Alaska Based Navy P2Y-1's - Navy seaplanes land first crews at Kodiak and Dutch Harbor
The Triumph of Instrument Flight
Copyright 2007
Contact Franklyn E. Dailey Jr.
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Based on 1938 war plans, by 1941 the U.S. Navy had established three Alaskan bases. Nearest to the continental U.S. was a seaplane patrol plane base at Sitka, Alaska, on the northeast coast of the Gulf of Alaska. West and south of the base at Sitka, across the Gulf of Alaska, an airbase at NAS Kodiak, Alaska went into commission on June 15, 1941 along with a submarine anchorage right next door. Kodiak is an island off the south side of the Alaska Peninsula.
Illustration 7 -The North Pacific
Further west, the U.S. Navy put a seaplane base in operation at Dutch Harbor on Unalaska Island north and west of the end of the Alaska Peninsula. This base also accommodated submarines. Dutch Harbor marked our only active naval base in the Aleutian chain of islands. Lee B. Di Napoli provides an intimate glimpse into the establishment of the U.S. Navy's early Alaskan bases.
Di Napoli, along with his friend Roy A. Evans, reported to seaplane squadron VP-16 from the USS Langley in November, 1938. At the time, both men were Seaman 2/c. (The Langley was the U.S. Navy's first aircraft carrier.) VP-16 and a number of other seaplane patrol squadrons, then based at the Naval Air Station (NAS) Sand Point, in Seattle, Washington were shortly re-designated numerically into the VP-40 series. VP-16, one of the five patrol squadrons at Sand Point, became VP-41, flying PBY-3 aircraft. Two of the patrol squadrons flew PBY-3s, and the other three flew the predecessor aircraft, P2Y-2s. Two ships that were docked at Sand Point at that time served as seaplane tenders, the USS Williamson a converted World War I four stack destroyer, and the USS Teal, a seagoing tug. These ships were assigned as tenders for the five aircraft squadrons. A seaplane tender fills some of the functions for seaplanes that an airbase does for land-based planes.
The squadrons deployed to Sitka, Alaska, on a rotating basis, for three-month tours. From Sitka, during its three-month tour, each squadron would deploy at least one time to Kodiak, Alaska and to Dutch Harbor, Alaska. One of the Sand Point seaplane tenders would have been sent forward so that it would be in place at each of those stations when the aircraft squadron deployed so that squadron personnel could be housed aboard the tender. The squadron aircraft would moor to buoys. The buoys had been placed at Kodiak and at Dutch Harbor in the mid-thirties. No ramps were available to beach the aircraft. There were no Navy land plane fields in Alaska in the very first days. All Navy aircraft activity was sea-based.
Illustration 8 -A Formation of Navy P2Y-1's
On paper, each aircraft squadron had twelve planes, but, due to budget constraints, only six aircraft were assigned to each squadron. Each squadron usually had eight commissioned officer pilots assigned. Six enlisted pilots and a dozen aviation cadets filled out the pilot complement. Since the seaplane tenders were usually under their prescribed enlisted complement, junior radiomen in the aircraft squadron would be assigned temporary additional duty (TDY) to supplement the tender personnel in manning the duty radio circuits. Lee Di Napoli, who had become a radioman striker, made trips to the three squadron deployment stations in Alaska on both the Williamson and the Teal.
The pace of activity quickened in the spring of 1939. Materials for six prefab buildings were loaded aboard the Williamson at Sand Point destined for Kodiak. Lee Di Napoli, now a radioman third class (RM 3/c - a rated petty officer), made that trip to Kodiak on the Williamson. He helped assemble the 20-foot by 20-foot buildings along the beach of Women's Bay at Kodiak. These buildings were intended to house crews that would come later to begin constructing NAS Kodiak's support buildings and later, a landing field. The advance construction force from the Williamson found many prospector claims in old tobacco tins nailed to posts along the beach. The sailors simply pulled the posts from the ground and threw them into the bay. It is not known if the prospectors ever sought remuneration from their government.
A four-man crew left Sand Point, Washington, in the summer of 1940 in a cabin cruiser proceeding to Sitka, Alaska, via the Inland Passage. Di Napoli, now a RM 2/c was part of that crew. The boat was put into service in Sitka's harbor to send radio signals to seaplanes trying to get back into Sitka during bad weather. Many times Lee DiNapoli went out in the boat to put his now practiced radio finger on the transmitter key to create radio signals for a returning PBY-3 or a P2Y-2. The aircraft would take radio direction finder (RDF) bearings on Di Napoli's radio signals, get down under the overcast and land in the ocean offshore, then taxi into the harbor. There were no fixed radio installations at sea. Landing in a sea area where you had visual contact with the water, and then taxiing in to a fogged-in harbor base, was a recognized operating procedure. That base might have had a very low ceiling, too low to attempt to land in, but usually would have visual taxiing airspace on the surface under the low ceiling.
By the spring of 1941, Di Napoli, now a RM 1/c, became first radioman of aircraft number 41P2, piloted by Lt. Paul Ramsey, who would later become Commander in Chief Pacific (CINCPAC). The crew chief was Ed Froelich, an Aviation Chief Machinist Mate (ACMM). Co-pilots rotated from crew to crew. On one deployment to Sitka, this aircraft made stops in Kodiak and Dutch Harbor. Construction was now well advanced at Kodiak, with a dock now in place for the tenders and a ramp for the seaplanes. (The seaplanes could be joined to special beaching wheel-sets, then pulled up the ramp for maintenance on dry land.) During that deployment, the aircraft crew could see that activity had also become more intense at Dutch Harbor. Though seaplanes still moored to buoys there, it was clear that the Navy planned for increased activity. These trips, Sitka, to Kodiak, to Dutch Harbor, back to Kodiak and then back to Sitka took about two weeks.
The friendship between Roy Evans and Lee Di Napoli lived on long after their early days on the Langley. Both left VP-41 in May of 1941. Roy went to flight school and Lee went to a seaplane tender at Portsmouth, Virginia. At the completion of flight school, Roy and his new bride Lois visited Lee Di Napoli's parents in New York. The date was December 7, 1941.
We turn next to other readiness preparations in progress in the Alaska/Aleutian region and accounts of how those preparations were tested, challenged and interrupted in 1942 and 1943. From a pilot's point of view, the north Atlantic routes and the north Pacific routes would present similar weather and geography challenges. The pilot would want the same aids to navigation to be in place and an air traffic control and communications capability that would enable him to safely conduct his flight from a departure point to an assigned destination.
Although not a formally declared participant, the United States was engaged in the war in Europe well before it became actively engaged in the war in the Pacific. A northern rim airbase structure, along with air traffic control facilities, was put in place, "pre-war," measured by the timing of U.S. war declaration announcements, and was already engaged in heavy logistic movement responsibilities in that early timeframe.
For ship convoys, which needed air surveillance patrols from that same rim of bases, the term "Neutrality Patrol" was in force. Airborne logistics were conducted across that same set of bases; the logistics transport they did accomplish, vital materiels, special troops, and indeed, warplanes, were scheduled more tightly than ship convoys; their cargo was generally organized to be put in action upon arrival.
The ships moved many tons of cargo. It was slow and it was subject to U-boat losses. Schedules had to be made flexible enough to accept slippage. The aircraft could make several trips while the ship made one, and the aircraft could carry supplies specifically pre-ordered, as needed, to be used "today."
The calendar for North Atlantic war materiel supply was ahead of that which evolved for the North Pacific. There was an important difference. Canada and Britain were allies in the north Atlantic. Denmark had been over run by the Blitzkrieg and Danes were eager to cooperate in Greenland. The British had prepared the war footing for Iceland and our ground forces relieved theirs. Whatever U.S. deployed forces discovered was already in place in their establishment of operating bases in the north Atlantic was accepted as the starting point upon which we would build. No need to conjecture about the past. It was not our past. We were happy to have what was provided. We were happy it came from friendly sources. We did not have to wage a war or even a skirmish to obtain our bases. There was a lot to be done but we could begin with some legacy.
Alaska was different. It had been a territory of the United States since the previous century. Our citizens lived there and felt somewhat neglected. These citizens never let their second class (non-statehood) existence interfere with their fullest commitment to the effort to make Alaska ready for its critical role in readying for war, and war's prosecution when it came. Unlike the north Atlantic rim, active war did come to Alaska. Three important war engagements had a direct impact on our ability to provision Alaska and the Aleutian chain of islands for full aviation operations. These will be covered in enough detail to bring home the connection between aircraft operating bases and successful air operations. In the North Atlantic, readiness was never an issue. We took what we found and went on from there. In the North Pacific, readiness was the issue. Readiness was our own heritage. And at times it got in the way of fighting the war. Order Book