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    World War 2 In Review No. 70: Air Power
    World War 2 In Review No. 70: Air Power
    World War 2 In Review No. 70: Air Power
    Ebook339 pages2 hours

    World War 2 In Review No. 70: Air Power

    By Merriam Press

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    This issue of World War 2 in Review contains the following articles on World War II: (1) Naval Air Station North Island 1911-1945 (2) Air to Air Bombing in World War II (3) Beaufighters Over Burma (4) Chronology of Kamikaze Successes, 27 May 1944-15 August 1945 (5) French Bloch MB.162 Bomber (6) USAAF Owi Airfield (7) One Man’s Air War (8) American Curtiss P-36 Hawk Fighter (9) Doug Bader – RAF Hurricane Ace (10) Soviet Antonov A-7 Glider (11) Italian Caproni Ca.331 Raffica Bomber, with 271 B&W and color photographs and illustrations. A Merriam Press World War II History.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherLulu.com
    Release dateMay 27, 2021
    ISBN9781008933200
    World War 2 In Review No. 70: Air Power

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      Book preview

      World War 2 In Review No. 70 - Merriam Press

      •

      Articles in this Issue

      (1) Naval Air Station North Island 1911-1945

      (2) Air to Air Bombing in World War II

      (3) Beaufighters Over Burma

      (4) Chronology of Kamikaze Successes, 27 May 1944-15 August 1945

      (5) French Bloch MB.162 Bomber

      (6) USAAF Owi Airfield

      (7) One Man’s Air War

      (8) American Curtiss P-36 Hawk Fighter

      (9) Doug Bader – RAF Hurricane Ace

      (10) Soviet Antonov A-7 Glider

      (11) Italian Caproni Ca.331 Raffica Bomber

      with 271 B&W and color photographs and illustrations.

      Watch for future issues of this series with more articles on the history of World War II.

      Naval Air Station North Island 1911-1945

      Naval Air Station North Island or NAS North Island is located at the north end of the Coronado peninsula on San Diego Bay and today is the home port of several aircraft carriers of the United States Navy. It is part of the largest aero-space-industrial complex in the United States Navy, Naval Base Coronado in San Diego County, California.

      North Island was commissioned a Naval Air Station in 1917, called Naval Air Station San Diego until 1955. On August 15, 1963, the station was granted official recognition as the Birthplace of Naval Aviation by resolution of the House Armed Services Committee.

      The Navy's first aviator, Lieutenant Theodore Ellyson, and many of his col-leagues were trained at North Island starting as early as 1911. This was just eight years after Orville and Wilbur Wright flew the first manned aircraft at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. At that time, North Island was an uninhabited sand flat. It had been used in the late 19th century for horseback riding and hunting by guests of J. D. Spreckels's resort hotel, the Hotel del Coronado.

      North Island derived its name from the original geography. In the nine-teenth century it was referred to as North Coronado Island, because it was separated from South Coronado (now the city of Coronado) by a shallow bay known as the Spanish Bight, which was later filled in 1945 during World War II. In 1886, North Coronado Island and South Coronado were purchased by a developer to become a residential resort. South Coronado, which is not an island but the terminus of a peninsula known as the Silver Strand, became the city of Coronado.

      However, North Coronado was never developed. Instead, Glenn Curtiss opened a flying school and held a lease to the property until the beginning of World War I. Curtiss invited both the Army and Navy to use the site for avia-tion training, with the Navy being the first to open a station in 1912. However the Navy abandoned its camp and did not return for five years, while the Army established an aviation school in 1913 at the southern end of the island. In 1917, Congress appropriated the land, and two airfields were commissioned on its sandy flats. The Navy started with a tent city known as Camp Trouble. As its name suggests, things did not always go well in the early days. The Navy shared North Island with the Army's Signal Corps, Air Service, and Air Corp's Rockwell Field until 1937, when the Army left and the Navy expanded its operations to cover the whole of North Island.

      In 1914, then-unknown aircraft builder Glenn Martin took off and demon-strated his pusher aircraft over the island with a flight that included the first parachute jump in the San Diego area. The jump was made by a ninety-pound civilian woman named Tiny Broadwick. Other aviation milestones originating at North Island included the first seaplane flight in 1911, the first mid-air refueling, and the first non-stop transcontinental flight, both in 1923. One of history's most famous aviation feats was the flight of Charles A. Lindbergh from New York to Paris in May 1927. That flight originated at Rockwell Field on North Island on May 10, 1927, when Lindbergh began the first leg of his journey. Forefathers of today's Blue Angels, the three-plane Sea Hawks from VF-6B, the Felix the Cat squadron, were thrilling audiences with flight demonstrations as early as 1928. They demonstrated the training skills of Navy fighter and bomber pilots and on many occasions, flew their aircraft in formation with the wings tethered together.

      The list of American military pilots trained at North Island reads like the Who's Who of aviation; however, America was not the only country interested in aviation early in the twentieth century. Six years before the Naval Air Station was commissioned, Glenn Curtiss trained the first group of Japanese aviators at his flying school on North Island. Among them were a Lieutenant Yamada, later the head of the Imperial Japanense Navy's Naval Aviation arm in World War II and Chikuhei Nakajima, founder of Nakajima Aircraft Company.

      Even the base's first commanding officer, Lieutenant Commander Earl Winfield Spencer Jr., USN, added a degree of celebrity to North Island. His wife was Wallis Warfield, a prominent socialite who was to remarry twice and finally become Wallis Warfield Spencer Simpson Windsor, better known as the Duchess of Windsor, for whom King Edward VIII abdicated his throne in 1936.

      During World War II, North Island was the major continental U.S. base supporting the operating forces in the Pacific. Those forces included over a dozen aircraft carriers, the Coast Guard, Army, Marines, and Seabees. The city of Coronado became home to most of the aircraft factory workers and de-pendents of the mammoth base which was operating around the clock. Major USO entertainment shows and bond drives were held weekly at the Ship's Service auditorium, which was later replaced by the 2,100 seat Lowry Thea-ter. Famous people stationed here or on ships home ported here during the war years included Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Guy Madison, future television cowboy star of the 1950s and 1960s as Wild Bill Hickok, was at that time Seaman Bob Mosely, a lifeguard at the NAS crews' pool. Stars like the Marx Brothers and Bob Hope appeared regularly at USO shows at the auditorium.

      A U.S. Navy Douglas TBD-1 Devastator of Torpedo Squadron VT-5 at NAS North Island, circa 1939. Northrop BT-1s of Bombing Squadron VB-5 are visible in the background. Both squadrons were assigned to the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown (CV-5), which was transferred to the Pacific Fleet in April 1939.

      Seal of NAS North Island.

      The Coronado peninsula in San Diego Bay was named Los Coronados by the conquistador Sebastián Vizcaino in 1602. Originally it was essentially two islands, North and South, connected by what is referred to as the Silver Strand and separated by an inlet called the Spanish Bight. In 1885 it was purchased by developers Elisha Babcock and H. Story who sold lots to finance construction of a residential resort and the Hotel del Coronado on South Island, eventually becoming the City of Coronado while North Island remained an undeveloped and uninhabited sand flat. This map from 1873 clearly shows the peninsula ending in North Island and South Island.

      Plan of Anchorages and Moorings, San Diego Bay, California, 30 April 1925.

      The Curtiss flying school at North Island, California in 1911. Aviator Glen Curtiss trained the first U.S. Navy and U.S. Army flyers here. Also the first take-offs and landings on a warship were made, note the U.S. cruisers in the background. The planes are described as two Antoinette and three Curtiss planes.

      Glenn Curtiss and first Triad Amphibian, North Island, in 1911.

      Construction of the seaplane ramp at NAS North Island, San Diego, California, in 1918.

      Panoramic view of U.S. Navy Curtiss N floatplanes…

      … at NAS North Island, California, circa 1918.

      Panoramic view of officers and men of the…

      … U.S. Naval Air Station, San Diego, California, in 1918.

      NAS North Island, 1920s. The two piers jutting out from the corner of the island at bottom would soon be developed into a full dock capable of handling ships as large as aircraft carriers.

      NAS North Island later in the 1920s. Note that the two piers have now been developed into a dock and a destroyer is moored alongside. Also note the division of the island between Army and Navy.

      NAS North Island, 21 October 1920. Note the double piers, the seaplane ramps and the seaplanes moored in the water, three groups of anchored destroyers and a cruiser at upper left, and the nose of a dirigible or blimp sticking out of the large hangar at middle right.

      NAS North Island, 11 November 1920.

      Parachutists jumping from a Douglas DT-1, Naval Air Station North Island, 1920. A parachutist on the port wing has just stepped off and the one on the starboard wing is about to; also note the parachutist that has already jumped near the bottom of the photograph. Also note the outline of a Lexington-class carrier on the field for FCLP (Field Carrier Landing Practice) operations, also known as a bounce field for continuous touch-n-goes.

      NAS North Island on 19 May 1922.

      NAS North Island, 10 September 1924.

      NAS North Island, 26 June 1924. Note that the large dock is now present (lower left).

      A U.S. Navy Douglas DT-2 torpedo bomber taking off from the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Langley (CV-1), on 2 April 1925, which is docked at the carrier pier at NAS North Island in a test to determine the feasibility of using flush-deck catapults to launch wheeled aircraft from ships.

      A U.S. Marine Corps Martin MT assigned to Observation Squadron VO-3M landing at NAS North Island after a flight from Langley Field, Virginia, on 10 September 1925.

      The first U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Langley (CV-1), a battleship and some destroyers at NAS North Island, San Diego, California, in 1925.

      Aerial view of NAS North Island. View from southwest showing building 29, ca. 1925.

      Curtiss TS-1 floatplanes from VF-1 flying above with USS Langley (CV-1), docked at the pier, Naval Air Station North Island, California, 1926.

      Boeing FB-1, A-7123, 6-F-14, from Fighter Squadron VF-6B at NAS San Diego, California in 1927.

      A U.S. Navy Boeing F2B-1 aircraft, BuNo A-7432, of Bombing Squadron VB-2B pictured on 28 August 1928 on the dirt field at NAS North Island during its use in the filming of the motion picture The Flying Fleet. Hollywood movies played a significant role in exposing naval aviation personnel and aircraft to the public during the interwar years.

      A U.S. Navy Boeing F2B-1, BuNo A-7432, from Bombing Squadron VB-2B at NAS North Island in September 1928. The pilot is LTJG W.V. Davis. This is the same aircraft as in the above photo, but carries the number 3 on the fuselage.

      A Boeing F2B-1 fighter flying over the Silver Strand on the peninsula leading to South Island and North Island in 1928.

      U.S. Navy Boeing F3B-1 aircraft of Fighter Squadron VF-2B at NAS North Island, circa 1929. VF-2B was assigned to the aircraft carrier USS Langley (CV-1).

      NAS North Island in the 1930s.

      USS Pennsylvania (BB-38) anchored off NAS North Island in the 1930s.

      Aerial view of Point Loma, San Diego, North Island and Coronado in 1932. The Spanish Bight between North Island and South Island (Coronado) was not completely filled in until World War II.

      NAS North Island and Rockwell Field on North Island in 1932.

      Vought FU-1 floatplane of Utility Squadron VJ-1 in front of the seaplane hangar at NAS North Island in 1932.

      Aerial view of NAS North Island. View from southwest showing buildings 29 and 68 and seaplane ramps nos. 2, 3, and 4, ca. 1935.

      Berliner-Joyce OJ-2 observation floatplane, BuNo 9197, of Scouting Squadron VS-5, assigned to the light cruiser USS Memphis (CL-13), in front of a hangar at NAS San Diego, mid-1930s.

      NAS North Island in 1936. Aircraft carrier moored at the dock and various destroyers, cruisers and other naval vessels anchored around the island.

      Consolidated PBY Catalina, Naval Air Station North Island in 1937.

      USS Langley (AV-3) and USS Ranger (CV-4) moored at the dock at NAS North Island in 1937.

      USS California (BB-44) anchored near NAS North Island, San Diego in 1937.

      NAS North Island, aerial photograph taken 28 June 1939, from a USS Enterprise (CV-6) airplane. USS Yorktown (CV-5) and USS Wright (AV-1) are tied up at the Air

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