Naval aviation can trace its roots back to the very early days of powered flight. As early as 1908 Great Britain’s Royal Navy was starting to look at airborne applications, and, in May 1909 Vickers was commissioned to design and build an airship, HMA1 (His Majesty’s Airship No 1). This became known as the Mayfly (as in it may fly, or it may not!), which was ready for trials in September 1911 but broke in two whilst being moved from its construction shed, so never actually flew.
It wasn't just the British who were looking at nautical applications for the aeroplane. In France Henri Fabre built the first seaplane, his "Canard" (Duck!), which flew successfully for the first time at Martigues on the Cote D'Azur on 28th March 1910. This was the first time an aircraft had flown off water.
In the United States another bicycle engineer (the Wright brothers also started off with bikes!), Glenn Curtiss from Hammondsport NY, was developing an interest in aeronautical matters, being awarded US Pilot's Licence No 1 by the Aero Club of America for his early achievements.
On June 30th 1910 he first came to the attention of the US Navy when he dropped "bombs" on warship shaped targets on Lake Keuka near Hammondsport, scoring hits with the majority of his "bombs" (either 18 out of 20 or 15 out of 17, depending which report you read!). The invincibility of the battleship was suddenly in doubt.
In October of that year Curtiss and Eugene Ely, a Curtiss demonstration pilot, met with a representative of the US Navy to discuss military uses for aviation within the Navy. As a result of that meeting two experiments were carried out, with Ely becoming the first person to fly an aircraft off a ship. On 14th November he flew a Curtiss Model D Pusher from the deck of the USS Birmingham, which was anchored off the coast of Virginia. Two months later, on 18th January 1911, he became the first person to land an aircraft on a ship when he landed on the USS Pennsylvania at anchor in San Francisco Bay. This saw the first use of an arresting system, as the aircraft had no brakes! Hooks attached to the aircraft and 22 ropes raised off the deck and attached to sand bags were used to bring it to a stop on the 119 ft wooden platform, which was fitted over the ship's stern.
By the end of 1910 Glenn Curtiss had moved south and west and established a training camp in San Diego CA, at what is now Naval Air Station North Island (NASNI), to train Navy and Army aviators. During that winter he was also working on a float design and on 26th January 1911 he made the first seaplane flight in the United States.
On 28th January 1911 Lt Theodore Ellyson of the US Navy, one of Curtiss' students, made his first, inadvertent, flight and on 12th April he became Naval Aviator No 1.
On 17th February 2011 Curtiss made his most important demonstration in San Diego Bay, when he showed that an aircraft could be landed on water, hoisted onboard a ship, lowered back to the water and take off again. The ship involved was again the USS Pennsylvania. As a result of this on the 8th May the US Navy ordered its first two aircraft. The first, a Curtiss A-1 Triad, was handed over at Hammondsport on July 1st 1911.
As a result of these developments San Diego is considered to be the birthplace of Naval Aviation in the USA, and Glenn Curtiss to be the father of Naval Aviation.
2011 therefore marks the 100th Anniversary of Naval Aviation in the United States and a whole host of events have been planned in celebration. As part of this celebration it was decided to paint a number of aircraft in heritage colour schemes to help raise the profile of the anniversary. There were several conditions for selection for repainting. The aircraft had to be due a repaint and not due to be deployed, so the majority of aircraft repainted are from training squadrons. As aircraft aren't repainted that often, the good news is that they should be around for a while yet.
The Kickoff event for the Centennial of Naval Aviation (CoNA) took place at NAS North Island in San Diego on 12th February 2011. As Naval Aviation is considered to include not just the Navy, but also the Marine Corps and the Coast Guard, they were also represented. North Island's proximity to Lindbergh Field, San Diego's main airport, limited the options for a flying display, so a unique event was planned.
Visitors were treated to a large static display of aircraft, including a majority of the heritage schemed ones, a large flyover, billed as the biggest since World War II, and access to several warships including the Nimitz class aircraft carrier USS John C Stennis and the LHA USS Peleliu. The event proved to be very popular, one would surmise that it was more popular than expected as the queues to get in wound back to, and up and over, the Coronado Bridge, which ended up being gridlocked by 10am. The other clue was that at the main entry gate there were only five security arches, which the security people quickly gave up using! It is estimated that 70,000 people attended.
As well as the heritage aircraft the static included a number of warbirds and some other current aircraft, although it was noticeable that there were very few from front line Squadrons. The other thing that was very noticeable was the big gaps in the eras, with very little to represent the Korean, Vietnam and Cold War eras. However a quick trip across the Bay to the USS Midway museum would've rectified most of that! (see Paul Dunn's recent report for more on the Midway) Like most American airshows the crowd were allowed up close and personal with the aircraft, making photography challenging on the day.
Plans to get a replica of the Curtiss Pusher to San Diego didn't materialise, but there were two replicas of the Curtiss Triad, one of which was the example from the San Diego Air and Space Museum. This had been built in the early 1980s and had flown briefly in 1984 before being handed over to the Museum. For this event it had been fitted with an original OX-5 engine, which was run for the first time on the Wednesday before. It took to the water on the Thursday, and again on the Friday in front of descendents of Lt Ellyson. It was back on the water during the Saturday morning and even got airborne briefly when the pilot "eased back on the stick to reduce the spray"!
The highlight of the event was the Parade of Flight. This consisted of a flypast by almost 200 aircraft, representing the Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard. However this wasn't to be a mass flypast by all 200 together, more a succession of flypasts, with the aircraft routed over the Coronado Bridge then following the water as it curves around North Island. This meant that the aircraft were in a gentle wing down turn as they passed the crowd.
Most of the aircraft were operating from other airfields in the San Diego area with the majority of the military aircraft operating from MCAS Miramar. The warbirds and some of the training aircraft flew from Brown Field.
It started at 1pm led by the Blue Angels. They were followed by a succession of aircraft in roughly chronological order, starting with a lone PT-22 and then other pre war trainers, WWII aircraft, post war trainers and a handful of jet warbirds. Interspersed with this were the Leapfrogs parachute team, with one member jumping from a Stearman to simulate escape from a burning aircraft! Several of the team were airborne when a T-33 overflew, which was obviously not as planned as the T-33 came back for another pass! Sadly the FJ-4B Fury, which also flew by whilst the parachutists were in the air, didn't get a second go.
The next phase was an aerial demonstration by the USMC, which was loosely modelled on their MAGTF demo at the Miramar airshow. This included a large number of their aircraft, representing most types in their inventory. Some aircraft, notably the AV-8B Harriers and the MV-22 Ospreys did several passes.
The Marine Corps were followed by the Coast Guard, with a flyby by an HC-144A Ocean Sentry and an HC-130H Hercules, with an MH-60T doing an SAR demonstration. Then came a selection of USN helicopters and training aircraft followed by other current aircraft from the USN, including one of the last five operational S-3B Vikings, operated by VX-30 at Pt Mugu (one of the others was in the static park in a WWII colour scheme). The larger aircraft flew past individually, whilst the fast jets were in small formations.
The final part of the proceedings consisted of a mass flypast by the Stennis Air Wing, well, most of it. In total there were 29 F/A-18 Hornets, three EA-6B Prowlers, two E-2C Hawkeyes and a C-2A Greyhound. Unlike the rest of the fly pasts they flew in from the Pacific Ocean, over the airfield and then over downtown San Diego.
By 3.30pm it was all over. However the Navy seemed in no hurry to get people off the base, which was just as well as the queues to get out were as bad as those to get in! The visitors were allowed to stay until well after dark, giving the chance for some unique night shots for those who stayed that late.
GAR wants to interact with its readers so if you have a question for the author or a comment to make on this feature, please click on the button below. The best comments will appear right here on GAR.
If you would like to discuss using any of our imagery or feature content please contact us.