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VERY EARLY NAVAL AVIATOR WINGS FROM A FATHER OF LTA - Louis H. Maxfield USNA 17


flyingtigerfan
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flyingtigerfan

Hi All,

Here are the wings of an early bird, Louis was one of the 1st Naval Aviators, a pilot who trained in the Bamboo tails - the early pusher type aircraft. He reported for aviation duty in 1914, in 1915 he earned Aero Club certificate #25, became Naval Air Pilot #13, Naval Aviator #17. He was born in 1883 at St.Paul Minnesota. Naval Academy graduate 1907, duty aboard various ships until Pensacola 1915. In 1917 Lt Louis was appointed CO of the Naval Detachment - 1st lighter than air class at Akron Ohio heading a collaboration between the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co and the US Navy. They flew over Fritch's Lake renamed Wingfoot Lake, the entire complex nicknamed The Kitty Hawk of Lighter than Air. This was the 1st airship pilot training program and throughout WWI produced the majority of LTA pilots while Louis went on to overseas duty. During the war he was in command of the US Naval Station at Painbaeuf France, previously a French Airship station. He busied himself with Airship equipment testing and patrols. He saved two drowning enlisted men during the crash of the French airship "Capitaine Caussin" which he was piloting earning him the Navy Cross and I believe a life saving medal. He was decorated by the Italian Red Cross with a silver medal for distinguished work during the Messina earthquake, with the French life saving medal in silver, was an officer of the Legion of Honour, Navy cross, Victory medal. He survived the war but was lost on August 24th 1921 when the British built Airship R-38, intended to be US Navy ZR-2 crashed near Hull England. With Louis in charge of it's fourth test flight, a structural failure caused the machine to break in two, falling into the Humber river killing 44 of 49 including British Air Commodore Maitland Leader of Airships. At the time it was the world's largest airship and the crash made world news as the first great airship disaster, a setback in a field that Louis tirelessly promoted. A field at NAS Lakehurst NJ was named in his honor in 1944.

 

This is a very brief summary of a man who was one of the first proponents of LTA activities and from my research a very well respected officer and gentleman in every sense of the word. Many thanks for this mans service.

 

His wings are 2 3/4" classic BB&B Bronze marked with the Tiffany catch. They would have been among the very first shipped from BB&B to the Navy in Dec 1917 and distributed in early 1918 - properly engraved as per regulation with name / Naval Aviator number / branch of service. Interestingly these wings were found by a picker in the bottom of a box at a flea market in Rome Italy relatively recently. Louis had been sent from HQ Paris to Naval Aviation HQ Rome in 1918. The wings remained in Rome making their way back to the states almost exactly 100 years later.

-Rob

 

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flyingtigerfan

Here's a photo of the lowest numbered wings I could find - #3 which Belonged to Towers. The photo is from Robert Pandis's excellent book Flight Badges of the Allied Nations 1914-1918. He attributes these wings and many other early wings pictured to the Navy museum at Pensacola.

 

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Louis was among the whos who of Naval Aviation if you go through the list of early Aviators.

-Rob

 

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flyingtigerfan

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Louis pictured to the right of the man oddly dressed in dress jacket and bow tie. His dog and school mascot - Lanny - the big Airedale is pictured too. Turns out his dog was awarded wings as well and was probably the first qualified canine LTA in the service. A student at the Akron school related in a old Naval Aviation News article by Kiddy Karr how the much loved Lanny occupied his time by chasing rabbits in a nearby swamp throughout their training. During a formal inspection by the Assistant Secretary of the Navy and other big wigs Louis and the other officers where lined up waiting in their dress whites with shining medals and campaign ribbons. Along comes Lanny dripping mud and green scum from the swamp, spotting his master he ran over to Louis and reared up, threw his legs on both sides of his neck and plastered mud all over the beautiful white uniform. "Down Dammit" Louis shouted, but the damage was done. No one said a word. Silence must have seemed like an eternity until some soul finally couldn't hold it in and laughed long and hard followed by everyone...... From that day the name Lanny was never heard again and he was known as Dammit to all hands including his master.

Well Dammit learned a new habit soon, he became fond of grabbing one of the airships handling ropes as soon as the ship started to rise, it would pull him off the ground and he seemed to get a kick out of swinging around and wiggling before he would let go and drop down. There was joking that Dammit was getting in his flight instruction this way. Louis became worried though and would tie him up nearby during following takeoffs. Dammit hated this and would always struggle and lunge. One day the inevitable happened and Dammit broke free during a takeoff chased the ship and bit onto the handling rope. This time before he knew it he was 40 feet up and Lewis suffered as he saw his dog dangling and twisting from the line. Nothing to do though as he needed 100 feet of altitude before he could let enough gas out to return to earth.

No way Dammit could hang on that long and crew members covered their eyes and some yelled no, no, no! Dammit let go and plummeted 40 odd feet down hitting hard in a newly plowed field. Students ran over to him but he was motionless. A leg twitched and someone yelled out he's alive! Shakely he got up and wobbled around. No broken bones and a short time later he was back to his old self. The students ran him over to where Louis finally landed the ship so he could see him right away knowing how he must be feeling. CO or not there were tears in his eyes and a happy reunion.

The next morning the duty officer called out Dammit to sit at attention in front of the company. Dammit was read a reprimand for disobedience of orders followed by designating him a K-9 aviator for lighter than air. The metalsmith presented him with a pair of wings which Louis was proud of, and all "fell out", never again did Dammit go after a handling line.

-Rob

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lakenormanusa

I found a group of early navy aviator photos that look like they're from the same era.

I wonder if they could be related to the same place and time.

 

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flyingtigerfan

Thanks for the kind comments all. Also thanks for the photos of the WWI era aviator. Nice shots, gotta love the wing walker shot.... what guts!

-Rob

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