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6 Spinning the Spider Web Naval Aviation in England While naval aviation activities commenced in France immediately after the arrival of Kenneth Whiting and the First Aeronautic Detachment, similar operations in England lagged by many months. This disparity resulted from several factors. The French Ministry of Marine lobbied aggressively for American aid while the Admiralty did not. Based in Paris, Whiting focused almost exclusively on matters there and helped commit the Department to a Francocentric program. In contrast, the RNAS was a far more formidable force than the Aviation Maritime, with a better developed program of bases, equipment, training facilities, and missions, and thus saw less need of assistance in the form of actual American stations. Despite its sizable aviation efforts in France, the American Navy looked principally toward Britain for guidance. During the war Britain constructed an enormous number of air stations, depots, training establishments, and experimental sites. Its technical advances dwarfed those of other nations. The Admiralty supported extensive activities to combat the submarine menace, protect the homeland from aerial attack, and provide eyes for the fleet, utilizing dirigibles, kite balloons, land planes, seaplanes, and the world’s most advanced flying boats. The vast reach of the Royal Naval Air Service stretched from Scotland to France, the Mediterranean, Greece, Egypt, Africa, and Iraq. The Royal Navy worked to marry aircraft to the fleet, deploying seaplane carriers , balloon ships, lighters, warships carrying scouting machines, and by 1918 conducting experiments with aircraft carriers. For some time it remained unclear what role the U.S. Navy might perform in Britain. Not until Hutch Cone reached London in late September did naval aviation establish a substantial presence there. Nonetheless, several noteworthy initiatives eventually emerged. That the two forces spoke nearly the same language and Anglophile Sims established his headquarters in London, rather than Paris, inevitably strengthened these ties. Scores of American 150 Stalking the U-Boat pilots, observers, mechanics, and others trained at British schools like Cranwell , Ayr, Felixstowe, Eastchurch, Turnberry, Roehampton, Gosport, and Salisbury. Equally significant, large numbers of personnel served at RNAS and RAF stations in Britain, carrying out extensive wartime missions ranging from patrols, to convoy duties, to zeppelin hunts. At many bases they performed a substantial percentage of the work. Finally, in 1918 the Navy took control of Killingholme station near Hull and transformed it into the single largest American patrol base in Europe. * * * Obtaining advanced training for flight personnel constituted a priority in the winter of 1917–1918. Urgent demands for skilled chasse pilots to defend lumbering patrol bombers at NAS Dunkirk constituted one crucial need. Planners tried to meet this shortage by enlisting American flyers originally taught by the French and currently serving with the Lafayette Flying Corps. Others would be drawn from the First Aeronautic Detachment and the First Yale Unit. In late fall 1917, negotiations with the Admiralty resulted in an agreement whereby a score of such men would be sent to England and Scotland and instructed at the best Royal Flying Corps schools—Gosport, Turnberry, and Ayr. The process commenced when headquarters selected Yale Unit members Lovett, Gates, and Ingalls for “acrobatic work,” detaching them from duty in France and ordering them to London. Contrary to expectations, upon arrival Lovett learned that he would head to the RNAS station at Felixstowe while Gates was sidetracked for other duties. Instead, Kenneth MacLeish and Edward “Shorty” Smith, also Yale pilots, joined Ingalls, with all three assigned to the RFC aerodrome at Gosport near Southampton on the English Channel. After short layovers in London the trio rode down to the coast to commence instruction in AVRO trainers.1 The School of Special Flying at Gosport began as something of an experiment founded in 1917 under the direction of Lt. Col. Robert Smith-Barry, RFC, a veteran officer of forceful personality and strong views. According to a detailed report compiled by MacLeish, Smith-Barry “wrote repeated letters to the War Department,” arguing that it was a waste of time to train men at front-line squadrons. Given a chance to establish his own school, Smith-Barry handpicked the staff. His methods emphasized complex aerial maneuvers, acrobatics , and forced landings, and focused on increasing student confidence. There was little or no red tape. As long as a man did his work, no questions were asked. According to the Americans, instructors were a fine bunch of men, very good flyers, and many pupils were officers who had served at the [3.14.142.115] Project MUSE (2024-04-25...

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