102

UNITED STATES NAVAL AVIATION 1910-1995

the ground, sank 174 Japanese warships, including 13

submarines, totaling 746,000 tons, sank 447 Japanese

merchant ships totaling 1,600,000 tons and, in the

Atlantic, destroyed 63 German U-boats. (In combina-

tion with other agents, Navy and Marine air helped

sink another 157,000 tons of war and 200,000 tons of

merchant ships and another six Japanese and 20

German submarines.) It was a creditable record, but

the Navy's air arm did not play an entirely indepen-

dent role. It operated as it had developed, as an inte-

gral part of naval forces, contributing its full share to

the power of the fleet and to the achievement of its

mission in controlling the sea.

Many have said that World War II witnessed the full

development of aviation, but generalities are often

misleading. Many of the opinions expressed before the

war on the effect of air power on naval operations

were shown up as misconceived, if not false, theories.

The bombing tests of the 1920s proved to some that

navies were obsolete and that no ship could again

operate within the range of land-based air, but carrier

task force operations in the war gave little credence to

such conclusions. Advocates of independent air power

questioned both the possibility and the usefulness of

close air support for troops, but such support was

proven not only possible but indispensable. Those

who questioned the importance of the airplane to

navies were equally off the mark. The disappointment

of naval officers who visualized decisive fleet engage-

ments in the tradition of Trafalgar and Jutland was no

doubt as great as that of the air power theorists who

had seen their predictions go awry. By test of war it

had become exceedingly clear that neither an Army

nor a Navy could either survive or achieve an objec-

tive in war without first achieving air superiority. It

had also become clear that neither could exert as

much force by itself as it could with the aid of air

striking power. Aviation had indeed come of age.

1940

4 January Project Baker was established in Patrol

Wing 1 for the purpose of conducting experiments

with blind landing equipment.

15 February Commander-in-Chief, U.s. Fleet (COM-

INCH), noting that reports on air operations in the

European War stressed the need of reducing aircraft

vulnerability, recommended that naval aircraft be

equipped with leak-proof or self-sealing fuel tanks and

with armor for pilots and observers. Although the

Bureaus of Aeronautics and Ordnance had been inves-

tigating these forms of protection for two years, this

formal statement of need gave added impetus and

accelerated procurement and installation of both

armor and self-sealing fuel tanks.

24 February The Bureau of Aeronautics issued a

contract for television equipment, including camera,

transmitter, and receiver, that was capable of airborne

operation. Such equipment promised to be useful both

in transmitting instrument readings obtained from

radio-controlled structural flight tests, and in providing

target and guidance information necessary should

radio-controlled aircraft be converted to offensive

weapons.

27 February Development of the "Flying Flapjack,"

a fighter aircraft with an almost circular wing, was

initiated with notice of a contract award to Vought-

Sikorsky Aircraft for the design of the V-173-a full-

scale flying model (as distinguished from a military

prototype). This design, based upon the research of

a former NACA engineer, Charles H. Zimmerman,

was attractive because it promised to combine a high

speed of near 500 mph with a very low takeoff

speed.

29 February The Bureau of Aeronautics initiated

action that led to a contract with Professor H. O. Croft

at the University of Iowa, to investigate the possibili-

ties of a turbojet propulsion unit for aircraft.

19 March To assist in the identification of U.S. air-

craft on the Neutrality Patrol, Fleet activities were

authorized to apply additional National Star Insignia

on the sides of the fuselage or hull of aircraft so

employed.

22 March Development of guided missiles was initi-

ated at the Naval Aircraft Factory with the establish-

ment of a project for adapting radio controls to a tor-

pedo-carrying TG-2 airplane.

23 April Commander Donald Royce was designated

to represent the Navy on an Army Air Corps

Evaluation Board for rotary-wing aircraft. This board

was established incidental to legislation directing the

War Department to undertake governmental develop-

ment of rotary-wing aircraft.

25 April Wasp was commissioned at Boston, Mass.,

Captain John W. Reeves, Jr., commanding.

20 May The Commanding Officer of the destroyer

Noa (DD 343) reported on successful operations con-

ducted off the Delaware Capes in which an XSOC-l,

piloted by Lieutenant George 1. Heap, was hoisted

over the side for takeoff and was recovered by the

ship while underway. As an epilogue to preliminary

operations conducted at anchor on 15 May, Lieutenant