The Naval Aircraft Factory (NAF) was established by the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

in 1918 in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, Pennsylvania. It was created to help solve aircraft supply issues which faced the

Navy Department Navy Department or Department of the Navy may refer to: * United States Department of the Navy, * Navy Department (Ministry of Defence), in the United Kingdom, 1964-1997 * Confederate States Department of the Navy, 1861-1865 * Department of the Na ...

upon the entry of the U.S. into

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

. The

US Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, c ...

’s requirements for an enormous quantity of airplanes created a decided lack of interest among aircraft manufacturers in the Navy's requirements for a comparatively small quantity of aircraft. The Navy Department concluded that it was necessary to build a Navy-owned aircraft factory in order to assure a part of its aircraft supply; to obtain cost data for the department’s guidance in its dealings with private manufacturers; and to have under its own control a factory capable of producing experimental designs.

History

On 27 July 1917, Secretary of the Navy

Josephus Daniels Josephus Daniels (May 18, 1862 – January 15, 1948) was an American newspaper editor and publisher from the 1880s until his death, who controlled Raleigh's '' News & Observer'', at the time North Carolina's largest newspaper, for decades. A ...

approved the construction of the Naval Aircraft Factory, as a means for the government to promote industry efficiency, ensure engineering expertise, and to monitor costs. The contract was let on 6 August 1917, and ground was broken four days later. The main assembly building, Number 59, was completed by 28 November 1917. Work started on the first order, received 8 days before, for the construction of 50 H-16 patrol aircraft. By the end of the year, the work force numbered more than 700, under the management of Lieutenant Commander Fred G. Coburn. An additional order for another 100 H-16s in February 1918. The increased need for flying boat construction during WWI, meant Daniels transformed and expanded the factory into a final aircraft assembly plant, using civilian subcontractors to supply the components. Building 77, the main assembly building, was completed in August, measuring 100 feet wide, 680 feet long, and 51 feet in height. In addition, Building 75, a three-story office building, and Building 76, a six-story storehouse were added so that the NAF occupied 41 acres by September 1918. By the end of 1918, the NAF employed 3640 workers, including 890 women. On 27 March 1918, the first H-16 built by the NAF was successfully flown, just 228 days after ground breaking and 151 days from receipt of drawings. On the following second of April the first two NAF-built H-16s were shipped to the patrol station at RNAS Killingholme, England. After World War I, when the 1922 United States Navy aircraft designation system came into effect, the second letter of the codes designating the manufacturer appropriately specified the latter N for all airframe designs coming from the Naval Aircraft Factory. Between July 1917 and November 1918, the end of WWI, the NAF built 137 H-16s, 31 F-5-Ls, 4 N-1 Davis Gun Carriers, 17 sets of spares for the H-16 and 8 sets of spares for the F-5-L. In 1919, construction started on 80 MFs and 20 VE-7s. In 1920, construction began on 36 of Grover Loening's M-81s, 6 Navy-Curtiss flying boats, and 4 TFs. In 1921, construction began on 15 PT-1s and 18 PT-2s. In 1922, full-scale production of outside designs ended and the NAF began concentrating on the testing and evaluation of aircraft, including both the modification to outside types and all-new in-house designs. Successful designs were then turned over to industry for production. The change in focus resulted in the disuse of some production buildings, which were converted into storage depots for unused aircraft. In 1922-1923, the NAF fabricated the USS ''Shenandoah'' (ZR-1), although final assembly took place at Naval Air Station Lakehurst,

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York (state), New York; on the ea ...

, where the only

hangar A hangar is a building or structure designed to hold aircraft or spacecraft. Hangars are built of metal, wood, or concrete. The word ''hangar'' comes from Middle French ''hanghart'' ("enclosure near a house"), of Germanic origin, from Frankish ...

in the United States large enough to house the

airship An airship or dirigible balloon is a type of aerostat or lighter-than-air aircraft that can navigate through the air under its own power. Aerostats gain their lift from a lifting gas that is less dense than the surrounding air. In early ...

was located. The NAF was a major parachute production center in the 1930s and 1940s, producing 30,000 in WWII. The NAF also worked on

aircraft catapult An aircraft catapult is a device used to allow aircraft to take off from a very limited amount of space, such as the deck of a vessel, but can also be installed on land-based runways in rare cases. It is now most commonly used on aircraft carrier ...

s and arresting gear, starting in 1921. In the 1934, under the Vinson-Trammell Act (co-sponsored by Carl Vinson), it was decided that the Navy would build 10 per cent of its own aircraft to stay abreast of modern manufacturing techniques and costs. The NAF thus resumed large-scale aircraft production in 1936 on introduction of the N3N biplane trainer aircraft. In 1937, the NAF received orders to manufacture 44 SON-1 scout-observation aircraft, and in 1938, 30 SBN-1s. In July 1941, the NAF was ordered to build 156 PBN-1 Nomad patrol flying boats. In 1942, the NAF delivered the first of eventually 300 OS2N-1s. On 11 March 1942, Admiral Harold Rainsford Stark wrote "It is desired to proceed immediately with the steps necessary to adapt the 'drone' for warfare." Then, on 3 April 1942, an order was placed for the NAF to build 100

TDN-1 The Naval Aircraft Factory TDN was an early unmanned combat aerial vehicle - referred to at the time as an "flying bomb, assault drone" - developed by the United States Navy's Naval Aircraft Factory during the Second World War. Developed and test ...

s. In 1943, work began on Project Gorgon, a turbo-jet-powered missile. The NAF ended aircraft production with the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

in 1945. In 1941 the NAF spun off the Aviation Supply Office, and in 1942, the NAF became the Naval Air Material Center. In 1967, the NAF's aero engine research merged with the Naval Air Propulsion Test Center. Peak factory employment of 13,400 workers was achieved in June 1943, during WWII. Located at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, on League Island, the main construction building still exists, but was converted for use by the

Naval Surface Warfare Center Carderock Division The Carderock Division of the Naval Surface Warfare Center is one of eight Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) Surface Warfare Centers. The headquarters is located in Carderock, Maryland with the historic David Taylor Model Basin. The division ...

, as a facility for research and development.

Products

Felixstowe F5L under construction at the Naval Aircraft Factory, Philadelphia, circa 1920

*BN & BS - cancelled projects * CS-3 - biplane torpedo bomber, variant of the

Curtiss CS-2 The Curtiss CS (or Model 31) was a reconnaissance and torpedo bomber aircraft used by the United States Navy during the 1920s. It was a large single-engine biplane with single-bay unstaggered wings, the design conventional in all respects other ...

* Felixstowe F5L - patrol flying boat, variant of the Felixstowe F.5 produced by NAF *FN - cancelled fighter project, possibly a proposed further development of the

Seversky NF-1 The Seversky P-35 is an American fighter aircraft built by the Seversky Aircraft Company in the late 1930s. A contemporary of the Hawker Hurricane and Messerschmitt Bf 109, the P-35 was the first single-seat fighter in United States Army Air Cor ...

, but evidence of this is inconclusive and may stem from typos in Navy records * GB - ''Giant Boat'', prototype heavy flying boat, never completed * MF - utility flying boat, variant of the Curtiss MF produced by NAF * N-1 - pusher floatplane gunship *

N2N n2n is an open source Layer 2 over Layer 3 VPN app utilising peer-to-peer architecture for network membership and routing. Unlike many other VPN programs, n2n can also connect computers which reside behind NAT routers. These connections are set ...

- biplane trainer * N3N Canary - biplane trainer * NM - ''Navy Metal'', experimental biplane built to test metal structure techniques * NO - observation floatplane, also built by Martin as M2O * OS2N Kingfisher - observation floatplane, variant of the Vought OS2U Kingfisher produced by NAF * PBN Nomad - patrol flying boat, variant of the Consolidated PBY Catalina produced by NAF * PN - patrol flying boat derived from the Felixstowe F5L * PT - torpedo bomber floatplane built by NAF from Curtiss R-6L and

Curtiss HS2L The Curtiss HS was a single-engined patrol flying boat built for the United States Navy during World War I. Large numbers were built from 1917 to 1919, with the type being used to carry out anti-submarine patrols from bases in France from June ...

parts * SA - ''Ship's Airplane'', prototype ultralight aircraft intended for basing on battleships * SBN - carrier-based scout bomber,

Brewster Brewster may refer to: People * Brewster (surname) *Brewster Kahle (born 1960), American computer technologist *Brewster H. Shaw (born 1945), American astronaut Places * Brewster Park (Enniskillen), Northern Ireland *Brewster (crater), The Moon ...

XSBA-1 produced by NAF under license * SON Seagull - observation floatplane, variant of the Curtiss SOC Seagull produced by NAF * SP - racing monoplane built for Schneider Trophy, known as ''Mercury Racer'' * TDN - early unmanned combat aerial vehicle * TD2N, later KDN Gorgon - jet-powered target drone * TD3N, later KD2N Gorgon II - jet-powered target drone * TF - twin-engine flying boat prototype intended for use as escort fighter * TG - biplane floatplane designed for gunnery training * TR - racing variant of the NAF TS-2 * TS - biplane fighter *

VE-7 The Vought VE-7 "Bluebird" was an early biplane of the United States. First flying in 1917, it was designed as a two-seat trainer for the United States Army, then adopted by the United States Navy as its first fighter aircraft. In 1922, a VE-7 be ...

- biplane fighter and trainer aircraft, Vought VE-7 produced by NAF * XN5N - monoplane trainer prototype * XOSN - observation floatplane prototype * XP2N and XP4N - initial and final designations given to the PN-11 prototype, an improved variant of the PN patrol flying boat * XTN - twin-engine torpedo bomber prototype, later put into production by Douglas as T2D and P2D * XT2N - carrier-based biplane torpedo bomber prototype * USS ''Shenandoah'' (ZR-1) -

rigid airship A rigid airship is a type of airship (or dirigible) in which the envelope is supported by an internal framework rather than by being kept in shape by the pressure of the lifting gas within the envelope, as in blimps (also called pressure ai ...

(fabrication of parts for off-site final assembly)

Notable personnel

Isaac Asimov Isaac Asimov ( ; 1920 – April 6, 1992) was an American writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston University. During his lifetime, Asimov was considered one of the "Big Three" science fiction writers, along with Robert A. Heinlein and ...

* L. Sprague de Camp * Robert A. Heinlein * Alden Sanborn * George Conrad Westervelt

References

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

* Roberts, Michael D. ''Dictionary of American Naval Aviation Squadrons Volume 2'' Washington, D.C.: Naval Historical Center, Department of the Navy, 2000. * * Trimble, William F. ''Wings for the Navy: A History of the Naval Aircraft Factory, 1917-1956''. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1990. 413 pp. *

External links

Naval Surface Warfare Center Carderock Division''Dictionary of American Naval Aviation Squadrons Volume 2: The History of VP, VPB, VP(HL) and VP(AM) Squadrons'' Chapter 1"U.S. Naval Aircraft Factory: 1917 - 1956"
{{Naval Aircraft Factory aircraft Manufacturing plants in the United States Aircraft Factory Aircraft Factory Companies based in Philadelphia Defunct aircraft manufacturers of the United States Industrial buildings and structures in Pennsylvania Military facilities in Pennsylvania Industrial buildings completed in 1917