1st Operational Sortie
25 APRIL 1914
1ST OPERATIONAL SORTIE
Though the Navy and Marine Corps had been experimenting with the new-fangled flying machines of the early 20th century, their operational role was still being defined. Aerial reconnaissance seemed a logical task, as such technology in 1914 was limited to tethered balloons and dirigibles. Then in Veracruz, Mexico, tempers flared over an affront to the American flag. President Woodrow Wilson sent a naval response that included, on 20 April, an aviation detachment embarked aboard USS BIRMINGHAM (CL-2). Three aircraft from the Navy’s aeronautical station at Pensacola were supported by three pilots and 12 enlisted under the command of LT John H. Towers. The following day a second detachment of one pilot, three student pilots, and two aircraft under the command of LTJG Patrick N.L. Bellinger arrived on MISSISSIPPI (BB-23). The airplanes were the Curtiss AB-3 and Curtiss AH-3.
The AB-3 was a flying boat, a biplane whose boat-shaped fuselage glided on and off the surface of the water. The AB-3 was powered by a single 100-horsepower Curtiss OXX pusher engine attached to the upper wing. An extra “canard” wing trailed the bi-wing structure, with a cut-out over the second seat. Airplane markings were not yet developed, and the AB-3 hung two cloth American flags from the outer struts between the wings. In contrast, the AH-3 was a “hydroaeroplane,” a standard fuselage biplane with floats in the place of landing gear.
By 24 April, BIRMINGHAM was positioned off Tampico, and MISSISSIPPI stood off Veracruz. Seven hundred and eighty-seven sailors and Marines had landed three days earlier at Veracruz to protect Americans within the city. Shots had been fired. Out in the harbor, MISSISSIPPI’s skipper worried that mines might have been laid in the harbor as well. He turned to his “air wing” this day, ordering that an AB-3 flying boat hoisted over the side. LTJG Bellinger crawled aboard and took off in the direction of the city. He scouted Veracruz and made passes over the harbor searching for mines. It was our Navy’s first use of an aircraft in support of combat operations.
Though overshadowed by the outbreak of World War I in Europe, several other US Naval aviation “firsts” are recorded from this deployment off Veracruz. On 28 April, Bellinger and ENS W.D. LaMont made the first photo-reconnaissance flight. On 2 May, Bellinger and LaMont again flew on the first mission in support of ground troops, near Tejar, Mexico. And four days after that, the AH-3 of Bellinger and LTJG Richard C. Saufley was hit by rifle fire from the ground–the first combat damage sustained by a Navy aircraft.
Watch for more “Today in Naval History” 30 APR 24
CAPT James Bloom, Ret.
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