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UNITED STATES NAVAL AVIATION 1910-1995
1944-Contin ued
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Loading tOIpedoes on SB2C for stIjke on ships lO53796
3 February Flight Safety Bulletin No.1 was issued
jointly by the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations (Air)
and the Chief of the Bureau of Aeronautics, announcing
their intention to issue consecutively numbered bul-
letins concerning the safe operation of naval aircraft.
4 February In a test of refueling operations with
Altamaha off San Diego, Calif., the K-29 of Blimp
Squadron 31 made the first carrier landing by a non-
rigid airship.
4 February The first photo reconnaissance of Truk
was made by two PB4Ys of VMD-254 on a 12-hour
night flight from the Solomon Islands. Cloud cover
prevented complete coverage but the information
acquired was useful in planning the carrier strike
which hit later in the month.
15 February A new command, Forward Area,
Central Pacific (Rear Admiral John H. Hoover), was
established to control the operations of shorebased air
forces and naval forces assigned to the Ellice, Gilbert,
and Marshall Islands.
20 February On completion of the strike on Truk, a
small unit composed of Enterprise, one cruiser, and
six destroyers (Rear Admiral John W. Reeves) separat-
ed from the main force and launched two air strikes
on Jaluit.
23 February Two carrier groups of Task Force 58
(Rear Admiral Marc A. Mitscher), after successfully
fending off a series of determined enemy air attacks
during the night, hit targets on Saipan, Tinian, Rota,
and Guam for the dual purpose of reducing enemy air
strength in the Marianas and to gather photo intelli-
gence for the impending invasion. The combined
efforts of pilots and antiaircraft gunners accounted for
67 enemy aircraft shot down and 101 destroyed on the
ground.
24 February The first detection of a submerged
enemy submarine by the use of MAD gear was made
by Catalinas of VP-63, on a MAD barrier patrol of the
approaches to the Strait of Gibraltar. They attacked the
U-761 with retrorockets, and with the assistance of two
ships and aircraft from two other squadrons, sank it.
4 March A reduction in flight training was visualized
as the total outputs for 1944, 1945, and 1946 were
fixed at 20,500, 15,000 and 10,000 pilots respectively.

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