David F. Winkler, PhD, staff historian of the Naval Historical Foundation, was the 2020– 2021 Lindbergh Chair of Aerospace History at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum and will be honored at the NMHS National Maritime Awards Dinner in April. For more about Dr. Winkler, please refer to pages 14–15 of this issue.
(right) On 27 February 1942, while transporting US Army P-40s to the Netherlands East Indies, USS Langley was attacked by Japanese aircraft south of Java and was subsequently scuttled by her escorting destroyers. The photo was shot from USS Whipple. USS Edsall (DD 219) is in view standing by off Langley’s port side. NOTES Thomas Wildenberg, All the Factors of Victory: Admiral Joseph Mason Reeves and the Origins of Carrier Airpower, (Washington, DC: Brassey’s Inc.), p. 84. 2 See: Charles M. Melhorn, Two-Block Fox: The Rise of the Aircraft Carrier, 1911–1929 (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1974). 3 Clark G. Reynolds, Admiral John H. Towers: The Struggle for Air Supremacy, (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1991), p. 106. 4 Capt. Al Raithel, USN (Ret.) “TRAP “EM,” The Hook, (Fall 1982), pp. 15–16. 5 “USS Langley” Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships online at www.history.navy.mil. 6 CO Langley Letter to CNO dated April 14, 1923, Langley Box 1, Folder 1, Naval History and Heritage Command (NHHC). 7 BuAer Weekly Newsletter dated June 13, 1923, NHHC. 8 Albert A. Nofi, To Train for War: The US Fleet Problems, 1923–1940, (Newport, RI: Naval War College Press, 2010), pp. 62–66. 9 Harold E. Morin, “‘DEADLIEST SHIP AFLOAT’ ARRIVES HERE,” The San Diego Union, (November 30, 1924), p. 1. In his Naval Academy Lucky Bag write-up, Jackson was previously known as “Hatchet Face.” 10 Nofi, pp. 73–78; Rear Adm. Tate, J. R. USN (Ret.). “Covered Wagon Days,” Naval Aviation News (December 1970) p. 36; Ryan D. Wadle, Selling Seapower: Public Relations and The US Navy, 1917–1941, (Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 2019), pp. 88–89. Later, Wead’s life was portrayed by John Wayne in the 1957 movie The Wings of Eagles. 11 Thomas Wildenberg, “Admiral with Wings,” Naval Institute Proceedings (September 1998) p. 71. 12 David Hobbs, The Dawn of Carrier Strike and the World of Lieutenant W. P. Lucy, DSO, RN, (Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing, 2019), p. 113. 13 Nofi, pp. 91–94. 14 “ONE DEAD FOUR INJURED IN LANGLEY EXPLOSION,” The San Diego Union, (December 21, 1927), p. 10; Wildenberg, All the Factors of Victory, p. 157; 15 Nofi, p. 104. 16 Jean Hood, ed. Carrier, A Century of First Hand Accounts of Naval Operations in War and Peace. (London, UK: Conway, 2010), p. 70. 17 BuAer Newsletter dated December 18, 1929, NHHC; Nofi, pp. 123– 1
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124. 18 Rear Admiral Rufus F. Zogbaum, From Sail to Saratoga: A Naval Autobiography. (Rome, Italy: Italo-Orientale, 1950), pp. 422–428. 19 BuAer Newsletter dated April 1, 1931; BuAer Newsletter dated June 15, 1931, NHHC. 20 “The Reminiscences of Admiral Alfred M. Pride, US Navy (Retired),” (Annapolis, MD: US Naval Institute, 1984), pp. 84–85; Newspaper clippings, Fitch Scrapbook, Hoover Institution. 21 BuAer Newsletter dated August 1, 1932; BuAer Newsletter dated September 1, 1932; BuAer Newsletter dated November 1, 1932, NHHC: 22 Mark L Evans and Roy A. Grossnick. United States Naval Aviation; 1910–2010, (Vol. I), (Washington, DC: Naval History and Heritage Command, 2015) p. 110. 23 Paul A. St. Pierre, USS. Langley CV-1, AV-3: America’s First Aircraft Carrier. (North Grafton, ME: Covered Wagon Association, 1996), pp, 147–148; Whiting biography, Navy Department Library. 24 Nofi. p. 178. 25 Lt. Col. Edward C. Johnson, USMC, Marine Corps Aviation: The Early Years, (Washington, DC: History and Museums Division, Headquarters US Marine Corps, 1977), pp. 74, 76. 26 Gareth L. Powlowski, Flattops and Fledglings: A History of Aircraft Carriers, (Cranbury, NJ & London, England: A.S Barnes & Co. and Thomas Yoseloff Ltd. 1973), p. 22. Langley’s induction rituals were recorded on film and may be viewed on the National Archives website. 27 Walter E. Constance Statement,” in Paul A. St. Pierre, USS Langley CV-1, AV-3: America’s First Aircraft Carrier. (North Grafton, ME: Covered Wagon Association, 1988), p. 95. 28 Ibid., p. 13. 29 Admiral Frank D. Wagner biography, Navy Department Library. 30 “See: Memoir of Admiral Felix Stump,” New York, NY: Oral History Research Office Columbia University, 1975. 31 In additional to Samuel Eliot Morison’s account, the loss of Langley is well covered in Dwight R. Messimer’s, Pawns of War: The Loss of the USS Langley and the USS Pecos, (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1983); and Donald M. Kehn Jr.’s In the Highest Degree Tragic: The Sacrifice of the US Asiatic Fleet in the East Indies during World War II, (Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 2017.)
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