Instrument landing at sea

The paper is a narrative account of two years of intensive effort by the Navy and civilian engineers which, after many trying periods, achieved success on July 30, 1935, when a completely hooded instrument landing was made aboard the aircraft carrier, USS Langley, 100 miles at sea off San Diego, Calif. In the summer of 1933, when the aircraft carrier emerged as the future striking power of our Navy, Rear Admiral Ernest King, Chief of the Bureau of Aeronautics (later Fleet Admiral King), was hunting for every means to improve the capability of our carriers. One of the most important was their ability to operate in all types of weather. As a result of his examination of the Bureau of Standards' development work on an instrument landing system, he negotiated a contract with the Washington Institute of Technology to apply the basic principles and modify this system for aircraft carrier operations. The Washington Institute of Technology was formed specifically for the purpose of developing this system under the presidency of Sidney Mashbir. The development engineers were Gomer Davies and Dr. Frank G. Kear. Lieutenant Frank Akers, U. S. Navy (now Rear Admiral), was designated the project officer and flight test pilot for this effort. The small field at College Park, Md., was chosen as the location for the tests. Throughout the fall and winter of 1933 and 1934, the equipment was built and many test flights made. A satisfactory installation was completed so that by May, 1934, completely hooded instrument landings were being made regularly at the College Park Airport. Satisfied with the success of the ground installation, Admiral King decided to have the equipment installed aboard our first aircraft carrier, the USS Langley. The structural work was done at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard at Portsmouth, Va. The Langley sailed back with the fleet to the Pacific Ocean. The equipment installation was completed by the fall of 1934 and flight tests began. Many unexpected problems were encountered particularly in regard to the glide path and localizer. These resulted in some rather major modifications, but eventually they were solved and an entirely satisfactory system was completed which resulted in the successful landing at sea by Lt. Akers on July 30, 1935.