1918 Navy Aviation Pensacola photo album

[Bob Hudson]

This album of World War 1 Naval aviation photos came from Harley Louis Sawyer of Iowa. It appears he enlisted in the Navy on Jan. 12, 1918, and was called to duty on March 3, 1918 as an Aviation Machinist Mate 2nd Class.

Looking at his photos and comments you can learn that he was crew (he refers to “my boat” in one of his comments and in a newspaper article he talks about sitting between those two 12-cylinder engines during flights). He was an Aviation Machinst Mate 2nd Class and flew on patrols out of Pensacola aboard a Curtiss Model H flying boat (number A-778), later converted to Liberty engines and redesignated as H 12L). Besides the newspaper article, we also have his orders to report for active duty after enlisting on Jan. 1918. He worked for Chevrolet in Minneapolis before the war so that may be why he was enlisted as 2nd Class Petty Officer. (sidenote: like Harley, my dad was a Navy Aviation Machinist Mate).

There are 16 official Navy photos and they are a fairly large - 8.5. X 6.5 inches. Most of them have a stamp in the upper left corner. In extensive searches online with worthpoint and Google I've only come across 2 or 3 similar photos. There are photos of Curtiss Flying boats and some great aerial shots of the base with its camo'ed buildings. There are also some pages of his snapshots, taken during and after his Navy service.

The photos are mounted on the typical black album pages of the era. There are some brief captions. There are also some photos of him on leave and after the war.

I scanned the photos at 300dpi so I could enlarge some of the details (check out the gang in flight gear):

[Bob Hudson]

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[Salvage Sailor]

Nice period camo paint on the buildings. Difficult to believe there was a perceived threat to Pensacola but someone spent a lot of time on that painting scheme.

[Bob Hudson]

Nice period camo paint on the buildings. Difficult to believe there was a perceived threat to Pensacola but someone spent a lot of time on that painting scheme.

 

I am most impressed by that. Did any U-Boats (or other German ships) make it to those waters during WWI? If not, Pensacola was prepared for the impossible at that time: an attack by air by Germany, from the ocean.

[Fly USMC]

Some really nice Photos there, thanks for sharing!

[KASTAUFFER]

Nice album! They must have been selling that odd sized black album at Pensacola. I have an aviation album from a pilot and its the exact same album cover,

 

Kurt

[Bob Hudson]

Nice album! They must have been selling that odd sized black album at Pensacola. I have an aviation album from a pilot and its the exact same album cover,

 

Kurt

 

I saw one online that had Pensacola embossed on the front in gold

[Bob Hudson]

What really enhances this set, I think, is the provenance of his original orders to report for active duty: there's lot of info in these few lines of text and I'd assume any sort of orders and documents related to WWI Naval Aviation can be scarce. It's nice being able to place him in the crew of a specific aircraft.

 

 

 

 

 

[Bob Hudson]

I found an online images of his "boat" as they called then. It's a newspaper or book photo with halftone dots and grainy resolution: not at all like the fine detail you get from the 8.5 x 6.5 photographic prints in the album.His newspaper account of flying in those big Curtiss boats provides a good narrative for the photos.