1949-Contin ued

7 March A P2V-3C, piloted by Captain John T.

Hayward of VC-5 was launched from Coral Sea off the

Virginia Capes with a 1O,000-pound load of dummy

bombs, flew across the continent to drop its load on

the west coast and returned nonstop to land at NAS

Patuxent River, Md.

31 March The best monthly total of the Berlin Airlift

to date was made as U.S. aircraft delivered 154,475

tons of cargo to the city. In making its contribution to

the total, VR-8 set an all-time airlift record of 155 per-

cent efficiency for the month, and daily utilization of

12.2 hours per aircraft.

5 April The disestablishing of the last of the obser-

vation squadrons, VO-2, marked the end of one era

and the beginning of another as a plan to use heli-

copters in place of fixed-wing aircraft aboard battle-

ships and cruisers was put into effect, with the

changeover scheduled for completion by 30 June.

23 April Construction on United States was halted by

order of the Secretary of Defense Louis Johnson.

19 May The JRM-l Marshall Mars broke the record

for number of people carried on a single flight when

301 passengers and a crew of seven were flown from

Alameda, Calif. to San Diego, Calif.

15 July Douglas pilots flying an XF3D-1 completed

an initial flight evaluation of the low drag external

store shape at Edwards AFB, Calif. Carrying two of

these shapes, the aircraft had a top speed of 51 knots

greater than when carrying two conventional 2,000-

pound bombs and 22 knots greater than with two 150-

gallon external fuel tanks.

31 July The participation of VR-6 and -8 in the

Berlin Airlift ended. During their eight months in

Germany, these squadrons flew a total of 45,990

hours, carried 129,989 tons of cargo into Berlin, and

established a record of payload efficiency and aircraft

utilization at the unparalleled figure of better than 10

hours per day per plane for the entire period.

1 August The Naval Air Development Center,

Johnsville, Pa., was established and the Naval Air

Development Station was disestablished. The mission

of the Center was development of aircraft electronics,

pilotless aircraft and aviation armament, and research

and development in the field of aviation medicine per-

taining to the human centrifuge. These functions were

performed by four laboratories appropriately named.

UNITED STATES NAVAL AVIATION 1910-1995

175

9 August The first use in the United States of a

pilot-ejection seat for an emergency escape, was made

by Lieutenant Jack L. Fruin of VF-171 from an F2H-1

Banshee while making over 500 knots in the vicinity

of Walterboro, S.c.

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F2H Banshee McDonnell Fighter 1053787

10 August The National Security Act of 1947 was

amended providing for a limited increase in the

authority of the Secretary of Defense and replacing

the National Military Establishment with the

Department of Defense. It further provided that the

three military departments would continue to be sep-

arately administered and that Naval Aviation would

"be integrated with the naval service... within the

Department of the Navy."

1 October In accordance with an interservice agree-

ment reached in July, an exchange program to indoc-

trinate selected Air Force and Navy pilots (including

the Marines) in the operational and training activities

of each other's service, began with the exchange of 18

pilots from each service for the period of 1 year. The

agreement provided that all pilots be qualified in the

type of aircraft operated by the unit to which they

were assigned and that each would occupy a regular

pilot's billet in his new assignment.