William F. Trimble

William Trimble has had a rather brisk career writing about aviation and (generally) the United States Navy, this being one nine such books he's authored.

As for this work, it slots in quite well, in as much as Glenn Curtiss found himself becoming the chosen instrument of the USN's early experiments in ship-borne aviation (the Wright Brothers having previously declined the opportunity), and beginning a personal relationship that lasted into the 1920s.

Before that though, there is what Curtiss experienced to get to that point, as another minister's boy who became fascinated by bicycles, and then motorcycles, and whose work with engines drew him into the nascent business of powered flight, particularly once Curtiss became a technical associate of Alexander Graham Bell. From there, Curtiss never looked back, with his early zenith being success at the great 1909 air meet at Reims.

Inevitably, much of story that Trimble is telling involves the great patent fight between the Wright Brothers and Curtiss, which looks very unseemly in retrospect, but reflects the drive of Wilbur & Orville to maintain priority after years of secrecy; to the point that maintaining their patents probably stunted the Wrights own chances for technical advancement. Be that as it may, this fight wasn't ultimately resolved until the Wright and the Curtiss companies were merged in the late 1920s.

As for Curtiss himself, what he probably best illustrates is just how short the period of heroic workshop tinkerers really was in aviation. By the time that Curtiss was creating his "America" flying boat in 1914, the aircraft were already too complicated for the trial-and-error techniques of a self-taught mechanic, and an academic engineering education was mandatory.

This book is all good stuff, though I do think that Trimble is working just a little too hard into making Curtiss into an exemplary figure. Also, to get the other side of the hill in the conflict between the Wrights and Curtiss, I recommend hunting down "The Wright Company" by Edward Roach (ca. 2014).… (más)

In as much as John S. McCain is remembered, it's as the grandfather of Senator John S. McCain, tending to be lost in the shadow of of men such as "Bill" Halsey, who McCain was a senior lieutenant of. It turns out that McCain is an interesting person in and of himself, as his career says a great deal about the evolution of aviation in the United States Navy, and the politics of such.

There are a number of controversies about McCain, starting with how he was one of the last "Johnny come lately" aviators; officers looking to get involved in aviation relatively late in their careers, as they were gunning for an admiral's stars. As much as McCain preferred sea duty over being in Washington, he knew how to play that political game to perfection, parlaying an aviator's gold wings into command of the carrier "Ranger," and punching his ticket to flag rank. As much as this aggravated career aviation officers, who in retrospect look very paranoid about their own career prospects, there is no denying that McCain's wide experience justified his elevation, and his performance and leadership ability generally backed up the image.

What's particularly interesting to me are the times when McCain was lucky to skate around controversy, as while Ernest King and Chester Nimitz concurred in advancing McCain's career, neither man would have had any issues with leaving McCain on the beach. These issues include the failure of McCain's scouting aircraft in regards to the Savo Island disaster (McCain being commander of the flying boat squadrons in the Southwest Pacific), McCain's part in the command debacles of the battle of Leyte Gulf, and his role in the two times that Halsey's 3rd Fleet was savaged by typhoons. At a certain level, all four of these incidents were tied to failures of electronic communication, which suggests that signals management was a weakness throughout the American naval officer corps. Not to mention, in the case of the misadventures with bad weather, of the prevalence of too much aggression for its own sake. It's at times like this, when Raymond Spruance's cool assessment of risk make him look like an indispensable man, and, at the very least, makes his pairing with Marc Mitscher look like the superior command team, as compared to that of Halsey and McCain.

Speaking to Trimble's performance as an author, he's had a long career as an aviation historian, and the quality of this book reflects this. It has a very strong documentary base and Trimble is well engaged with the historiography of the subject. Highly recommended.… (más)

In this biography, William F. Trimble examines the pioneering work of Glenn Curtiss and his role in the origins
of aviation in the U.S. Navy in the years up to and through World War I. A self-taught mechanic and inventor, Curtiss was a key figure in the development of the airplane during the early part of the century and his contributions to aviation are well known. This book s careful examination of his partnership with the Navy breaks new ground in revealing significant new details of his contributions. Curtiss s links to the Navy came as result of aviation advocates within the Navy, chief among them Captain Washington I. Chambers, who recognized that the Navy had special requirements for airplanes and their operations, and for aviators and their training. Curtiss helped meet the requirements of the Navy for aircraft, particularly those with the potential for operating with ships at sea or in conducting long-distance flights over water.… (más)