1931-Continued

1 June New specifications for aircraft markings were

issued which directed use of 20-inch-wide colored

bands around the fuselage of section leader planes,

assigning royal red, white, true blue, black, willow

green and lemon yellow for sections I through 6

respectively. The same order permitted use of distin-

guishing colors on the empennage whenever two or

more squadrons of the same class operated together.

1 July The Naval Air Stations at Coco Solo, C.Z. and

Pearl Harbor, T.H., were redesignated Fleet Air Bases

to conform with their transfer to the U.S. Fleet and

their function of providing mobile air units for fleet

operations.

19-20 July A Navy balloon, piloted by Lieutenant

Thomas G. W. Settle and Lieutenant (jg) Wilfred

Bushnell, won the Litchfield Trophy and the National

Elimination Balloon Race at Akron, Ohio, with a dis-

tance of 195 miles to Marilla, NY, thereby qualifying

for the International Race.

10 September Rear Admiral William A. Moffett

directed that the bureau's program for test and evalua-

tion of variable-pitch propellers be expedited and

noted that in recent tests at NAS Anacostia, D.C, a vari-

able-pitch propeller on a Curtiss F6C-4 had provided a

20 percent reduction in takeoff run and a slight

increase in high speed.

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UNITED STATES NAVAL AVIATION 1910-1995

81

23 September Lieutenant Alfred M. Pride piloted the

Navy's first rotary wing aircraft, an XOP-l autogiro, in

landings and takeoffs aboard Langley while underway.

26 September The keel for Ranger, first ship of the

U.S. Navy to be designed and constructed as a carrier,

was laid at the Newport News Shipbuilding and

Drydock Company, Newport News, Va.

30 September The Bureau of Aeronautics reported

that studies were being conducted on catapulting

landplanes on wheels. This, the preliminary step in the

development of flush deck catapults for launching

landplanes from carriers, visualized the installation of

XOP-I Autogiro landing aboard Langley 215836

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The 14,500-ton Ranger, CV-4, was the first American ship designated as an aircraft cmrier from the keel up 428440