PART 3

The Twenties

1920-1929

twenties stand out in the history of Naval

Aviation as a decade of growth. The air arm steadily

increased in size and strength while improving its

administrative and operational position within the

Navy. The period began under the leadership of a

director without authority to direct. It ended with a

flourishing Bureau of Aeronautics. In the early 1920s a

small air detachment in each ocean fleet proved them-

selves effective under conditions at sea. At the end,

three carriers were in full operation, patrol squadrons

were performing scouting functions, and aircraft were

regularly assigned to battleships and cruisers. Together

these elements played important roles in the annual

fleet war games.

Impressive technical progress also characterized the

period. With slim funds, the radial air-cooled engine

was developed into an efficient and reliable source of

propulsion. Better instruments came into use, and an

accurate bomb-sight was developed. Aircraft equipped

with oleo struts and folding wings enhanced the oper-

ating capability of carriers. Each year, aircraft flew

faster, higher and longer. Of the many world records

placed on the books, U.S. Naval aircraft set their share.

Tactics were developed. Dive bombing was estab-

lished almost before anyone knew enough about it to

call it by name. Marine Corps expeditionary troops

learned through experience the value of air support.

The techniques of torpedo attack, scouting, spotting

for gunfire and operating from advanced bases, were

investigated and learned. The skills of naval pilots

turned the airplane to new uses in polar exploration

and photographic survey. It was evident everywhere

that the Navy was solving its basic and unique prob-

lem of taking aviation to the sea.

But the period was also one of controversy that

went beyond the Navy. Newspapers reported angry

statements by the proponents of air power and viru-

lent retorts from its opponents. There were charges of

duplication, inefficiency, prejudice and jealousy. There

was discussion over the role of air power and such

issues as the role of the services in coastal defense.

Even the further need for a Navy was questioned.

Naval Aviators were unhappy with their career limita-

tions and lack of command responsibility. The aircraft

industry was discontented with small peacetime orders

and government procurement policies and govern-

ment competition. Most of this controversy was typical

of a new technology developing at a rapid pace, but

not all of the questions would be answered before the

decade's end.

1920

8 January The policy of the Army and Navy relating

to aircraft was published for the information and guid-

ance of the services. It defined the functions of Army,

Navy and Marine aircraft as a guide to procurement,

training and expansion of operating facilities; it set

forth the conditions under which air operations would

be coordinated in coast defense; it enunciated the

means by which duplication of effort would be avoid-

ed; and it provided for the free exchange of technical

information. An outgrowth of discussion in the previ-

ous year, this statement was one of many in a long

line of interservice agreements on function and mis-

sion which spanned the years to and beyond the more

familiar Key West and Newport agreements reached

by the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 1948.

19 January Commandant, NAS Pensacola, Fla.,

reported that in the future no student would be desig-

nated a Naval Aviator or given a certificate of qualifi-

cation as a Navy Air Pilot unless he could send and

receive 20 words a minute on radio telegraph.

20 January The development and purchase of 200-hp

radial air-cooled engines from the Lawrance Aero Engine

Corporation was initiated with an allocation of $100,000

to the Bureau of Steam Engineering for this purpose.

17 March To overcome an acute shortage of pilots,

a change in the flight training program was approved

which separated the heavier-than-air (seaplane) and

the lighter-than-air (dirigible) courses; and reduced the

overall training period from nine to six months for the

duration of the shortage.

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