Va., with

command.

Yorktown was commissioned at

Captain Earnest D. McWhorter in

1 October Patrol aviation with its tenders was trans-

ferred from Base Force and assigned to the reestab-

lished type command, Aircraft Scouting Force. With

the change, five Patrol Wings, numbered 1 through 5,

were established as separate administrative commands

over their assigned squadrons.

17 December The XPTBH-2, a twin-float seaplane

designed by Hall Aluminum Aircraft Company, Inc. for

patrol and torpedo attack, was accepted by the Navy.

This was the last twinfloat torpedo plane developed

for the Navy.

23 December A successful unmanned radio-con-

trolled flight was made with a JH-l drone, at the

Coast Guard Air Station, Cape May, N.J. Takeoff and

landing were made using a landbased radio set; for

flight maneuvers, control was shifted to an airborne

TG-2.

1938

21 April The delivery of the XF2A-l to the Langley

Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory of the National

Advisory Committee for Aeronautics marked the initia-

tion of full-scale wind tunnel tests to determine means

of decreasing aerodynamic drag and thereby increas-

ing high speed. These tests, conducted at the recom-

mendation of Commander Walter S. Diehl, indicated

that the speed of the XF2A-l could be increased 31

mph over the 277 mph already achieved, and led to

the utilization of this technique in other high-perfor-

mance aircraft, by both the Army and the Navy. The

data thus obtained was also directly applicable to the

design of new aircraft.

12 May Enterprise was commissioned at Newport

News, Va., Captain Newton H. White commanding.