1921—Continued
August 4: 5,000 catalpa trees successfully sprayed from an airplane in 15 minutes, at Troy, Ohio.
August 10: The Navy Bureau of Aeronautics was established with Rear Adm. William A. Moffett as first chief.
September 18: Lt. J. A. Macready (USA) broke world altitude record in a Packard LePere fighter plane by reaching 34,508 feet.
September 23: Day and night bombardment test flights by the U.S. Air Service were begun, which resulted in the sinking of the battleship Alabama in the Chesapeake Bay by a 2,000-pound bomb.
September 30: During forest fire season, 47 Air Service aircraft discovered 832 forest fires in 396 patrols from Pacific coast bases, flying 148,113 miles over national parks.
: Pointing out the virtual U.S. monopoly of known sources of helium, the NACA passed a special resolution addressed to the President and the Secretaries of War and Navy urging the continuance of the U.S. airship development program.
October 18: A world speed record of 222.96 mph for 1 kilometer was set by Brig. Gen. William Mitchell in a Curtiss R6 Curtiss D12 375, at Mount Clemens, Mich.
November 12: First air-to-air refueling made when Wesley May stepped from wing of one aircraft to that of another with a 5-gallon can of gasoline strapped to his back.
November 15: Initial U.S. flight of airship Roma was made at Langley Field, Va.
November 28: NACA Report 116, "Applications of Modern Hydrodynamics to Aeronautics," by Ludwig Prandtl of Gottingen University in Germany, a major contribution to the basis of the theory governing fundamental aerodynamical applications, was published. His famous 1904 paper on boundary layers was translated and issued in NACA Technical Memorandum No. 452 in 1928.
December 1: Nonrigid Navy dirigible C-7, first to use nonflammable helium, made flight from Hampton Roads, Va., to Washington, D.C.
December 7: In its annual report, the NACA recommended establishment of a Federal airways system to include provision of extended weather service "indespensable to the success and safety of air navigation." It also recommended that Government policy be formulated "to sustain and stabilize the aeronautical industry."
December 29: World endurance record of 26 hours 18 minutes 35 seconds set at Roosevelt Field, N.Y., by Edward Stinson and Lloyd Bertaud in a Junkers-Larsen BMW 185 (imported German Junkers J-13).
During December: The NACA cooperated with private organizations in the formulation of an air safety code.
During 1921: The NACA's Office of Aeronautical Intelligence distributed 13,080 copies of technical reports and 7,108 copies of technical notes to governmental, industrial, and educational institutions.
1922
February 7: Completion of a 50-hour test of the Lawrance J-1, 200-hp radial air-cooled engine, by the Aeronautical Engine Laboratory, Washington Navy Yard, foreshadowed the successful use of radial engines in naval aircraft.
March 20: Navy's first aircraft carrier, U.S.S. Langley, was commissioned at Norfolk, Va., a converted collier, Jupiter.
March 23: NACA Report No. 159 on "Jet Propulsion for Airplanes," by Edgar Buckingham of the Bureau of Standards, pointed out that jet fuel consumption would be four times that of propeller engine at 250 mph, but that efficiency of jet increased at higher speeds.
April 25: Stout ST-1 successfully test flown by Eddie Stinson, first all-metal airplane designed for the Navy.
May 31: First use of helium in a free balloon in Navy balloon flown by Lt. Comdr. J. P. Norfleet in National Elimination Balloon Race at Milwaukee, which did not place in the race.
June 10: Guglielmo Marconi of Italy stated that an apparatus could be designed to transmit radio waves from one ship in any desired direction and pick up reflections from another ship in a receiver, a device which would "thereby immediately reveal the presence and bearing of the other ship in fog or thick weather." Christian Huelsmeyer of Germany received a patent in 1904 on boat equipment which used reflected radio waves for navigational use on the Rhine River.
June 12: Capt. A. W. Stevens (USAS) made record parachute jump from 24,200 from a supercharged Martin bomber over McCook Field.
: Smithsonian Institution scientists utilized Navy seaplanes in mollusk research in Florida waters, completing in days what would otherwise have required a year.
June 16: Helicopter flight made by Henry Berliner at College Park, Md.
: Lt. C. L. Bissell (USAS) began a series of night cross-country flights between Bolling Field, D.C., and Langley Field, Va.
June 26: ZR-3 rigid airship ordered from the Zeppelin Co., Friedrichshafen, Germany, as part of World War I reparations under terms approved by the Allied Conference of Ambassadors on December 16, 1921.
During June: Wright E-2 engine operated continuously for 250 hours at wide-open throttle, demonstrating improved durability of intake and exhaust valves; Navy BuAer later increased engine suitability tests from 50 to 300 hours' endurance.
July 1: Eight naval medical officers were first to report for flight training, at NAS Pensacola, having previously completed flight surgeon's course at the Army Technical School of Aviation Medicine.
July 16: Berliner helicopter rose 12 feet and hovered before military observers at College Park, Md.
July 17: Aerial photos taken from naval aircraft to aid in location of reefs at Hahaina, Maui, Hawaii.
August 2: An unofficial three-man altitude record of 23,350 feet was set at McCook Field, Dayton, Ohio, by Lt. L. Wade, Capt. A. W. Stevens, and Sergeant Longham in a supercharged Air Service bomber.
August 18: AGA beacon (American Gas Accumulator) began operations at NAS Hampton Roads, with 6,000 candlepower, 18 flashes per minute, and an optical range of 20 miles horizontally.
August 21: Lawrence Sperry dropped landing wheels from plane in flight and landed it on a skid device at Farmingdale, Long Island.
September 4: First transcontinental flight within a single day, by Lt. J. H. Doolittle (USAS) in a modified DH-4B Liberty 400, from Pablo Beach, Fla., to Rockwell Field, San Diego, a distance of 2,163 miles in 21 hours 20 minutes.
September 27: Observations on overflying aircraft made by Navy scientists ultimately aiding development of radar, by Albert Hoyt Taylor and Leo C. Young of the Naval Aircraft Radio Laboratory, Anacostia, D.C.
October 17: First USN carrier takeoff by Lt. V. C. Griffin in Vought VE-7SF, from U.S.S. Langley.
October 19: Variable-density wind tunnel placed into operation at Langley Laboratory, although lack of adequate electric power prevented concurrent operation of both wind tunnels this year.
October 23: Reversible propeller demonstrated at Bolling Field, D.C., by American Propeller Co.
