1941-Continued

the way, including Balikpapan, Soerabaja, and Ambon

in the Netherlands East Indies.

15 December Patrol

Norfolk, Va., to Alameda,

coast.

Wing 8 transferred from

Calif., for duty on the west

16 December The Secretary of the Navy approved

an expansion of the pilot training program from the

existing schedule of assigning 800 students per month

to one calling for 2,500 per month thereby leading to

a production of 20,000 pilots annually by mid-1943.

17 December The Naval Research Laboratory

reported that flight tests in a PBY of radar utilizing a

duplexing antenna switch had been conducted with

satisfactory results. The duplexing switch made it pos-

sible to use a single antenna for both transmission of

the radar pulse and reception of its echo; thereby, the

necessity for cumbersome "yagi" antenna no longer

existed, a factor which contributed substantially to the

reliability, and hence the effectiveness, of World War II

airborne radar.

17 December Seventeen SB2U-3 Vindicators of

VMSB-231, led by a PBY of Patrol Wing 1, arrived at

Midway Island from Oahu, Hawaii, completing the

longest mass flight by single-engine aircraft then on

record in 9 hours, 45 minutes. It was the same

squadron that was en route to Midway on 7 December

aboard Lexington when reports of the attack on Pearl

Harbor forced the carrier to turn back short of her

goal.

18 December Two-plane detachments from Patrol

Wings 1 and 2, based in Hawaii, began scouting

patrols from Johnston Island.

18 December Following an operational loss of an

American Volunteer Group (Flying Tigers) aircraft and

the ensuing confrontation between the pilot, Eriksen

Shilling, and a group of Chinese, "blood chits" were

developed. The Flying Tigers were a U.S. volunteer

group formed by Major General Claire 1. Chennault

for operations in the China-Burma-India theater. The

first blood chits were printed on silk by Chinese

Intelligence and stitched on the back of the

American's flight jackets. It showed the flag and

promised a reward for assisting the bearer. The mes-

sage was printed in several languages. Blood chits

were later used by the fast carrier groups in the Pacific

during World War II, in the Korean and Vietnam wars

and in Desert Storm. Another item similar to blood

UNITED STATES NAVAL AVIATION 1910-1995

111

chits was the "Barter Kit." It was issued during

the Cuban Missile Crisis and Vietnam and included

gold coins, watches, etc. . . . to barter for assistance

if downed.

25 December Two-plane detachments from

squadrons at Pearl Harbor and Kaneohe, Hawaii,

began patrols from Palmyra Island, a principal staging

base to the South Pacific.

1942

2 January The first organized lighter-than-air units

of World War II, Airship Patrol Group 1, Commander

George H. Mills commanding, and Airship Squadron

12, Lieutenant Commander Raymond F. Tyler com-

manding, were established at NAS Lakehurst, N.J.

5 January A change in regulations, covering display

of National Insignia on aircraft, returned the star to the

upper right and lower left wing surfaces and revised

rudder striping to 13 red and white horizontal stripes.

7 January Expansion of Naval Aviation to 27,500

useful planes was approved by the president.

11 January Saratoga, while operating at sea 500

miles southwest of Oahu, Hawaii, was hit by a subma-

rine torpedo and forced to retire for repairs.

11 January Patrol Squadron 22, with PBY-5

Catalinas, joined Patrol Wing 10 at Ambon, the first

aviation reinforcements from the Central Pacific to

reach southwest Pacific Forces opposing the Japanese

advance through the Netherlands East Indies.

14 January The formation of four Carrier Aircraft

Service Units (CASU) from four small Service Units,

previously established in the Hawaiian area, was

approved.

16 January To protect the advance of Task Force 8

for its strike against the Marshall and Gilbert Islands,

planes of Patrol Squadron 23 began daily searches of

the waters between their temporary base at Canton

Island and Suva in the Fijis. These were the first com-

bat patrols by aircraft in the South Pacific.

23 January The first naval aircraft to operate in the

Samoan Islands, OS2Us of VS-I-DI4, arrived with

Marine Corps reinforcements from San Diego, Calif.

29 January Five-inch projectiles containing radio-

proximity fuzes were test fired at the Naval Proving

Ground, Dahlgren, Va., and 52 percent of the fuzes