SOMEONE HAD TO BE FIRST

The seaplane was essential to our Navy and Marine Corps in the earliest days of military aviation.  With the aircraft carrier years away from reality, planes operating from ships at sea needed to be hoisted overboard to take-off and land on the water.  It was not uncommon for the more popular land-based planes to be fitted with floats or skids for such duty.  But these floats added extra weight and drag and decreased performance.  So much so that a stall in a seaplane always resulted in an unrecoverable spin and the loss of both the pilot and plane.

The Curtiss N-9 (and a knock-off built by Burgess) was the seaplane version of the famous JN-4 “Jenny” in which so many early military pilots had learned to fly.  Fitted with a large midline float, and smaller wingtip floats for balance on the water, the N-9 was a familiar biplane trainer at the newly established Naval Aeronautic Station in Pensacola.  Here 1^st LT Francis T. Evans, USMC, had come to do his part to advance Marine Corps aviation.  He listened to the debates over whether a seaplane could perform the aerobatics necessary to dogfight in combat, and he bravely set out this day to prove it once and for all.

Out over Pensacola Bay at 3500 feet he pushed the nose over into a dive to gain enough speed to go “over the top” in a loop.  The 100 HP Curtiss OXX-6 engine strained as Evans pulled the stick back and the nose pitched up.  Slowly the biplane clawed its way to a vertical attitude.  But before it reached the top, the aircraft stalled, fell over backward, and plunged headlong, spiraling toward the water.  Resisting the temptation to counter-steer with the stick (which has no effect in a spin), Evans instead threw the stick forward and used the rudder to steady the biplane.  In doing so he converted a terminal spin to a dive and pulled out well above the surface–the first time in history a seaplane had recovered from a spin!  He then climbed back up and tried a loop again.  Several times he tried, stalling, spinning, and recovering each time until he had finally gauged the right dive length and speed that took the N-9 up and over the loop in controlled flight.  On his last attempt his boxy N-9 glided through the loop in a manner that would have been the envy of any barnstormer.  And just to make sure his new technique was witnessed, upon his return to the base he repeated the loop over the hangars.  Evans’ techniques were quickly incorporated into flight training at the station. 

By risking his own life, Evans had solved a major shortcoming of seaplanes.  However it was not until thirty years later in 1936 that Evans was recognized for his achievement, receiving then the Distinguished Flying Cross.

Watch for more “Today in Naval History”  18 FEB 26

CAPT James Bloom, Ret.

Condon, John P.  U.S. Marine Corps Aviation.  Washington, DC: GPO, p. 5.

“Curtiss N-9H.”  Smithsonian Air and Space Museum website.  www.nasm.si.edu/research/aero/aircraft/curtiss_n9H.htm, 19 March 2006.

Department of the Navy, Deputy Chief of Naval Operations (Air Warfare).  United States Naval Aviation 1910-1980.  Washington, DC: GPO, 1981, p. 24.

“History of Marine Corps Aviation, The Early Years.”  Ace Pilots website, www.acepilots.com/usmc/hist1.html, 19 March 2006.

Larkins, William T.  U.S. Navy Aircraft 1921-1941, U.S. Marine Corps Aircraft 1914-1959.  Atglen, PA: Schiffer Pub. Ltd., 1995, p. 2.

Mersky, Peter B.  U.S. Marine Corps Aviation:  1912 to the Present, 3rd ed.  Baltimore, MD: Nautical & Aviation Pub., 1997, pp. 5-6.

Taylor, Michael J.H.  Jane’s American Fighting Aircraft of the 20th Century.  New York, NY: Mallard Press, 1991, p. 115.

ADDITIONAL NOTES:  A spin is a precipitous nose-down fall to the ground in which the aircraft spirals around one wingtip.  The natural reaction of many novice pilots is to counter-steer with the ailerons, though in a spin airflow across the wing is disorganized and ailerons are ineffective.  Evans reasoned that the rudder could be used to slow the spin, in a similar manner to that used by land-based pilots.  Though the extra drag created by the floats makes this maneuver less efficient, it is nevertheless effective.

To accommodate the weight of the floats the wingspan of the N-9 had to be increased 10 feet over that of the “Jenny.”  The fuselage had to be lengthened and larger tail surfaces added.  Used primarily as a trainer, the Navy purchased 560 N-9‘s starting in 1917, some of whom were fitted with stronger 150 HP Hispano-Suiza engines (the N-9H) for use as bombers during WWI.  The N-9 remained in service with the Navy until 1926.  Only one example of an N-9 survives today, restored by the Naval Air Engineering Laboratory in 1966 and transferred to the Smithsonian Institution.

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                                       1ST OPERATIONAL SORTIE

Though the Navy and Marine Corps had been experimenting with the new-fangled flying machines of the early 20^th 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.

Department of the Navy, Deputy Chief of Naval Operations (Air Warfare).  United States Naval Aviation 1910-1980.  Washington, DC: GPO, 1981, p. 10.

Goodspeed, M. Hill.  U.S. Navy:  A Complete History. Washington, DC: Naval Historical Foundation, 2003, p. 319.

Larkins, William T.  U.S. Navy Aircraft 1921-1941, U.S. Marine Corps Aircraft 1914-1959.  Atglen, PA: Schiffer Pub. Ltd., 1995, p. 1.

“Pictorial History of Naval Aviation.”  AT: www.history.navy.mil/download/pict-m2.pdf, retrieved 20 May 2006.

Taylor, Michael J.H.  Jane’s American Fighting Aircraft of the 20^th Century.  New York, NY: Mallard Press, 1991, p. 98.

Sweetman, Jack.  American Naval History:  An Illustrated Chronology of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, 1775-Present, 3^rd ed.  Annapolis, MD: USNI Press, 2002, p. 116, 117.

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                                      ENS ALBERT STURTEVANT

In the early months of 1917 the United States was still officially neutral in the three-year-old World War that gripped most of Europe.  But attacks by German U-boats on American merchant ships were continuing.  All over our nation, patriotic young Americans signed up for military service in the war whose inevitability could be foretold.  Albert D. Sturtevant proved no exception when he and 28 of his Philips Academy alumni enlisted as the 1^st Yale Unit.  Sturtevant was sent to the Naval Aeronautical School in Pensacola, and while there the US entered WWI on April 6^th.  Three weeks later, on 1 May 1917, Sturtevant earned his wings as a naval aviator.

ENS Sturtevant reported to Felixstowe, England, in October.  American pilots were augmenting British squadrons flying escort across the North Sea for Holland-bound supply ships.  The Ensign flew the H-12 flying boat, one of our early operational seaplanes.  The H-12 was a Glenn Curtiss design, a large, twin-engine biplane with a boat-shaped hull suspended from the lower wing.  The hull projected forward as an open cockpit in which the pilot, navigator, and forward gunner sat.  A second open seat behind the wing accommodated the rear gunner.  Thirty caliber Lewis machine guns, both on Scarff swivel rings, protected the aircraft as she scouted for U-boats ahead of merchant ships.  By 1918, Felixstowe’s pilots were flying the more powerful “B” version of the H-12, nicknamed the “Large America.”

On this day, Sturtevant and a second H-12 took off on an escort mission.  His three enlisted gunners and spotters were C.C. Purdy, A.H. Stephenson, and S.J. Hollidge.  But today’s mission proved different than all the others to date.  Today the H-12s were jumped by five Hansa-Brandenburg W.29 mono-wing floatplane fighters.  Sturtevant’s wingman recognized the unfavorable odds and dove to escape, allowing the nimble fighters to concentrate on Sturtevant’s lumbering H-12.  The Lewis guns sprang to life; .30 caliber bullets ripped the air.  One, then a second attacking enemy spun away trailing smoke.  Though outgunned, the H-12 initially held her own.  But as the running fight approached the Belgian coast, a flight of German land-based fighters joined the attack.  Now outnumbered 16:1, enemy bullets began to take their toll.  When last seen by American eyes, Sturtevant’s crippled H-12 was spiraling toward the North Sea.  There were no survivors.

For his service on behalf of his nation, Sturtevant was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross.  The WWII Clemson-class destroyer STURTEVANT (DD-240) and the Edsall-class destroyer escort of the same name, DE-239, both remember this naval aviation hero.

Watch for more “Today in Naval History”  22 FEB 24

CAPT James Bloom, Ret.

“Aircraft of the AEF, Curtiss H-12 Flying Boat.”  AT: www.worldwar1.com/dbc/curth12.htm, 19 January 2007.

“Albert D. Sturtevant.”  AT: www.sturtevant.org.uk/aviator1.html, 19 January 2007.

Department of the Navy, Naval History Division.  Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, Vol 6 “R-S”.  Washington, DC: GPO, 1976, pp. 662.

Sterner, Doug.  “Full Text Citations for Award of the Navy Cross to Members of the U.S. Navy, World War I.”  AT: http:// www.homeofheros.com/valor/1_citations/01_wwi-nc/ nc_02_ww1_navy-avn.html, 22 January 2007.

Taylor, Michael J.H.  Jane’s American Fighting Aircraft of the 20th Century.  New York, NY: Mallard Press, 1991, p. 104.

ADDITIONAL NOTES:  The US supplied a series of biplane flying boats to the British during the war.  The initial version, the Curtiss H-4, was nicknamed the “America” boat.  With the advent of the improved H-12, the British took to calling the H-4 the “Small America” and the H-12 “Large America,” in deference to the latter’s 96-foot wingspan (roughly 2/3 the width of a football field).  The British further modified the H-4 and the H-12, producing their own versions, the F.1 and F.2A, respectively, both nicknamed “Felixstowe.”

During WWI the Navy Cross was our third highest award behind the Medal of Honor and the Navy Distinguished Service Medal.  Congressional action in 1942 reversed the order of precedence of the Navy Cross and Distinguished Service Medal to bring Navy awards in line with the Army’s.  Sturtevant is one of 120 US Naval Aviators to be awarded the Navy Cross in WWI.  The full citation for Sturtevant’s award reads:

“The Navy Cross is awarded to Ensign Albert D. Sturtevant, U.S. Navy, for distinguished and heroic service as an aviator attached to the Royal Air Force station at Felixstowe, England, making a great many offensive patrol flights over the North Sea and was shot down when engaged gallantly in combat with a number of enemy planes.”

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