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UNITED STATES NAVAL AVIATION 1910-1995
1939-Contin ued
11 September In the first redeployment of patrol
squadrons on the Neutrality Patrol, VP-33, equipped
with Catalinas, transferred from the Canal Zone to
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for operations over the
Caribbean. Two days later, the Catalinas of VP-51
arrived at San Juan, P.R., from Norfolk, Va., to patrol
the southern approaches to the Caribbean through the
Lesser Antilles.
21 September VP-21, with 14 PBY aircraft, took off
from Pearl Harbor, T.H., for the Philippines via
Midway, Wake and Guam, and with its arrival became
the first patrol unit in the Asiatic Fleet since 1932. This
squadron and another which arrived later the next
year, were the nucleus of Patrol Wing 10, formed in
the Philippines in December 1940.
1 October To achieve an immediate expansion of
pilot training, the syllabus was revised to set up a pro-
gram of concentrated instruction which reduced the
length of the training period from 12 to 6 months. The
new program provided a primary course in land planes
and a basic phase in service landplanes and instru-
ment flying for all students, and restricted each student
in the advanced program to specialization in either
patrol and utility aircraft, observation planes, or carrier
aircraft. Ground school was similarly concentrated and
shortened from 33 to 18 weeks.
OS2U Kingfisher used on shipboard and for inshore patrol 407887
14 October The Naval Aircraft Factory was autho-
rized to develop radio control equipment for use in
remote controlled flight-testing of aircraft so that dives,
pullouts, and other maneuvers could be performed
near the aircraft's designed strength without risking
the life of a test pilot.
1 December Ensign A. 1. Terwilliger was designated
a Master Horizontal Bomber, the first Naval Aviator in
a fleet squadron to so qualify.
8 December To effect a higher degree of coordina-
tion in research, the Secretary of the Navy directed that
the Bureaus of Aeronautics and Ordnance acting sepa-
rately, and the Bureaus of Engineering and Construction
and Repair, acting as one unit, designate an officer to
head a section in the respective Bureaus devoted to sci-
ence and technology and also to act as a liaison officer
with the Naval Research Laboratory and as a member of
the Navy Department Council for Research. By the
same order, the duties performed in the Office of the
Chief of the Naval Operations concerned with research
and invention were transferred to the Office of the
Secretary and placed under the administration of the
Director, Naval Research Laboratory.
20 December A contract was issued to Consolidated
for 200 PBY type aircraft to support an increase in
patrol plane squadrons growing out of Neutrality
Patrol requirements. This was the largest single order
for naval aircraft since the end of World War 1.
The landing signal officer waves off an SB2U 1053782

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