1943-Contin ued

the Pre-Flight Schools for three months of physical

conditioning; and finally to Navy flight training begin-

ning at one of the Primary Training Bases.

7 January Development of the first naval aircraft to

be equipped with a turbojet engine was initiated with

the issuance of a Letter of Intent to McDonnell Aircraft

Corporation for engineering, development, and tooling

for two VF airplanes. Two Westinghouse 19-B turbojet

engines were later specified and the aircraft was desig-

nated XFD-l. It became the prototype for the FH-l

Phantom jet fighter.

10 January Fleet Air Wing 15 headquarters was

transferred from Norfolk, Va., to Port Lyautey, French

Morocco, to direct patrol plane operations in the

Mediterranean and Gibraltar Strait area.

12 January The Chief of Naval Air Operational

Training directed that aircraft operating from stations

under his command be marked for identification pur-

poses with letters and numerals in three groups sepa-

rated by a dash. The first group provided a letter iden-

tification of the station, the second a letter identifying

the unit type and the third the number of the aircraft

in the unit. The order also provided that when more

than one unit was on board a station, a number be

added to the station letter. Thus J2-F-22 identified the

aircraft as from Jacksonville, Fla., OTU #2 Fighter

Training Unit, plane number 22.

14 January Independence, Captain George R.

Fairlamb, Jr., commanding, was placed in commission

at Philadelphia, Pa.; the first of nine light carriers of

her class constructed on Cleveland Class cruiser hulls.

15 January Captain Spencer "Seth" H. Warner, Head

of the Flight Statistics Desk of the Bureau of

Aeronautics, introduced Grampaw Pettibone, in the

BuAer News Letter. Pettibone, a cartoon character

drawn by Lieutenant Robert Osborn, was produced as

a safety feature in the hope of cutting down on pilot-

error accidents. Gramps went on to become famous

through the postwar decades as Osborn, after leaving

the Navy, continued to contribute his character to

Naval Aviation News magazine.

17 January Following tests conducted at NAS San

Diego, Calif., by six experienced pilots flying F4U-ls,

the commanding officer of VF-12, Commander Joseph

C. Clifton, reported that anti-blackout suits raised their

tolerance to accelerations encountered in gunnery run

and other maneuvers by three to four Gs.

UNITED STATES NAVAL AVIATION 1910-1995

123

1 February Bombing Squadron, VB-I27, was estab-

lished at NAS Deland, Fla., with Lieutenant

Commander William K. Gentner in command. The

squadron was equipped with PV-l Venturas and,

although not the first land plane patrol squadron in

the Navy, was the first to have the VB designation.

1 February A new specification prescribing color

and marking of naval aircraft became effective. A

basic camouflage color scheme was provided for use

on fleet aircraft which consisted of semigloss sea blue

on surfaces viewed from above and non-specular

insignia white on surfaces viewed from below. The

terminology "basic non-camouflage" and "maximum

visibility" were introduced for the color schemes

described in April 1942, and used on intermediate

and primary trainers.

1 February Regulations governing display of

National Insignia on aircraft were again revised by the

order to remove those on the upper right and lower

left wing surfaces.

11 February A contract was issued to the Ryan

Aeronautical Corporation for the XFR-l fighter. This

aircraft incorporated a conventional reciprocating

engine for use in normal operations and the turbojet

for use as a booster during takeoffs and maximum

performance flights. Development and production

were handled on a crash basis to equip escort carrier

squadrons at the earliest possible date. However,

numerous bugs were encountered which prevented

the FR-l's assignment to combat.

11 February The Vought F4U Corsair was flown on

a combat mission for the first time when 12 planes of

VMF-124 based on Guadalcanal escorted a PB2Y

Dumbo to Vella Lavella to pick up downed pilots. The

flight was uneventful. Its first combat action came two

days later when pilots from the same squadron ran

into air opposition while escorting PB4Ys of VP-51 on

a daylight strike against enemy shipping in the Kahili

area of Bougainville.

13 February The Naval Air Transport Service was

reorganized and the establishment of Wings was

directed for the Atlantic and west coast squadrons.

15 February Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Fleet

assigned responsibility for sea-going development of

helicopters and their operation in convoys to the Coast

Guard and directed that tests be carried out to deter-

mine if helicopters operating from merchant ships

would be of value in combating submarines.