N a v a l O r d e r o f t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s – S a n F r a n c i s c o C o m m a n d e r y Mission: History Studiorum Historiam Praemium Est Volume 2, Number 1 HHHHHH 3 January 2000 1911: Naval Aviation is Born on San Francisco Bay; Aeroplane Lands on, Takes Off from Pennsylvania Feat Im presses Congress – $25,000 Voted to Develop Navy Aeroplane Program SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 18, 1911-- Eugene Ely, an aviator in the employ of Glenn H. Curtiss, maker of aeroplanes, today landed a flying machine upon a makeshift platform built on USS Penn- sylvania, which was riding at anchor on San Francisco Bay. After discussing his feat with offi- cials and naval officers on board the armored cruiser, Ely climbed on his aeroplane and calmly took off from the ship, landing safely on Crissy Field at THE LANDING SYSTEM HAD IT ALL. The arresting cables were attached to 50-pound sandbags the Army’s Presidio of San Francisco. which were held off the deck by two longitudinal rails. The C urtiss D-IV airplane had a tailhook — i actually several tailhooks — to snag the cables. At the forward end of the “flight deck,” a canvas Ely’s feat might be called the first barrier was stretched to protect the ship’s superstructure in case the airplane didn’t stop. carrier operation. And though the previ- ous November he took off from a tem- 1944: Japs Splash Pappy – Marine Ace, Wingman porary platform built on the bow of the cruiser USS Birmingham, then in Shot Down over Slot While Leading Raid on Rabaul Hampton Roads, Va., the San Francisco When Marine Corps fighter squad- months later. The Japs did not report landing and takeoff on 18 January 1911 ron VMF-214, the Black Sheep, that he had been captured, so eventu- is regarded by most as the birth of naval landed at Torokina on Empress Au- ally he was presumed dead. Pappy aviation. Many people are surprised gusta Bay on 3 January 1944 follow- was awarded a posthumous Congres- when told this landing on and takeoff ing a raid on Rabaul, its commanding sional Medal of Honor to go with his from the deck of a ship occurred before officer and his wingman were missing. Navy Cross. the first amphibious operation of an The pilots didn’t know whether Boyington was not heard from until airplane. their CO, Major Gregory Boyington, the final days of the war. With Navy Buoyed by public interest in aviation and Captain George Ashmun were and Marine carrier pilots flying over stemming from the Gordon Bennett dead or alive, but they were willing to Japan with little opposition and bomb- Cup air races at Belmont park in New bet that Pappy Boyington would turn ing targets of opportunity while the York and backed by Admiral George up somewhere, sooner or later. He Japanese Cabinet wondered whether Dewey, Captain Washington Irving hadn’t become the war’s top fighter the U.S. had a third atomic bomb, Chambers and two officers, one from ace with 28 kills through lack of re- there was time for observation. the Bureau of Steam Engineering and sourcefulness. Painted on the roof of a tin building in the other from the Bureau of Construc- It would be later. Boyington was a what appeared to be a prison com- tion and Repair, established in 1910 a prisoner of the Japanese and would pound were the words “Pappy Boy- U.S. Navy office “to determine experi- remain one until the war ended 20 ington Here!” (Continued on page 6) (Continued on page 2) Page 2 M i s s i o n : Hi s to r y 3 January 2000 Flying Tigers and Black Sheep: Nothing Bashful about Boyington (Continued from page 1) only on paper crossing Pappy’s desk. Pappy was born in Coeur D’Alene, The group commander was Lieutenant Idaho, in 1912 and became something Colonel Lawson Sanderson, and Boy- of a local sports star as he progressed ington suggested that he be named CO through school. While attending Uni- of the unit and reform it from flyers in versity of Washington, he was an in- the pilot pool and unassigned replace- tercollegiate wrestling champion. ment pilots. Sanderson liked Pappy, When he got out of school, the coun- and the idea, and told him to go ahead. try was mired in the Great Depression VMF-214’s band of eccentrics was so, in 1936 at age 24, having studied nowhere as bad as has been portrayed. aeronautical engineering, he joined About half had combat experience, the Marine Corps, learned to fly and including five veterans of the Royal became a pilot instructor. Canadian Air Force, and the unit had Promotion in the peacetime Corps its share of newcomers from the failed to keep pace with the growth in States. Assigned to Munda, the squad- Boyington’s tastes, so it was a fairly ron quickly made a name for itself, insolvent Marine who read in early and the name was the Black Sheep. 1941 that a pilot could earn $675 a On VMF-214’s first mission, Boying- month flying for Claire Chennault’s ton shot down five Jap airplanes and TRAINED AS AN AERO NAUTIC AL ENGINEER American Volunteer Group in China, at University of W ashington, Major Gregory before a month was out the unit against Japanese pilots. There was Boyington knew what his airplane could do claimed 47 confirmed kills. also a $500 bonus for every Jap shot and he knew what those of his enem ies could Sometimes the Black Sheep had to down, and Pappy was sure he could do, knowledge that helped him becom e Am er- look for action. On one occasion, fol- do that. ica’s leading ace of W orld W ar II with 28 kills. lowing an uneventful mission, the In a seven-month period in 1941 an unfit place for a Marine. Back in Corsairs were looking for a fight and 1942, the 50-odd pilots who the States, he waited three months for when, in good old American English, called themselves “Flying Tigers” reinstatement in the Corps and then, at a voice inquired over the radio “Major became the single most publicized the old, for a combat pilot, age of 30 Boyington, what is your position.” flying unit of World War II. The he was sent to the South Pacific as a Pappy promptly responded that he shark’s mouth painted on the noses of Major. He flew a tour without seeing was at 20,000 feet over Treasury Is- their P-40s only added to their glam- an enemy plane, broke his ankle, and land. Then he took his squadron to a our. Pappy managed to earn $3,000 in wound up flying a desk. But doing position 26,000 feet over the sunny bonuses during his time with the Ti- administrative work has its rewards. side of Treasury Island. When 30 Jap gers. Boyington knew the CO of VMF- fighters arrived, Boyington downed Following American entry into the 214 had been shot down and the three of them and his pilots accounted war, the AVG became a part of the squadron’s pilots dispersed to other for more. Army Air Corps, in Boyington’s mind units. VMF-214 was a shell, existing By the end of 1943, Boyington had 25 confirmed kills, one shy of the 26 planes shot down by Joe Foss, who was no longer active. On 3 January he led the Black Sheep on a sweep to Rabaul, where they were met by about 60 enemy fighters. Pappy flamed one immediately and then he and wing- man Ashmun dove on a lower forma- tion of Japs, expecting the other Cor- sairs to follow through the clouds. When Boyington looked back, how- ever, it was about 20 Nips following. The two pilots went into a Thatch weave, scissoring to keep each other’s tail clear, but there were too many Jap planes. Ashmun’s F4U began a wide glide to the water, streaming smoke, and Boyington shot two enemy planes BLACK SHEEP SC RAMBLE, probably in response to a coast watcher's warning that a Japanese off his tail, one just as his wingman form ation was approaching U.S. transports in a landing area. Until the Jap base at Rabaul was hit the water. Now Pappy was the neutralized, Am erican ships in the Solom ons were under constant threat of bom bing attacks. (Continued on next page) 3 January 2000 M i s s i o n : Hi s to r y Page 3 Pappy Beats the Odds 1989: Two Libyan MiGs Shot Down; (Continued from previous page) only target and he was at 300 feet Attacked U.S. Force in Mediterranean when his main gas tank, in the fuse- lage between him and the nose of his On Wednesday, 4 January 1989, USS In 1986, there was a fracas between plane, was hit. John F. Kennedy (CV 67) was steam- U.S. and Libyan forces in the Gulf of In Boyington’s words, “The sensa- ing in international waters off the Sidra and two of Qaddafi’s patrol tion was much the same as opening shores of Tripoli, not far from the boats got sunk. He was losing things the door of a furnace and sticking Gulf of Sidra, and conducting exer- in pairs.