28

UNITED STATES NAVAL AVIATION 1910-1995

1917-Continued

School for advanced flight training and qualification as

a Naval Aviator and a commission as Ensign, USNRF.

This plan was implemented without the benefit of a

formal directive by the establishment of the Ground

School in the same month and the later division of

flight training into elementary and advanced courses.

23 July Ground instruction for prospective pilots

and for aviation ground officers began at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) with a

class of 43 students comprising the Naval Air

Detachment under command of Lieutenant Edward H.

McKitterick. In this, and in similar programs later

established at the University of Washington, Seattle,

Wash., and the Dunwoody Institute, Minneapolis,

Minn., large numbers of officers were indoctrinated

and introduced to the fundamentals of aviation.

24 July A large obstacle to the effective expansion

of aircraft production was removed by formation of

the Manufacturers Aircraft Association to handle the

business of a Cross Licensing Agreement by which

member companies had full access to all patents held

by other members at fixed low rates.

26 July The Army Navy Airship Board endorsed a

proposal by the Bureau of Mines for the experimental

production of helium and recommended the allotment of

$100,000 to construct a small plant for the purpose. This

action, subsequently approved by both Departments,

initiated helium production in the United States.

27 July An act of Congress authorized the president

to take possession of North Island, San Diego, Calif.,

for use by the Army and Navy in establishing perma-

nent aviation stations and aviation schools. The arrival

of Lieutenant Earl W. Spencer on 8 November 1917,

under orders to establish and command a station for

the purpose of training pilots and mechanics and con-

ducting coastal patrols, marked the beginning of the

present NAS North Island.

27 July Construction of the Naval Aircraft Factory at

the Navy Yard, Philadelphia, Pa., was authorized for

the purposes of constructing aircraft, undertaking

aeronautical developments and providing aircraft con-

struction cost data.

8 August The approval by the Secretary of the Navy

for plans to establish one training and three coastal

patrol stations in France was the first of several deal-

ing with an overseas base construction program that

was expanded successively and ultimately provided 27

Woman at work in Naval Aircraft Factory, World War I (NH)2493

Naval Air Station at Treguier, France, showing HS-I flying boats used in patrol over the English Channe172979