| HEADQUARTERS |
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COMMANDER NORTH ATLANTIC
NAVAL COASTAL FRONTIER |
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A4-3(NFF) |
Federal Office Building, 90 Church
Street |
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| . | Serial No. 696 |
New York, N. Y. |
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14 January 1942 |
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| 1. According to the submarine notices there is a definite westward movement of enemy submarines in the North Atlantic. | ||||||||||||||
| 2. This Frontier should have at least one squadron of patrol planes as soon as possible. The necessity for this cannot be overemphasized. | ||||||||||||||
| 3. There are no effective planes attached to the Frontier, First, Third, Fourth or Fifth Naval Districts capable of maintaining long-range seaward patrols. One squadron of single-motored observation scouts, VS1D1, is being formed at Naval Air Station, Squantum; and Squadron VS1D3 was commissioned at Naval Air Station, New York on 31 December 1941. The above squadrons are suitable only for inshore patrol and have a relatively short radius of action when carrying depth bombs. Single patrols in unarmed Coast Guard amphibians or flying boats are being maintained at Salem, Floyd Bennett, and Elizabeth City. ZP Squadron 12 was placed in commission at Naval Air Station, Lakehurst, on 2 January 1942. Of the ZNP's designated for this squadron, two have been detached for duty on the Pacific Coast; consequently, daily patrols are limited at this time to two airships. | ||||||||||||||
4. The
Army First Air Support Command is operating during
daylight hours patrols in single-motored land observation
planes extending about forty miles offshore from Portland,
Maine, to Wilmington, N. C. between two or three hours.
The pilots are inexperienced in the type of work they
are endeavoring to do. Not more than ten of these
observation planes are in the air along the Coastal
Frontier at any one time. |
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| 5. The First Bomber Command has been maintaining, since the week of 7 December 1941, patrols from Westover Field, Mass.; Mitchel Field, N. Y.; and Langley Field, Va. These patrols, averaging three planes each, have extended, weather permitting and according to the type of plane, to a maximum distance of six hundred miles to sea. Two flights each day are being made from the aforementioned fields. The First Bomber Command has | ||||||||||||||
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A4-3(NFF) |
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Serial No. 696 |
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14 January 1942 |
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| been utilizing approximately half of its available equipment in order to maintain these patrols, at the expense of a striking force which could be called upon in case of enemy attack. | |||||||||
| 6. The importance of this Frontier and the amount of shipping passing through the coastal waters make essential adequate air protection. | |||||||||
| 7. Furthermore, a squadron of Navy patrol planes could be most advantageously utilized to relieve in part the patrols now being carried on by the Bomber Command, whose pilots are not trained in distinguishing between friendly and hostile craft, and enable the Bomber Command to train and assemble squadrons to be in readiness to attack when enemy location has been established by the Navy. | |||||||||
| 8. This command is called upon to provide "air coverage" for troop convoys and other valuable vessels. This duty cannot be satisfactorily performed with the aircraft at present available in the Frontier. | |||||||||
| 9. In addition to the patrol squadron requested above, it is recommended that, when armed naval aircraft for long-range patrol are available, a sufficient number be assigned to the Coast Guard Air Stations in this Frontier in lieu of the unarmed obsolete equipment now being used for offshore patrol. The Coast Guard pilots in question have had Navy training and are exceptionally competent to carry out Frontier offshore patrol. The Coast Guard pilots in question have had Navy training and are exceptionally competent to carry out Frontier offshore missions. | |||||||||
| ADOLPHUS ANDREWS | |||||||||
| Copy to: | |||||||||
| The Chief of Naval OPerations | |||||||||
| Commander-in-Chief, U. S. Atlantic Fleet | |||||||||
| The Chief of the Bureau of Aeronautics | |||||||||
| Commander Patrol Wings, U. S. Atlantic Fleet | |||||||||
| Commander Southern Naval Coastal Frontier | |||||||||
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