84

UNITED STATES NAVAL AVIATION 1910-1995

1933-Contin ued

4 April The rigid airship Akron (ZRS-4) crashed in a

severe storm off Barnegat Light, N.J. Among the 73

fatalities were Rear Admiral William A. Moffett, Chief,

Bureau of Aeronautics, and Commander Frank C.

McCord, Commanding Officer of Akron (ZRS-4).

18 April Lieutenant George A. Ott piloting an 02U

seaplane, with Lieutenant Ug) Bruce A. Van Voorhis as

passenger, made the first operational test of a device,

later called the Plane Trap, installed on the stern of

Maryland (BB 46). Proposed by Lieutenant Lisle 1.

Maxson, the device was a V-shaped float attached to

the stern of the ship by a system of struts which per-

mitted it to ride at an even depth in the water. In

operation, the seaplane taxied toward the float push-

ing a knobbed probe on the nose of its pontoon into

the V-float which engaged the probe and held the sea-

plane in position for hoisting aboard. The device was

an immediate success and proposals were made to

install the same gear on five additional battleships.

29 April The Bureau of Aeronautics recommended

resumption of postgraduate instruction in aerology

which had been suspended in 1929. By the end of the

year, arrangements were completed for a two-year

course at the Postgraduate School and a third year at a

civilian university.

6 June Two Franklin gliders were received at NAS

Pensacola, Fla., for use in a test to determine whether

inclusion of glider training in the student flight syl-

labus would replace or simplify elimination flight

training and thereby reduce dual instruction time.

Instructor training in the new craft began immediately

under the direction of Lieutenant Ralph S. Barnaby,

and glider training, as an experimental feature of the

training program, continued into 1936.

13 June A contract for the development of special

radio equipment for making blind landings aboard

carriers was issued to the Washington Institute of

Technology.

16 June Under the terms of the National Industrial

Recovery Act, the president allotted $238 million to the

Navy for the construction of new ships, including two

aircraft carriers. In less than two months, contracts

were awarded for carriers Nos. 5 and 6, eventually

commissioned as Yorktown and Enterprise.

22 June A new underway recovery device, pro-

posed by Lieutenant George A. Ott, senior aviator on

Maryland (BB 46), was tested at sea off Point Firmin,

Calif. The device resembled a cargo net fitted with a

wood spreader at its forward edge and canvas under-

neath which, when towed by the ship, rode the sur-

face forward and was slightly submerged aft so that

the seaplane could taxi on it and catch the net with a

hook on the bottom of its pontoon. Recovery over the

stern was successful on the first attempt. An alongside

recovery, necessary for ships with cranes amidships,

was tried next. With the net trailing from a boom, the

seaplane again caught the net but then swung into the

ship and crumpled its wing. In spite of the partial fail-

ure, the possibilities of the plane net were apparent

and later adjustments corrected the initial deficiencies.

23 June Macon (ZRS-5), having made its first flight

on 21 April, was commissioned at Akron, Ohio, with

Commander Alger H. Dressel as commanding officer.

Macon ZRS-5 prepares to take protective fighters on board. There was

space for five planes in the hangar 4284422

8 August Commander, Aircraft Battle Force, request-

ed authority to use variable-pitch propellers during

forthcoming exercises on six Boeing F4B-4s of VF-3,

based aboard Langley, and on one F4B-4 of VF-I,

based aboard Saratoga. This request, which stemmed

from successful trials conducted by VF-3 aboard the

Langley, marked the initial service acceptance of the

variable-pitch propeller.

9 August Commander Battle Force, commenting on

tests of the plane net made by Maryland (BB 46),

pointed out that construction of the net and pontoon

hook were well within the capacity of ships company

and directed that all battleships under his command

experiment with, and attempt to develop, techniques

for underway recovery.

2-4 September The Navy balloon of Lieutenant

Commander Thomas G. W. Settle and Lieutenant

Charles H. Kendall took second place in the Gordon

Bennett International Balloon Race at Chicago with a