52

UNITED STATES NAVAL AVIATION 1910-1995

1922-Contin ued

1 April Descriptive specifications of arresting gear of

the type later installed in Lexington and Saratoga were

sent to various design engineers, including Carl L.

Norden and Warren Noble. "The arresting gear will

consist of two or more transverse wires stretched

across the fore and aft wires. . . [and which] lead

around sheaves placed outboard to hydraulic brakes.

The plane after engaging the transverse wire is guided

down the deck by the fore and aft wires and is

brought to rest by the action of the transverse wire

working with the hydraulic brakes."

22 April The Secretary of the Navy approved a rec-

ommendation of the general board that one spotting

plane be assigned to each fleet battleship and cruiser,

and that the feasibility of operating more aircraft from

these ships be tested.

24 April In efforts to increase the service life of air-

craft engines beyond the 50 hours then required, the

Bureau of Aeronautics issued a contract to the Packard

Motor Car Company for the 300-hour test of a Packard

1A-1551 dirigible engine. Such endurance testing,

whereby the weaker components of an engine were

identified in runs to destruction, and then redesigned

for longer life, came to be an important step both in

increasing the operating life of engines and in the

development of new high performance engines.

25 April The first all-metal airplane designed for the

Navy made its first flight. The ST-1 twin-engine torpedo

plane, built by Stout Engineering Laboratory, was test-

flown by Eddie Stinson. Although this aircraft possessed

inadequate longitudinal stability, its completion marked

a step forward in the development of all-metal aircraft.

24 May Routine operation of catapults aboard ship

commenced with the successful launching of a VE-7

piloted by Lieutenant Andrew C. McFall, with

Lieutenant DeWitt C. Ramsey as passenger, from

Maryland (BB 46) off Yorktown, Va. A compressed air

catapult was used. As catapults were installed on other

battleships and then on cruisers, the Navy acquired

the capability of operating aircraft from existing capital

ships. Techniques were thus developed for supporting

conventional surface forces, particularly in spotting for

ships guns, and experimentation was conducted with

aerial tactics that would later be further developed by

carrier aviation. Perhaps more important, the capabili-

ties and limitations of aircraft were demonstrated to

officers and men throughout the Navy.

31 May In the National Elimination Balloon Race at

Milwaukee, Wisc., the Navy was represented by two

balloons: one manned by Lieutenant Commander

Joseph P. Norfleet and Chief Rigger James F. Shade,

and the other by Lieutenant William F. Reed and Chief

Rigger K. Mullenix. Norfleet's balloon was filled with

helium, the first use of the gas in a free balloon. Reed

finished third in the race with a distance of 441 miles

and was the only Navy qualifier for the International

Balloon Race to be held at Geneva, Switzerland, later

in the year.

17 June The practice of numbering aircraft

squadrons to conform to the number of the ship

squadron they served, was changed to a system of

numbering all squadrons serially by class in the order

in which they were initially authorized. The use of

letter abbreviations to indicate mission was also

adopted.

17 June In anticipation of a reorganization that

would merge the Atlantic and Pacific Fleets into a U.S.

Fleet, the fleet aviation commands, whose titles had

previously been changed from Air Forces to Air

Squadrons, were retitled Aircraft Squadrons of the

Scouting and Battle Fleets. These commands would

replace the Atlantic and Pacific Fleets, respectively.

26 June The rigid airship Los Angeles (ZR-3) was

ordered from the Zeppelin Airship Company,

Friedrichshafen, Germany. This zeppelin, part of

World War I reparations, was obtained as a non-mili-

tary aircraft under the terms approved by the

Conference of Ambassadors on 16 December 1921.

1 July Eight medical officers, the first to report for

flight training, began their instruction at NAS

Pensacola, Fla. Four had previously completed the

flight surgeon's course at the Army Technical School

of Aviation Medicine.

1 July Congress authorized conversion of the unfin-

ished battle cruisers Lexington and Saratoga to aircraft

carriers, as permitted under the terms of the

Washington Treaty.

1 July Navy men began training in the care and

packing of parachutes when 10 Chief Petty Officers

reported for two months instruction at the Army

School at Chanute Field, Rantoul, Ill.

3 July Class XVI, the first class of student Naval

Aviators to be trained in landplanes, began training at

Pensacola, Fla.