Captain N. E. Irwin was Director of Naval Aviation, with offices in the Navy Department. Captain H. I. Cone was in general charge of our aviation activities in Europe. Construction and operation of air stations in France were under his supervision until August 1, 1918, when he moved to London, as head of the Aviation Section of Admiral Sims' staff. Then all our forces in France, except the Northern Bombing Group, which was commanded by Captain D. C. Hanrahan, were placed under command of Admiral Wilson, Captain T. T. Craven, as aide for aviation, on his staff, being charged with all aviation matters.
Building more than forty stations in Europe, some of them of huge extent, was a big task in construction. Its accomplishment, under many handicaps and difficulties, reflects the utmost credit upon all concerned. Constructors and aviators displayed such energy and resource, that it was a current saying that, "Naval Aviation can do anything that comes to hand."
They created in a few months stations that, under ordinary circumstances, would have required years to build. Let me give one example illustrative of others. At the big air station at Killingholme, England, contracts for the buildings had been made, but it became evident soon after the arrival of our aviation personnel that unless we did the work ourselves that station would never be built in time to permit active operations or house the men in comfort. But Lieutenant M. E. Kelly, with a detail of 200 American blue-jackets, built in thirty days twenty-eight barrack buildings of brick and concrete, each twenty feet wide and sixty feet long. That is only one instance of hundreds of things done by this force in Europe.
The Navy erected its own aircraft factory at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, which was producing and shipping planes to Europe in the spring of 1918. This immense plant was of inestimable value in carrying out the program of aviation construction, which was pushed all along the line.
Though there was no specific appropriation for erecting an aircraft factory, this was considered so essential that an allotment of $1,000,000 was made for the purpose. I signed the order authorizing the erection of the plant July 27, 1917. Within ten days the contract was let. Naval Constructor F. G. Coburn was detailed as manager. Under his energetic direction, construction was pushed so rapidly that by October 17 the first buildings were up, considerable machinery installed and on November 2 the keel of the first flying boat was laid. The building was pronounced complete on November 20, only 110 days after the contract was awarded. That factory was enlarged until it covered forty acres, with buildings having 888,935 square feet of floor space. At the time of the armistice, there were 3,642 employees engaged in constructing aircraft of the latest type. The value of its war-time output was more than $5,000,000.
Not only did the Navy build and put into operation hundreds of seaplanes, flying boats and other aircraft, but it originated and built the largest seaplanes in existence, the "NC" type, the first of which was completed before the armistice.
Few people seem to realize that these huge "NC" planes—the "Nancys" they were called—which became famous in the first flight across the Atlantic in May, 1919, were built for war use, and that the work of developing this new type was begun only five months after we entered the war. It takes a long time to develop a new type of such magnitude.
All nations recognized the need of larger seaplanes, able to cruise hundreds of miles and return without refueling. Shipping space was so valuable that taking to Europe the large numbers of planes the Army and Navy had contracted for was a serious problem.
The Chief Constructor of the Navy, Admiral Taylor, had often discussed these problems with me. One day in September, he sent for Naval Constructors G. C. Westervelt and J. C. Hunsacker. "I want a plane designed that will fly across the Atlantic," was the surprising task he assigned them. Admiral Taylor's daring idea aroused my warmest enthusiasm. He and his force began work at once. No flying boat of anything like that size and power had ever before been produced. There were all kinds of problems to be solved; numerous experiments had to be made concerning every detail. By the end of 1917 all the main elements of the design had been formulated, and early in 1918 the work of construction was begun. The NC-1 was completed by the first of October, and the first test flight made three days later. This was so successful that, on November 7, just before the armistice, she flew to Washington, where she was inspected, going thence to Hampton Roads and back to Rockaway.
Our dream of building a plane that would fly across the Atlantic had been translated into reality. Six months later the NC-4 made the first flight from America to Europe, from Rockaway, Long Island, to Nova Scotia, the Azores, Portugal and England, landing at Plymouth, the port from which, three centuries before, the Pilgrims had set sail for America.