1943-Contin ued

29 June NAS Patuxent River, Md., began functioning

as an aircraft test organization with the arrival of the

Flight Test unit from NAS Anacostia, D.C.

29 June Elements of VP-l 0 1 arrived at Brisbane

from Perth, Austrailia, thereby extending the patrol

coverage of Fleet Air Wing 10 to the east coast of

Australia and marking the beginning of a northward

advance of patrol operations toward the Papuan

Peninsula of New Guinea.

5 July The first turbojet engine developed for the

Navy, the Westinghouse 19A, completed its 100-hour

endurance test.

8 July Casablanca, first of her class and first escort

carrier designed and built as such, was placed in com-

mission at Astoria, Oreg., Captain Steven W. Callaway

commanding.

14 July The Secretary of the Navy issued a General

Order forming the Naval Air Material Center, consisting

of the separate commands of the Naval Aircraft

Factory, the Naval Aircraft Modification Unit, the Naval

Air Experimental Station and the Naval Auxiliary Air

Station. This action, effective 20 July, consolidated in

distinct activities the production, modification, experi-

mental, and air station facilities of the former Naval

Aircraft Factory organization.

15 July New designations for carriers were established

which limited the previous broadly applied CV symbol

to Saratoga, Enterprise and carriers of Essex Class, and

added CVB (Aircraft Carriers, Large) for the 45,000 ton

class being built and CVL (Aircraft Carriers, Small) for

the 10,000 ton class built on light cruiser hulls. The same

directive reclassified escort carriers as combatant ships

and changed their symbol from ACV to CVE.

15 July The airship organization of the U.S. Fleet

was modified. Fleet Airship Wings 30 and 31 were

redesignated Fleet Airships, Atlantic, and Pacific

respectively. Airship Patrol Groups became Airship

Wings. Airship Patrol Squadrons became Blimp

Squadrons, and the addition of two more wings and

the establishment of Blimp Headquarters Squadrons in

each wing was authorized.

18 July The airship K-74, while on night patrol off

the Florida coast, attacked a surfaced U-boat and in

the gun duel which followed was hit and brought

down-the only airship lost to enemy action in World

War II. The German submarine, U-134, was damaged

UNITED STATES NAVAL AVIATION 1910-1995

127

enough to force her return to base, and after surviving

two other attacks on the way, was finally sunk by

British bombers in the Bay of Biscay.

19 July The Naval Aircraft Factory was authorized to

develop the Gorgon, an aerial ram or air-to-air missile

powered by a turbojet engine and equipped with

radio controls and a homing device. The Gorgon was

later expanded into a broad program embracing turbo-

jet, ramjet, pulsejet, and rocket power; straight wing,

swept wing, and canard (tail first) air frames; and visu-

al, television, heat-homing, and three types of radar

guidance for use as air-to-air, air-to-surface and sur-

face-to-surface guided missiles and as target drones.

22 July Since there had been no operational need

for arresting gear and related equipment for landing

over the bow of aircraft carriers, the Vice Chief of

Naval Operations approved its removal.

23 July Patrol Squadron 63, the first U.S. Navy

squadron to operate from Great Britain in World War

II, arrived at Pembroke Dock, England, to assist in the

antisubmarine patrol over the Bay of Biscay.

2 August Fleet Airship Wings 4 and 5, Captain

Walter E. Zimmerman and Commander John D. Reppy

commanding, were established at Maceio, Brazil, and

Edinburgh Field, Trinidad, for antisubmarine and con-

voy patrols in the South Atlantic and southern

approaches to the Caribbean.

4 August The Chief of Naval Air Intermediate

Training directed that Aviation Safety Boards be estab-

lished at each training center under his command.

5 August COMINCH directed the use of Fleet Air

Wing commanders in subordinate commands of Sea

Frontiers and suggested their assignment as Deputy

Chiefs of Staff for Air.

15 August The arrival of Aircraft Experimental and

Development Squadron (later Tactical Test) from NAS

Anacostia, D.C., to NAS Patuxent River, Md., complet-

ed the transfer of aircraft test activities.

15 August The landing of U.S. Army and Canadian

troops on Kiska, Aleutian Islands, by a Naval Task

Force made the first use in the Pacific of Air Liaison

Parties (ALP) with forces ashore. Although the enemy

had deserted the island, the landing provided opportu-

nity to prove that the principle of the ALP was sound

and that rapid and reliable voice communications

between front line commanders and the Support Air

Control Unit afloat were possible.