The First Yale Unit; A Story of Naval Aviation 1916-1919 Volume Two

Paine, Ralph D.

Published by The Riverside Press, Cambridge, 1925

About this Item

Volume Two ONLY. Contents start with chapter XXVII and goes through XLIX and Index. viii, [2],398, [4] pages. Illustrations. Index. Cover has wear and soiling. Rear board weakness and tear at hinge noted. Name of J. H. Towers on fep. Some endpaper and page discoloration. Ralph Delahaye Paine (August 28, 1871 - April 29, 1925) was an American journalist and author. Later, he held both elected and appointed government offices. In 1900, he covered the Boxer Rebellion and was with forces of the Eight-Nation Alliance in Tientsin and Peking. In 1902, he joined the New York Herald and ran a successful campaign against the beef trust, then became managing editor of the New York Telegraph. In 1903, he left journalism and became a prolific writer of history and fiction, writing about topics including Salem, Massachusetts, piracy, merchant shipping, naval vessels, college life, sports, and autobiography. He contributed to numerous publications, including Collier's Weekly, The Century Magazine, Scribner's Magazine, McClure's, Outing, Cosmopolitan, Everybody's Magazine, The American Magazine, The World's Work, Collier's Weekly, Saturday Evening Post, and Country Life in America. From 1918 to 1920 he represented Durham in the New Hampshire House of Representatives and from 1919 to 1921 served on the New Hampshire Board of Education. During World War I, he worked for the Committee on Public Information and the United States Department of the Navy, observing and writing about Allied naval forces. He was also a commissioner of the United States Fuel Administration in 1918. The First Yale Unit was started by then Yale sophomore F. Trubee Davison in 1915. The First Yale Unit is considered to be the first naval air reserve unit. Davison and 11 other Yale students were fascinated with the possibilities of aviation in general and of naval aviation specifically. After meeting with Admiral Robert Peary to gain authorization for the unit, Trubee Davison acquired a Curtiss Model F flying boat and members of the First Yale Unit were trained as pilots during the summer of 1916. They were used as the first aerial coastal patrol unit. Robert Abercrombie Lovett (1895-1986), David Hugh McCulloch (1890-1955), Albert Dillon Sturtevant (1894-1918), John Martin Vorys (1896-1968), Rear Admiral Earl Clinton Barker Gould (1895-1968), Frederick Trubee Davison (1896-1974), Artemus Lamb Gates (1895-1976), John Villiers Farwell III (1895-1992), and Allan Wallace Ames (1893-1966) in July 1916 at Port Washington, New York. Though they were still civilians and volunteers, the Yale students now had an official mission. On August 29, 1916, Congress passed the Naval Reserve Appropriations Act and established the Naval Reserve Flying Corps. In March 1917, 13 days before the United States entered World War I, the First Yale Unit volunteers enlisted en masse. From this small group of 29 emerged an Assistant Secretary of War, an Undersecretary of the Navy and a Secretary of Defense. Lt. David Ingalls, a member of the First Yale Unit, flying a Sopwith Camel with the RAF, was the first US naval aviator to become an ace. He later served as Assistant Secretary of the Navy. Trubee Davison was injured in a crash during training and never saw combat. However, he went on to become the director of the Civil Aeronautics Board. First Yale Unit members Robert Lovett and Artemus Gates became commandants of the Army and Navy air corps, respectively. The story of The First Yale Unit is chronicled in the 2015 documentary film The Millionaire's Unit, based on author Marc Wortman's book of the same name. This copy has the handwritten name of previous owner J. H. Towers on the fep. This copy is believed to have belonged to John Henry Towers CBE (January 30, 1885 - April 30, 1955) was a highly decorated United States Navy four-star admiral and pioneer naval aviator. He made important contributions to the technical and organizational development of naval aviation from its beginnings, eventually serv.

Seller Inventory # 84310

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The First Yale Unit; A Story of Naval Aviation 1916-1919 Volume Two
• Publisher: The Riverside Press, Cambridge
• Publication Date: 1925
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: Presumed First Edition, First printing.
• Condition: Good