Stalking the U-Boat: U.S. Naval Aviation in Europe during World War I

Image Plates

Map 1. United States Naval Aviation Stations/Facilities: Francé´ Map 2. United States Naval Aviation Stations/Facilities: Great Britain Map 3. United States Naval Aviation Stations/Facilities: Italy Figure 1. Part of the First Aeronautic Detachment, ready to depart on their long journey from Florida to France in May 1918. Most of the men in this group had been in the Navy for less than six weeks. Courtesy of National Archives. Figure 2. A portion of the First Aeronautic Detachment posing in front of their barracks at Tours in France in the summer of 1917. Courtesy of National Archives. Figure 3. LCdr. John“Lanny”Callan, first commanding officer at Moutchic, was one of the Navy’s most important “advance men.”He stands here beneath the dense pines that covered the Moutchic site and had to be felled by hand before construction could begin. Courtesy of John Callan Collection , Naval History and Heritage Command. Figure 4. Bluejackets hauling a Franco-British Aviation (FBA) training aircraft along“the beach” at Moutchic in October 1917. Pilots found the FBA to be a cranky, dangerous machine. Courtesy of John Callan Collection, Naval History and Heritage Command. Figure 5.“Main Street”at Moutchic in 1918. At its height the school accommodated more than 500 officers and enlisted men. The range of buildings on the right survives to this day, though in derelict condition. Courtesy of National Archives. Figure 6. Captain Hutch I. Cone, known to his close friends as“Reddy,”was the commander of naval aviation in Europe in World War I; from a c. 1912 photograph. Courtesy of Naval History and Heritage Command. Figure 7. Launching a Hanriot-Dupont scout over the side at Dunkirk, 1918. The congested harbor was a major factor in several fatal accidents. Courtesy of Naval History and Heritage Command. Figure 8. The officers at NAS Dunkirk and their Allied guests. Dr. Albert Stevens is kneeling center. Lt. Artemus“Di”Gates of the First Yale Unit is standing, third from the right. Ens. Eddie DeCernea of the Second Yale Unit stands second from the right. Courtesy of National Archives. Figure 9. Aircraft lined up at the assembly and repair facility at NAS Brest in October 1918. The facility was just getting up to speed at this time. An HS-2L flying boat is positioned in the foreground . Courtesy of National Archives Figure 10. A 1918 view of NAS Le Croisic, the first American patrol base placed in operation, taken from the nearby shore. The small hut in the foreground was used to store detonators. Courtesy of Naval History and Heritage Command. Figure 11. These huge double hangars and the wooden launching slip at NAS Arcachon give some sense of the scale of construction necessary to implement the Navy’s antisubmarine campaign. Virtually all work was done by hand. Courtesy of National Archives. Figure 13. The barren island of L’Aber Vrach and the Navy tent village that sprang up in the spring of 1918 during the early construction period at this station. After the war the island returned to its earlier desolate state. Courtesy of National Archives. Figure 12. The pigeon lofts at NAS Arcachon. Each patrol station kept a flock of carrier pigeons that often carried important messages from flyers downed at sea. Courtesy of National Archives. Figure 14. Launching an HS-1L flying boat from NAS L’Aber Vrach, November 1918. Movie footage shot by the Army Signal Corps shows the crew riding the launching truck down the ramp like a kid’s wagon. Courtesy of National Archives. Figure 15. Ensigns Waters and Dillon aloft in an HS-1L flying boat at NAS Tréguier in the autumn of 1918. The station was operational for only a few weeks. Courtesy of Naval History and Heritage Command. Figure 17. LCdr. Kenneth Whiting and his command at NAS Killingholme, situated on the banks of the Humber River in northeastern England. Killingholme was the largest combat station operated by naval aviation during World War I. Courtesy of National Archives. Figure 16. The wreckage of pilot Joseph Cline’s Tellier flying boat at NAS Le Croisic. While Cline was taxiing to takeoff on March 4, 1918, a bomb fell loose and exploded, breaking the...