174

UNITED STATES NAVAL AVIATION 1910-1995

1948-Contin ued

plified. Carrier Air Groups became CVG without

regard to their carrier assignment; carrier squadrons

VF and VA were assigned two or three digit numbers,

the first of which was the same as the parent air

group, and suffix letters were dropped. Patrol

squadrons reverted to the simple VP designation.

Special designations for transport squadrons, as VRF

and VRU, became VR. Some VC squadrons became

VAW to reflect their air warning mission, while others

became VFN or VAN to reflect all-weather capability.

5 September The JRM-2 Caroline Mars of VR-2, on

a 390-mile flight from Patuxent River, Md., to

Cleveland, Ohio, carried a 68,282-pound cargo, the

heaviest payload ever lifted in an aircraft.

1 October Modification of the seaplane tender

Norton Sound was completed at the Philadelphia

Naval Shipyard, and after a brief shakedown she was

placed in operation as the Navy's first guided missile

experimental and test ship.

27 October Operation Vittles-VR-6 and -8 of the

Military Air Transport Service, were ordered to move

from their Pacific bases to Germany to take part in the

Berlin Airlift.

1 November The Naval Air Advanced Training

Command was transferred from NAS Jacksonville, Fla.,

to NAS Corpus Christi, Tex., in accordance with plans

to convert the Jacksonville area into a fleet aviation

center.

5 November To meet the requirements of landing

aircraft weighing up to 50,000 pounds at speeds as

high as 105 knots, a project was initiated at the Naval

Aircraft Factory for design of Mark 7 high energy

absorption arresting gear.

9 November Navy transport squadrons, transferred

from the Pacific to assist in Operation Vittles, began

flying cargo into Berlin.

17 December To meet the mounting requirements

for transatlantic airlift in support of Operation Vittles,

VR-3 was switched from flying the domestic routes to

the Westover, Mass., to Frankfurt, Germany, run.

1949

23 January Palau completed a 12-day test period off

the New England coast developing the capability of

carriers to conduct air operations under cold and

severe weather conditions. This marked the Navy's

continued interest in cold weather tests, first demon-

strated on the Langley in the same area 18 years

before.

26 January Norton Sound, the nation's first guided-

missile experimental test ship, launched its first mis-

sile, the Loon, off the Naval Air Missile Test Center,

Point Mugu, Calif.

. .

Norton Sound, converted from a seaplane tender to the Navy's first

guided missile ship, fires a Loon 415146

27 January The Chief of Naval Operations autho-

rized conversion of all new-construction cruisers to

accommodate helicopters.

3 February The Lockheed R60 Constitution, com-

missioned the day before at NAS Alameda, Calif., inau-

gurated her transcontinental service, from Moffett Field,

Calif., to Washington, D.C., by establishing a new

record for personnel carried on a transcontinental

flight. With 78 passengers and 18 crewmen, the 92-ton

plane crossed the continent in 9 hours and 35 minutes.

25 February The Caroline Mars, a JRM-2 flying boat,

broke the world record for passenger lift by transport-

ing 202 men from NAS Alameda to San Diego, Calif.,

and broke it again the same day on the return flight

with a load of 218 men. These loads were in addition

to a four-man crew.

4 March The Caroline Mars, a JRM-2 flying boat of

Transport Squadron 2, set a new record for persons

carried aloft by transporting 263 passengers and a

crew of six on a Fleet Logistic Air Wings flight from

San Diego, Calif. to Alameda, Calif. The flight was of 2

hours 41 minutes duration and the passengers were

the officers and men of Air Group 15 on a routine

transfer of station.