1941-Continued

deck carrier converted in 67 working days from the

cargo ship Mormacmai1.

4 June The Naval Aircraft Factory reported that

development of airborne television had progressed to

the point that signals transmitted by this means could

be used to alter the course of the transmitting plane.

11 June An Aircraft Armament Unit was formed at

NAS Norfolk, Va., with Lieutenant Commander William

V. Davis as Officer-in-Charge, to test and evaluate

armament installations of increasing complexity.

28 June To strengthen the provisions for utilizing

science in war, the president created the Office of

Scientific Research and Development and included in

its organization the National Defense Research

Committee and a newly established Committee on

Medical Research.

30 June Turboprop engine development was initiat-

ed as a joint Army-Navy project, with a Navy contract

to Northrop Aircraft for the design of an aircraft gas

turbine developing 2,500-hp at a weight of less than

3,215 pounds.

1 July The first landing, takeoff, and catapult launch-

ing from an escort carrier were made aboard Long

Island, by Lieutenant Commander William D.

Anderson, commanding officer of VS-201.

1 July The Test, Acceptance and Indoctrination Units

that had been established at San Diego, Calif., and

Norfolk, Va., in May to fit out new patrol aircraft and

to indoctrinate new crews in their use, were expanded

and set up as separate commands. The San Diego

Unit, which retained its original name, was placed

under Commander, Aircraft Scouting Force, and the

Norfolk unit became Operational Training Squadron

under Commander, Patrol Wings Atlantic.

1 July Patrol Wing, Support Force, was redesignated

and established as Patrol Wing 7, Captain Henry M.

Mullinix commanding.

3 July The Seaplane tender Barnegat, first of 26

ships of her class, was commissioned at Bremerton,

Wash., Commander Felix 1. Baker commanding.

4 July Planes of Patrol Squadron 72, based on

Goldsborough (DD 188), flew protective patrols from

Reykjavik, Iceland, until the 17th, to cover the arrival

of Marine Corps garrison units from the United States.

UNITED STATES NAVAL AVIATION 1910-1995

107

7 July The First Marine Aircraft Wing, composed of a

Headquarters Squadron and Marine Air Group 1, was

organized at Quantico, Va., under command of

Lieutenant Colonel Louis E. Woods. It was the first of

its type in the Marine Corps and the first of five wings

organized during the war period.

8 July Patrol Wing 8 was established at Norfolk, Va.,

Commander John D. Price commanding.

12 July The Naval Research Laboratory was trans-

ferred from the Office of the Secretary of the Navy to

the cognizance of the Bureau of Ships, and a Naval

Research and Development Board was established in

the Office of the Secretary of the Navy composed of

representatives of the Chief of Naval Operations and

the Bureaus of Aeronautics, Ordnance, Ships, and

Yards and Docks, and led by a civilian scientist with

the title Coordinator of Research and Development.

Dr. Jerome C. Hunsaker served as coordinator until

December when he was relieved by Rear Admiral

Julius A. Furer.

17 July The organization for development of prox-

imity fuzes was realigned so that Section T could

devote its entire effort to radio-proximity fuzes for

anti-aircraft projectiles. Responsibility for photoelectric

and radio fuzes for bombs and rockets was transferred

to Section E of the National Defense Research

Committee at the National Bureau of Standards.

18 July Commander James V. Carney, Senior

Support Force Staff Officer, reported that British type

ASV radar has been installed in one PBY-5 each of VP-

71, VP-72, and VP-73 and two PBM-l s of VP-74. Initial

installation of identification equipment (IFF) was made

about the same time. In mid-September radar was

issued for five additional PBM-l s of VP-74 and one

PBY-5 of VP-71, and shortly thereafter for other air-

craft in Patrol Wing 7 squadrons. Thereby the Wing

became the first operational unit of the U.S. Navy to

be supplied with radar-equipped aircraft. Its squadrons

operated from Norfolk, Va., Quonset Point, R.I., and

advanced bases on Greenland, Newfoundland and

Iceland during the last months of the neutrality patrol.

18 July Aviation was given representation on the

highest of the Army and Navy boards as membership

of the Joint Board was revised to include the Deputy

Chief of Staff for Air and the Chief of the Bureau of

Aeronautics.

21 July The requirement that all students assigned to

the carrier-plane phase of flight training be given time

in each of the three basic aircraft types was abolished,