THE STORY OF NAVAL AVIATION

[Applause] this is the weapon today Naval Aviation five decades after its birth supersonic aircraft that dominate the skies over the ocean areas of the world the carrier moves swiftly to a point of rendezvous with its far-ranging aircraft tonight and tomorrow the operation will be repeated as Naval Aviation guards America's sea frontiers it is here on the flight deck in the busy hangars and shops in the ready room and in the darkness of sea I see that 50 years of history have made their mark a half century of progress experiment and vision a story that has not yet had its final chapter [Music] just seven years after the Wrights flight at Kitty Hawk farsighted Navy strategists assigned captain Washington Irving chambers the job of observing and reporting on aviation developments of particular concern to the Navy in November 1910 eugene le civilian pilot successfully flew his curtis built plane off the deck of the cruiser birmingham in another demonstration a few months later ely used a crude arresting gear of cables and sandbags to land on the cruiser pennsylvania doubters were convinced an appropriation of $25,000 in 1911 procured for the Navy its first land plane and to see planes like this one three planes and one aviator lieutenant TG Ellison trained by Glenn Curtiss the first aviation training camp was established at Annapolis in 1911 a very small group of officer students including the first marine aviator lieutenant ay-ay-ay Cunningham began to study the problems of flight catapult experiments from barges and later from ships were begun in 1912 seaplane operations had developed to the point where seaplane units could take part in the Mexican intervention of 1914 at Veracruz a plane piloted by Lieutenant later Admiral Bellinger was fired upon the first Navy plane damaged in combat World War one gave Naval Aviation a chance to show what it had learned during its short existence nearly 3,000 planes were built by Curtis Martin Boeing and others thousands of pilots and observers were trained to utilize the Navy's new weapon haste was essential German u-boats were threatening our supply lines imperiling the Allied effort the naval aviation unit commanded by lieutenant Kenneth whiting was one of the first American groups to reach Europe from coast bases in England Italy and France flyers took off on you vote patrols and raided German submarine pens on the North Sea the Davis non recoiling rifle was developed as an anti-submarine weapon naval aircraft designers had learned much from early wartime experiences their combined design talents produced the NC patrol planes a joint effort of Curtiss and Navy these were completed too late to see action however what a greater future was planned for them under commander John towers three of the NCS left New York in May 1919 to attempt a transatlantic flight to Portugal via Newfoundland and the Azores [Music] only the nc4 made it all the way the nz4 skipper Lieutenant Commander Albert Reid and his crew were given a dignified welcome in England and a noisy one in New York now came the 1920s a period of rapid development in aircraft and flight operations established to conduct the expanding program of Naval Air the Bureau of Aeronautics under its first chief Rear Admiral William Moffett began to shape the destiny of aviation in naval planning main purpose the send planes to sea on ships first turrets of capital ships were rigged to launch aircraft [Music] the equipment was not always dependable to take the risk out of such launchings catapults were strengthened so that cruisers and battleships could carry their own aerial Scouts successful takeoff sent mines leaping ahead to the next logical step ships that could carry many planes floating airfields to provide the concentration of force necessary for effective sea air attack time for the aircraft carrier was near but exhaustive tests with arresting gear at first to be conducted on land to find some way of stopping a fast plane from crashing into parked aircraft by 1922 arresting gear was available that could do the job and it was installed on the Navy's first carrier a decked over old Collier christened the USS Langley lieutenant Godfrey Chevalier one of naval aviation pioneers made the Navy's first carrier landing in an aero marine there was still much to learn about deck operations [Music] but nothing discouraged the determined aviators they kept trying this was a new problem demanding the utmost in skill and precision these pioneers risk their lives to gain experience to test new ideas and perfect new techniques eventually their courage and determination paid off carrier operations became routine a model of speed and efficiency the Navy had a new weapon to use with the big guns of the battle fleet meanwhile designers were working with the first wind tunnel models to create aircraft specially adapted to the Navy's needs one of these new plane types the Helldiver became world famous for dive-bombing accuracy marine and Navy interest in this precise form of bombing paid off in a big way when war came [Music] precision bombing of land and sea objectives was an art one that had been perfected by years of practice and teamwork the Washington disarmament conference of 1922 forced us to scrap plans for two half-built battle cruisers but allowed them to be converted and completed as aircraft carriers the Secretary of the Navy demonstrated how landings and takeoffs were to be made from their decks much longer and wider than the Langley's these two carriers were christened Saratoga and Lexington beginning the tradition of naming aircraft carriers for great battles both participated in the war games of the late 20s these exercises confirmed beliefs that carrier-based and operated aircraft would open a new era of sea air power the Saratoga and the Lexington were joined by others in the thirties the Ranger Yorktown Enterprise Hornet and wasps forerunners of a mighty Armada soon to come in 1925 commander John Rogers on the light and the crew of four men left San Francisco in the first attempt to fly to Hawaii the pm9 their mettle hauled flying boat set a world's distance record of 1,800 miles before being forced down at sea rigging a wing as a sail Commander Rogers proved himself a seaman as well as an airman sailing the pn9 the remaining 450 miles to Hawaii the constant effort to build long-range capabilities into naval patrol aircraft resulted in improved flying both design what the Navy learned about the great Catalina was passed on to civilian airlines aiding the inauguration of scheduled trans-pacific flights in 1936 the highly accurate Norden bombsight was developed under navy auspices and became the standard sight for u.s. horizontal bombing aircraft the bulky undercarriage of the earlier fighters was eventually replaced by reflectable landing gear decreasing drag and increasing speed the old biplane gave way to the monoplane and speeds jumped again all the developments since the first world war a long-range flying boat the dive-bomber and the torpedo plane the concept of a mobile task force the development of tough and powerful fighters and above all the superb training of pilots and crew men were soon called to meet the greatest challenge our Navy had yet faced Japanese carrier aircraft flight when the smoke had cleared and losses were evaluated our Pacific Fleet was temporarily out of action groom settled thickly over the country but the Navy's pop strategist thank God that fall our carriers were at sea December 7 the pro few in number were ready to launch their planes in counter-attack now Naval Aviation would be given an opportunity to justify the years of its development the training of thousands of men retirement money and sweat expended on it Airmen turned grimly to the task before them the carriers of the Pacific Fleet launched a series of raids on the japanese-held islands the Marshall Lake and the Gilberts in May 1942 they found and stopped the enemy in the Coral Sea the Japanese were forced to turn back from their goal instead despite losses Naval Air won its first strategic victory and followed it a month later by battering the enemy at Midway this was the turning point of the Pacific War the enemy was stalled Hawaii and the United States were spared attack in the Atlantic the Navy was fighting another evident when it had battled before the German u-boat [Music] hundreds of alive merchant ships went to the bottom before the US could organize its defenses Navy patrol planes joined forces with surface units to range the Atlantic from Iceland to Rio back and forth across the Caribbean to searching searching searching for the tell-tale periscope for the forming wait for the shadowy reflection of a submarine just below the surface blimps joined the hunt as convoy escorts all this was not enough the mid-ocean areas could not be covered by land-based search planes the Navy's answer was the escort carrier born of necessity these hastily built baby flat tops joined the fleet in 1943 and with their planes teamed with destroyers eventually swept the German u-boats from the Atlantic to capture and boarding of the u-505 by a deep carrier and destroy a hunter-killer group climax the Navy's action in the Atlantic at war's end naval airpower had accounted for 99 enemies the Marines in the Pacific meanwhile our offensive was underway Guadalcanal saw heroic holding action by Navy and Marine Airmen flying from Henderson Field [Music] the offensive gained momentum with new fighters like the Hellcat and the Corsair torpedo bombers like the Avenger Rockets gave a mighty wallop to our Navy planes radar came to our aid - on shipboard in planes and in anti-submarine operations no longer could the enemy attack us in darkness or in fog the all-seeing eye of radar wouldn't find him plot his course and guide our planes in for the kill the pattern of the Pacific War emerged as one of island hopping across the reaches of the once tranquil ocean army and marine invasion forces relied on naval air to soften up enemy defenses assault leaders spotted enemy emplacements called for air support to wipe them out men in the combat Information centers aboard ship plotted quickly carefully American lives hung in the balance waiting for help from the floating airfields [Music] fighters swept over the beaches sought the enemy hid in his bunkers blasted straight burned until the islands were secured in the Battle of the Philippine Sea in 1944 now remembered as the Marianas turkey shoot naval air scored its greatest triumph over Japanese carrier aircraft Navy gunners on ship and in the air and in the space of one day shot down 400 attacking enemy planes Japanese naval air was crushed its funeral was held at lady go Japan fought back with land-based suicide planes but it was too late she had been defeated on land on sea and most decisively in the air over the sea naval aviation had led the way across the Pacific the Coral Sea Midway the Sullivans commercials the marianas the philippines finally okinawa and the Japanese home islands 1945 saw our victory in the Pacific it was a tribute to the faith and courage of naval aviation pioneers whose thirty year struggle made this weapon the sinews and muscle of sea power naval aviation had established its value in World War two but the struggle to prove itself was not over astonishing technological developments at the eve of victory pose vast reflexing problems for naval aviation and critics saw in them the doom of the carrier task force the nuclear weapon how would the light carrier plane ever be able to employ it effectively the critics [Music] how could the task force survived the devastation of atomic attack how could the new high performance jet plane ever be adapted to operate from the relatively short carrier deck these were serious problems that threaten the future of the carrier as an important element in our military security and the history of naval aviation since world war ii is largely the story of the solutions of these problems the last half of the 1940s were busy fruitful years for the naval air arm as it engaged in many far-flung activities its aircraft mapped 5500 miles of the Antarctica coastline [Music] the Navy also displayed its new long-range reconnaissance capability when its p2v truculent turtle made a record-shattering non-stop 11 thousand mile flight from Australia to Columbus Ohio without refueling a record that still stands today at sea the first rocket experiments began over the California desert the Navy sky streaked plane pierced the upper atmosphere at supersonic speeds at Naval Air stations the first jet planes were being readied for employment on carriers the FH fandom followed by f2h banshee and f9f panthers operating from essex-class carriers which now incorporated improved catapults to supplement the low initial power of the Jets and improved arresting gear to absorb the impact of 130 miles per hour landing speed the corium action bound label Aviation Midway in its transition from world war ii to a modern weapon system aided by reserves of men and planes naval air was ready to strike back the moment the Korean War started Navy and Marine Airmen will round the clock strikes to triple the enemy's communications and transport close air support of the troops at the front became a specialty the concept of carrier aviation devised so long ago by the Pioneers once again proved a powerful force because of the carrier's mobility Naval Air was able to attack anywhere on the Korean Peninsula shippin shore-based helicopters transported Menten material in assault support evacuated wounded to hospital ships rescued americans trapped behind enemy lines [Music] the pace of progress in technology quickened at the close of the korean war the Forrestal the giant modern attack carrier the dream of the late Admiral mark Mitchum became a reality in it was the solution to many of the nagging problems that the post-war Navy had faced its armored decks were reinforced to handle multi-engine aircraft it's steam catapults can thrust a 35-ton bomber into the air with ease the angle Dec solved the problem of swift simultaneous launching and recovery of aircraft the mirror landing system coupled with precision carrier control approach techniques ensured rapid safe recoveries [Music] the construction of Forrestal and its sister ships was paralleled in progress in anti-submarine warfare with the application of Naval Aviation becoming increasingly important the hunter-killer team concept integrates surface ships with carrier-based aircraft sea planes and land-based patrol planes all of these aircrafts incorporate advanced electronic systems for detecting and locating submarines and use a variety of weapons for making the kill [Music] it was also the Navy which provided for the extension of our northern new lion air defense system Navy warning star radar planes now patrol the ocean flanks of the continent from Hawaii to the Aleutians from Newfoundland to the Azores maintaining constant electronic surveillance of these avenues of attack the helicopter not even a dream fifty years ago has assumed an important role in naval aviation as well as performing utility beauty with the fleet giant passenger cargo copters are based aboard new vertical assault carriers these carriers are designed to accommodate two thousand full e equipped Marines with this new means of amphibious assault combat groups can be quickly put ashore bypassing enemy shore defenses so 50 years after the Navy's first attempts at becoming airborne Naval Aviation is a vital indispensable force to maintain our security [Music] the carrier task forces that roam the major ocean areas of the world are ready for immediate action their effectiveness in bringing power to bear in critical areas has been demonstrated in the past Lebanon and Formosa for example [Music] the typical task force is an elusive weapon dispersed over 50,000 square miles of water guarded by supersonic Crusader and f4h phantom fighters armed with deadly Sidewinder and Sparrow 3 missiles all its attack planes can employ either conventional or nuclear weapons the a3d heavier than the Flying Fortress is designed for long-range high-altitude missions while the Navy's smallest attack airplane the a4 D is designed to carry big weapons at low altitude as the new 1,800 mile per hour vigilante bomber makes qualification trials of auto carrier in the Atlantic [Music] as the enterprise the largest ship in the world and the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier fits out for its first cruise we have ample evidence that naval aviation is meeting the challenge of the future you [Music]