Biplanes at War

US Marine Corps Aviation in the Small Wars Era, 1915-1934

Wray R. Johnson

• Publisher: The University Press of Kentucky
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9780813177045
• eBook ISBN: 9780813177052
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Military & Maritime History
• Index: History

Unlike the relative uniformity of conventional warfare, the peculiarities of small wars prevent a clear definition of rules and roles for military forces to follow. During the small wars era, aviation was still in its infancy, and the US military had only recently begun battling in the skies. The US Marine Corps recognized that flexibility and ingenuity would be critical to the successful conduct of small wars and thus employed the new technology of aviation.

In Biplanes at War: US Marine Corps Aviation in the Small Wars Era, 1915–1934, author Wray R. Johnson provides a riveting history of the marines' use of aviation between the world wars, a time in which young soldiers were volunteering to fly in combat when flying itself was a dangerous feat. Starting with Haiti in 1915, Biplanes at War follows the marines' aviation experiences in Haiti, the Dominican Republic, China, and Nicaragua, chronicling how marines used aircraft to provide supporting fires (e.g., dive-bombing) to ground troops in close contact with irregular opponents, evacuate the sick and wounded, transport people and cargo (e.g., to assist humanitarian operations), and even support elections in furtherance of democracy.

After years of expanding the capabilities of airplanes far beyond what was deemed possible, the small wars era ended, and the US Marines Corps transitioned into an amphibious assault force. The legacy of the marines' ability to adapt and innovate during the small wars era endures and provides a useful case study. Biplanes at War sheds light on how the marines pioneered roles and missions that have become commonplace for air forces today, an accomplishment that has largely gone unrecognized in mainstream histories of aviation and air power.

1

Origins of Marine Corps Aviation

I was asked if I was willing to try it alone, and said I was. I took off safely and felt confident in the air.

A. A. Cunningham, Marine Aviator No. 1

The first marine to fly solo under official orders was Lieutenant Alfred Austel Cunningham on August 20, 1912, after a little more than two hours of instruction at the Burgess Company and Curtiss aircraft factory in Marblehead, Massachusetts.¹ Six days earlier, Major Smedley Butler (son of Congressman Thomas Butler of Pennsylvania) led marines ashore in Nicaragua in yet another of the seemingly interminable American interventions in Latin America. A few weeks following Cunningham’s solo flight, the First Balkan War broke out in Europe, pitting the Balkan League against the Ottoman Empire. Among the members of the league was Greece, which had purchased four French Farman Aviation Works MF-7 airplanes, one of which was converted to a “hydroaeroplane” called the Nautilus, an aircraft we would refer to today as a seaplane. These airplanes performed reconnaissance and bombing missions during the war, the most notable sortie being an attack by the Nautilus on the Ottoman fleet anchored in the Dardanelles—the first naval-air combat mission in history.²

The invention of the airplane occurred at an awkward time for the US military because the nation was just beginning to emerge from a long period of public apathy regarding military matters. The Spanish-American War had been but a brief interruption of more than thirty years of peace, discounting efforts to keep the Plains Indians in check. In military circles the most promising technological development of 1903—the year the Wright brothers first flew a motor-driven, heavier-than-air flying machine—was the Springfield rifle.³ In Europe, however, the situation was far different. European designers quickly took what the Wright brothers had wrought and added innovations of their own, introducing such devices as ailerons for turning.⁴ Thus, when Louis Blériot flew across the English Channel in July 1909, the British were made well aware that their “splendid isolation” was over. Three years later the French Deperdussin company constructed a racing plane that featured a “monocoque” wooden fuselage and a rotary piston engine, rendering the Wright planes primitive toys by comparison.⁵ By 1913 the French were spending more than $7 million per year on aviation, the Germans some $5 million, Great Britain $3 million, and Italy $2 million. Even Mexico spent more than the United States on aviation.⁶

In the United States, the Wrights first approached the War Department in 1905 but were rebuffed. However, President Theodore Roosevelt took note of the brothers’ accomplishment in 1906 when foreign governments expressed serious interest in their machine. The Wrights offered the US government the use of a similar aircraft and instructions on how to fly it for $100,000, which they later reduced to $25,000. The chief of the US Army Signal Corps, Brigadier General James Allen, subsequently issued specifications for a military heavier-than-air craft and solicited additional bids. Forty-one bids were received, but only three complied with the army’s specifications; the Wright brothers secured the contract after the other two bidders failed to deliver a machine on the date specified in the solicitation. The Wright army airplane was delivered at Fort Meyer, Virginia, on August 20, 1908. On September 9 US Army Lieutenant Frank Lahm became the first military passenger in an airplane, lifting off from the parade ground at Fort Meyer. Eight days later, Lieutenant Thomas Selfridge, an army officer who had himself designed and flown an experimental aircraft for the Aerial Experiment Association, became the first military aviation fatality when the Wright airplane crashed with Orville Wright at the controls (Wright survived).

In 1909 the Wright brothers delivered an improved machine to the army, the Wright A. Trials continued until the final test flight was conducted on July 30 with Orville Wright at the controls and Lieutenant Benjamin Foulois (a future commander of the Army Air Corps) as an observer and navigator on what has been billed as the first cross-country flight, although they flew only from Fort Meyer to Alexandria, Virginia, a distance of 10 miles. Afterward, Lieutenants Lahm and Foulois were selected by General Allen to be trained as the first army pilots at the civilian airfield at College Park, Maryland. Foulois, however, was detailed as a delegate to the International Congress of Aeronautics in Nancy, France, and was replaced by Lieutenant Fredric Humphreys of the US Army Corps of Engineers. Humphreys would make the first military solo flight on October 26, 1909.⁷

In 1911 Robert Collier, publisher of Collier’s magazine, purchased a new Wright Type B airplane and “leased” it to the army for $1 per month so that army aviation would not pass into oblivion. Embarrassed, Congress passed its first appropriation for army aviation that same year: $125,000, a third of what Mexico had spent during its civil war. In December 1913 General Orders 79 designated the facility at North Island near San Diego, California, as the Signal Corps Aviation School, placing it among the army’s service schools. At the same time, Congress appropriated $25,000 for the US Navy to purchase airplanes. Thus, US naval aviation was officially born on May 8, 1911, when the navy ordered two Curtiss biplanes.⁸ Autonomous Marine Corps aviation would emerge several years later.

THE BIRTH OF MARINE CORPS AVIATION

Born in Atlanta, Georgia, on March 8, 1882, A. A. Cunningham became enthralled with the idea of flying when he took a ride in a gas balloon in 1903, the same year Orville and Wilbur Wright made their historic flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. When war broke out with Spain in 1898, sixteen-year-old Cunningham enlisted as a corporal in Company A, Second Georgia Volunteer Infantry. He later transferred to the Third Georgia Infantry, first organized in April 1861 as part of Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. Cunningham served Stateside during the Spanish-American War and was later sent to Cuba as part of the occupation forces.⁹ Mustered out in April 1899, he spent the next ten years selling real estate, during which time he made his balloon ascent and became a “confirmed aeronautical enthusiast.”¹⁰ At twenty-seven years of age, Cunningham joined the US Marine Corps, where he hoped to learn to fly, and was appointed a second lieutenant on January 16, 1909.¹¹ Trained as an infantryman, Cunningham nonetheless visualized the military possibilities of heavier-than-air flight and, in an essay published in 1916, extolled the virtues of aviation, which had “revolutionized tactics in land fighting.”¹²

After serving aboard the Delaware-class battleship USS North Dakota and several other ships, Cunningham was promoted to first lieutenant on September 29, 1911, and was assigned to Company E of the Advance Base Battalion at the Marine Barracks at the League Island Naval Shipyard in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In Philadelphia he found an active community of like-minded aviation enthusiasts, both military and civilian, and began to cultivate an idea regarding aviation in the Marine Corps. But he needed an airplane, so he rented one from a down-on-his-luck pilot for $25 per month (deducted from his monthly pay of $166) and joined the Aero Club of Philadelphia, one of the earliest flying clubs in the United States.¹³ He then secured permission from Rear Admiral Albert Grant to use a half-mile strip of land at the north end of the shipyard to fly his airplane and test his ideas. His airplane, nicknamed “Noisy Nan,” never actually flew more than a few feet.¹⁴ Nevertheless, Cunningham used his Aero Club connections to advocate for Marine Corps aviation among officials in Washington, including Major General William Biddle, commandant of the Marine Corps and scion of a prominent Philadelphia family. During this time Cunningham volunteered for flight training, and on May 22, 1912—regarded as the birth date of Marine Corps aviation—he was assigned to aviation duty by General Biddle and reported to the US Navy’s new flying school near the Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland.

The US Navy (USN) first investigated the possibilities of heavier-than-air powered flight when Lieutenant George Sweet, USN, and naval constructor William McIntee were detailed to observe the test of the Wright Flyer for the US Army at Fort Meyer in September 1908. Sweet was scheduled to fly as a passenger that day but yielded to Thomas Selfridge, the earliest US Army flier and an experienced airman. As noted earlier, Selfridge was killed when the propellers fouled the control wires leading to the rudder and the plane crashed. Undeterred, Lieutenant Sweet went on to become the first navy officer in the United States to fly in a heavier-than-air machine. Backed by Rear Admiral William Cowles, brother-in-law of Theodore Roosevelt and chief of the navy’s Bureau of Equipment, Sweet convinced the secretary of the navy to acquire, test, and develop airplanes for naval purposes.

In 1910 Captain Washington Irving Chambers, USN, of the Bureau of Equipment attempted to enlist the Wright brothers in a demonstration of their aircraft launching from a US Navy man-of-war.¹⁵ The Wrights declined, whereupon aviation pioneer Glenn Curtiss took up the challenge.¹⁶ On November 14, 1910, civilian Eugene Ely successfully flew a 50-horsepower (hp) landplane from a specially constructed platform on the bow of the Chester-class scout cruiser USS Birmingham at Hampton Roads, Virginia.¹⁷ Convinced of the future of aviation, the navy asked Curtiss to instruct other officers how to fly. At first this was done free of charge, given that no money had been appropriated by Congress for this purpose.¹⁸

On January 18, 1911, while performing at an air show in San Francisco, California, Ely landed his plane on the armored cruiser USS Pennsylvania (the first of its class), and after an overnight stay on the ship, he flew back to shore. That same month, Curtiss and Navy Lieutenant Theodore “Spuds” Ellyson designed and constructed a hydroaeroplane attachment for ships.¹⁹ On January 26 Curtiss landed his personal hydroaeroplane alongside the Pennsylvania and was successfully hoisted aboard using the device.²⁰ Now firmly convinced of the war-fighting possibilities of aviation, the US Navy ordered Lieutenants John Rodgers and John Towers, as well as Ensign Victor Herbster, to undergo flight training.²¹ The navy purchased two Curtiss aircraft and one Wright airplane, and in the summer of 1911 the first naval aviation unit was organized at Greenburg Point near the Naval Academy at Annapolis. Although the Aviation Camp was briefly transferred to San Diego, it soon moved back to Annapolis, where tent hangars were constructed fronting the Severn River.²²

Having secured a place at the US Navy’s Aviation Camp, Cunningham, to his undoubted dismay, was promptly sent to sea for temporary duty on the Virginia-class battleship USS Georgia. He also served with the Second Regiment, First Provisional Brigade, in the Caribbean. When the Georgia returned to Hampton Roads, Cunningham made his way to Maryland and reported to Lieutenant Rodgers. Upon graduation from the Aviation Camp, Cunningham was designated Naval Aviator No. 5 (and, ultimately, Marine Aviator No. 1).²³ The next four marines to attend flight school at the Aviation Camp were Bernard “Barney” Smith (Naval Aviator No. 6),²⁴ William...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half title
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Preface
• Introduction
• 1. Origins of Marine Corps Aviation
• 2. Proving Ground: Haiti, 1915–1934
• 3. Advance to Maturity, 1919–1935
• 4. Marine Corps Aviation Comes of Age: Nicaragua, 1926–1933
• Conclusion
• Appendix A. First 100 Marine Corps Aviators by Naval Aviator Number
• Appendix B. Marine Corps Aircraft Acquired 1913–1934
• Appendix C. Squadron Designations and Redesignations, 1920–1936
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index