Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1921-05-14
THRILLING FIGHTS OF
FIRST NAVAL PLANE
RELATED BY DANIELS
Tells of Remarkable Achieve
ments of Naval Aviation
i'm War.
A GREAT RECORD IS MADE

A GREAT RECORD is MADE
BY Josephus Daniels.
Former Secretary of the Navy. 1914
to 1921.
Copyright. 1921. by, John F. Ollie. Copy
righfed by National Newspaper Service,
throughout Europe. All rights reserved.
including translation into :, foreign LAM
authorized reprinting for any purpose for
bidden
Few people realized when they read
the story of the NC-4's flight from
Rockaway, l.. l., TO Plymouth, England,
in the spring of 1919, that the prepara-
tions for that remarkable voyage aud
record-smashing achievement had been
begun in September. 1917.
Admiral David W. Taylor, chief con-
structor of the navy sof course fire.
quently discussed. with me problems
relating to aviation. One day in Sep
tember of our first war year he sent
for Naval Constructors Westervelt and
Hunsacker.
II want plane designed that win
fly across the Atlantic he told them,
as quietly as though he We're ordering
poached eggs for breakfast.
They realized what a task he had
imposed, but set about it Immediately.
The undertaking aroused my warmest
enthusiasm. 1t was a big project, ex-
ceeding the most ambitious efforts of
any other nation.
Admiral Taylor's force went to work
at once. BY the end of 1917 all the.
main elements of the design had been
formulated. and early in 1918 the work
of construction was begun. The NC-1
was completed by the first of October
and the first test fight Followed three
days later. On November Z, just before
the armistice, she flew tp Washington,
where we inspected her then went on
to Hampton roads. and returned TO
Rockaway. Six months later the NC-4
fulfilled her promise, by making the
big leap across the Atlantic
You will note that this was a war
time project, conceived in war time and
worked out in war time. Had the war
lasted another year we would have been
crossing from America to France by
aeroplane, and dropping bombs on
U-boats as we few.
Great Record In Aviation.
The aerial record of the navy is as
fun of occasions for pride and satisfac-
ton as its purely aquatic record
The first armed forces of the United
States to land in France We're naval
aviators. One group, sailing on the
Neptune, landed on June 5, 1917, at
Pauillac, the port from which Lafayette
sailed for America TO join the strug-
Cling colonists in their war for inde-
pendence-
Another group. on the Jupiter, |
reached Sain Nazaire on June 3. sail /
ing through the very waters in which 1
John Paul Jones operated in the revo- /
luton.
The United States navy had forty /
four aviation stations and units in
Europe Our naval aircraft made 5,691 /
flights, covering a distance of 7sl 1873
miles They attacked forty-three sub
marines from the air, and We're credited, |
according to the records of naval avia-
ton, with sinking two, probably sink 4
ing two more and damaging several /
others
The northern bombing group, in con-
nection with the British royal air force /
dropped more than 155,0e0 pounds OF |
bombs on the U-boat bases at Bruges, |
zeebrugge and Ostend, and on the |
enemy airdromes and sir stations in /
Flanders.
On this side of the Atlantic we had /
twenty-four naval aviation units in /
operation, patrolling the coast from /
Nova Scotia TO Florida. One unit i
guarded the Panama canal. Marine /
corps aviators guarded the Azores Our t
patrol fliers in America covered 2,455-
$50 miles-nautical. Our advanced
training flights totaled 10,949 $40 nauti-
cal miles. The total of naval aviation
in America. Azores and Europe was
more than IL. .oe0. 900 miles Naval avia-
ton grew during the war TO a force
of over $4,000. It was equipped with
1.17o flying boats. 695 seaplanes, 262
land planes, 10 free balloons, 205 kite
balloons and Is dirigibles. OF this
equipment $40 aircraft were sent
abroad.
First Naval Ace.
The long fights along the British,
French and Italian coasts, the patrols
far out to sea, the combats with enemy
aircraft and submarines form one of
the most brilliant chapters Of the war.
A volume would be required TO relate
them all. / tell here only the story of
the first naval ace. who may represent
the courage, daring and efficiency of
our aviators who wrote new page in
naval history.
The first naval ace" Lieut. David S.
ingalls,, was attached 10 the northern
bombing group in Flanders. While air.
craft were arriving from the United
States to equip this group, ingalls, was
to Royal Air Force Squadron
No. 213, with whom we co-operated in
bombing the German submarine bases Z
Ingalls, began his spectacular per-
'ormances on the 11th of August, 1918. l
when in company with a British officer l
nc shot down a two-seater machine I'm
! running fight over the German lines 1
Tipping through the upper air at 120
miles an hour, by the skiIIful naneu- 1
vering of their planes the allied fiiers /
we're able to get1in several bursts from
heir Lewis gun on the tail of the Ger I
mans, whose machine crunbled up.
1urst into flame and fell to earth. m
gals machine did not escape without |
Is share of punctures, but luckily moth
pp WAS IA M peJ xxrfa5~I ir,f1rf~..a.5 /