194

UNITED STATES NAVAL AVIATION 1910-1995

1952-Contin ued

ers incorporating these modifications was completed

in 1954 under Project 27C (Axial Deck).

1 April Guided Missiles Service Unit No. 211 was

formed at the Naval Mine Depot, Yorktown, Va. This,

the first of six scheduled Terrier units, was made up of

personnel who had been trained by Guided Missiles

Training Unit No.2 at the Consolidated Vultee Aircraft

Corporation, San Diego, Calif.

28 April The Navy announced that the British-devel-

oped steam catapult would be adopted for use on U.S.

aircraft carriers, with the first installation on Hancock.

This decision followed tests conducted during the first

three months of the year at the Naval Shipyard,

Philadelphia, Pa.; the Naval Operating Base, Norfolk,

Va.; and at sea, during which U.S. naval aircraft were

launched by this device from HMS Perseus.

8 May The Fleet Air Gunnery Unit was established as

an integral part of the operating forces of the Pacific

Fleet under Commander Air Force, Pacific Fleet. Its mis-

sion was to provide air gunnery training on an individu-

al and tactical unit basis for units of the Pacific Fleet.

16 May Two Terrier missiles were fired separately at

F6F-5K target drones and each destroyed its target,

thereby culminating the Terrier developmental pro-

gram and permitting emphasis to be shifted to produc-

tion of the first tactical model.

26 May The Navy's first, and for many years the

world's largest, wind tunnel was disestablished at the

Naval Gun Factory, Washington, D.C. Completed in

1914, the 8-by-8-foot wooden tunnel served the Navy

for over 30 years as an aerodynamic laboratory for

research in aircraft design.

26-29 May The feasibility of the angled-deck con-

cept was demonstrated in tests conducted on a simu-

lated angled deck aboard Midway by Naval Air Test

Center pilots and Atlantic Fleet pilots, using both jet

and prop aircraft.

17 June The Aviation Medical Acceleration Labo-

ratory was dedicated at the Naval Air Development

Center. This laboratory, which featured a human cen-

trifuge with a 110-foot arm capable of producing

accelerations of up to 40 Gs, was designed and con-

structed as a research tool for investigating pilot reac-

tions to accelerations encountered in high-speed flight

at various temperatures and altitudes and later also

proved useful in the astronaut training program.

20 June A contract was issued for the construction

of a 7 -foot-by-lO-foot slotted throat transonic wind

tunnel at the David Taylor Model Basin.

23-24 June Combined elements of Air Force, Navy

and Marine Corps virtually destroyed the electric

power potential of North Korea with attacks on prime

military targets which had been bypassed through

almost two years of war. On the 23d, the main effort

was directed against the hydroelectric plant at Suiho,

40 miles up the Yalu River from Antung, Manchuria.

The attacks continued the next day with more atten-

tion being given to the plants at Chosen, Fusen and

Kyosen. This two-day attack, which involved over

1,200 sorties, was the largest single air effort since the

close of World War II and the first to employ planes

from all the U.S. services fighting in Korea.

1 July To provide the fleet with officers and enlisted

personnel trained in the operation, maintenance and

control of surface, and submarine-launched guided

missiles, the Naval Guided Missile School was estab-

lished at the Fleet Air Defense Training Center, Dam

Neck, Virginia Beach, Va. The Naval Air Guided

Missile School (advanced) was also established at the

Naval Air Technical Training Center, NAS Jacksonville,

Fla., to provide aviation personnel trained in the main-

tenance of air-launched guided missiles.

11-12 July In one of the major coordinated air

efforts of the war, Navy, Marine, Air Force, Australian,

and British air elements launched a round-the-clock

attack on the railroad yards and industrial facilities at

Pyongyang.

14 July The keel of Forrestal, the first of the

59,900-ton aircraft carriers, was laid at the Newport

News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company, Newport

News, Va.

1 August The Naval Air Special Weapons Facility

was established at Kirtland AFB, Albuquerque, N.Mex.,

thereby providing for naval participation in various

programs involved in the application of nuclear

weapons to aircraft.

28 August In the first of six attacks on North

Korean targets, Guided Missile Unit 90, based aboard

Boxer, launched an explosive-laden F6F-5K drone

under control of two ADs against a railroad bridge at

Hungnam.

29 August The new UN philosophy of mass air

attack was again demonstrated in the record-breaking

around-the-clock raid on Pyongyang. The entire car-