154
UNITED STATES NAVAL AVIATION
1910-1995
1945-Contin ued
that the LBD-I, or Gargoyle, air-to-surface missile, in a
series of 14 test flights including two at service weight,
had made five satisfactory runs, thereby demonstrating
that it was potentially capable of carrying out its mission.
14 July
Fleet Air Wing 12 was disestablished at Key
West, Fla.
14 July
Commander, Fleet Air Wing 7, embarked on
Albemarle
at Avonmouth, England, for transfer of
headquarters to the United States at Norfolk, Va.
14 July
Commander, Fleet Air Wing I, aboard
Norton Sound
set up his command base in Chimu
Wan, Okinawa, and directed patrol plane operations
over the East China Sea, the Yellow Sea, and the
coastal waters of Japan from that location until the end
of the war.
15 July
Fleet Airship Wing 4 at Recife, Brazil, was
disestablished.
18 July
Sixth Wake Raid-
Wasp
returned to action
after battle repairs and overhaul at Puget Sound,
Wash., launched air strikes against targets on Wake.
19 July
Fleet Air Wing 9 was disestablished at NAS
New York, NY
20 July
Little Joe, a rocket-propelled surface-to-air
missile, made two successful flights at Applied Physics
Laboratory (Johns Hopkins University) test station at
Island Beach, N.J.
20 July
Fleet Airborne Electronics Training Units
(FAETU) were established in the Atlantic and Pacific
Fleets to train airborne early warning crews in the the-
ory, operation and maintenance of their equipment.
24 July
Marine Corps pilots, operating from the
escort carrier
Vella Gulf,
attacked Japanese positions
on Pagan Island in the Marianas, and two days later
hit Rota in the same island group.
28 July
Fleet Air Wing 15 was disestablished at
Norfolk, Va.
1 August
Seventh Wake Raid-Task Group 12.3,
composed of one carrier, one battleship and destroyer
screen, bombed and bombarded Wake.
4 August
Norfolk, Va.
Fleet Air Wing 7 was disestablished at
6 August
Eighth Wake
Raid-Intrepid,
while en
route from Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, to join forces off
Japan, bombed buildings and gun positions on Wake
Island.
6 August
Escort carriers from TG 95.3 (Rear Admiral
Calvin T. Durgin), covering a cruiser force operating in
the East China Sea, launched strikes on shipping in the
harbor at Tinghai, China.
9 August
Naval Aviator Commander Frederick L.
Ashworth, USN, participated in the delivery of the sec-
ond atomic bomb. The weapon was released by a B-
29 over Nagasaki, Japan. Ashworth had supervised
and coordinated the field tests of the atomic bomb.
14 August
Japan accepted the terms of uncondition-
al surrender and on the same day, which was the 15th
in the Western Pacific, hostilities ceased.
21 August
The Asiatic Wing, Naval Air Transport
Service, was established at NAS Oakland, Calif.,
Captain Carl F. Luethi in command, to operate and
maintain air transport support of establishments and
units in the Western Pacific and Asiatic theaters. Early
in September, Wing headquarters was established on
Samar in the Philippines, and on 15 November trans-
ferred to NAB Agana, Guam.
2 September
The formal surrender of Japan, on
board
Missouri
(BB 63) in Tokyo Bay, marked V-J Day
and the end of World War II.
10 September
Midway,
first of the 45,000 ton class
aircraft carriers, was placed in commission at Newport
News, Va., with Captain Joseph F. Bolger in command.
3 October
As the initial attempt to establish an earth
satellite program, the Bureau of Aeronautics estab-
lished a committee to evaluate the feasibility of space
rocketry.
10 October
The Office of Chief of Naval Operations
was reorganized and four new Deputy Chiefs were set
up for Personnel, Administration, Operations and
Logistics on the same level as the existing Deputy
Chief of Naval Operations (Air). The reorganization,
which was by direction of the Secretary of the Navy
and in accord with Executive Order, abolished
Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Fleet, and transferred com-
mand of the operating forces to the Chief of Naval
Operations.
17 October
A type designation letter K for pilotless
aircraft was added to the basic designation system,
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