Midway (CVA 41) - Naval Cruise Book

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Cdr. B. W. Adams Benjamin Warren Adams was born at Glendive, Montana, on September 1, 1920. Following graduation from Butte, Montana, High School, he enlisted in the Navy October 12, 1947. During World War II, Midway ' s Air Boss served in the Pacific theater where he was active in the Philippine liberation campaign. He has twice been awarded the Dis- tinguished Flying Cross. air DEPARTMENT If you set aside a few feeble but highly imaginative attempts by Leonardo Da Vinci and others, you can say the 128 foot flight by the Wright Brothers started the whole thing. The British were the first to use this American invention at sea, and by 1914 they had a ship, the Hermes, which was capable of carrying and launching ten planes. The first carrier in the U.S. Navy was the U.S.S. Langley, which was commissioned in 1922. She was small and almost ugly, but she was the first of the breed of ships that would establish the U.S. Navy as the most powerful f!eet the world has ever known. From these humble beginnings, an organization has grown which manages to launch and maintain over a hundred aircraft. The Air Department on the Midway is a direct descendant of the group of men on the Langley which first tried to launch a bi-winged plane from a ship. It has grown and grown until today it consists of men in five divisions which fuel, position, launch, recover, and maintain the aircraft of CVG 2 — the very reason for Midway ' s existence. 174

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Ens. R. M. Hinton J Division Officer N Division originally was an outgrowth of a deck divi- sion. When navigation was established as a science, a few personnel from the deck, which were more closely associated with the bridge of the ship, took over the duties of steering the ship during delicate maneuvers and advising the Captain on where the ship was. N Division is another of the Midway ' s divisions which double as a department. The division, manned with 15 to 20 men, share the jobs of navigating the ship, standing watches on the bridge and in after-steering, and keeping the divisional spaces clean. Most of the sea-detail helms- men ( the men who steer the ship during underway replenishments and leaving and entering port ) come from this division. Penick, J. R. ; Coleman, QMCA ; Vegh, S. ; Black derson, C. A. ; Stingeri( G. L. ; Martinez, C. J. ; Ellasces, J. G.

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BMOKI 1 Zi y( RSHH Cdr. D. M. Longton Ass ' t. Air Aviation Safety Officer Lcdr. R. P. Yeatman A C Handling Officer Air Office TOP, : Fried, D. J. : Snyler. R. I., ; Potter, J. H., ATC; Huiman, B. E. ; Knutson, DR.; (BOTTOM): Lcdr. D. W. McCrary ; LTjg. T. E. McLaughlin ; Ens. F. E. Zim-