An assistant secretary of the Navy, however, “asked” the commandant to change his mind. Fox Movie-tone News, as well as the press, would be attending; and it was entirely possible, the assistant secretary added, that if there were to be a flyover, The March of Time would also send a motion-picture newsreel crew. Between Fox Movie-tone News and The March of Time, a newsreel sequence of the graduation ceremonies would be in every movie theater in the country. It was a public-relations opportunity that should not be ignored.
Thus the commandant “decided” that a squadron of Grumman F3F- 1 fighters would be permitted to fly over the Academy immediately before the brand-new ensigns, in keeping with long tradition, threw their hats in the air.
The Grumman 17317-1, a biplane, was then the standard Navy fighter aircraft. It was powered by a 950-horsepower Wright Cyclone engine, which gave it a maximum speed of just about 230 miles per hour. And it was armed with one.50-caliber and one. 30-caliber machine gun.
On schedule, the first flight of three F3F-1s passed over the campus. They were flying at their maximum speed at an altitude of fifteen hundred feet, the minimum altitude permitted over populated areas by naval and Federal Aviation Administration regulations.
Even at that altitude, the roar of their engines was impressive, and it seemed to last much longer than was actually the case, for six more flights of three F3F-s followed the first at thirty-second intervals. Even the commandant somewhat reluctantly admitted it was an impressive exhibition of naval might.
As the last three-plane V of F3F-s passed over and began to gain altitude, and just as the commandant was about to step to the microphone again, there came the sound of another-and much noisier-aircraft engine. It was louder both because the airplane was flying only at about five hundred feet and because the Wright supercharged 1200-hp engine which powered the Grumman F4F-3 Wildcat fighter gave off a mighty roar as it propelled the stubby silver-bodied monoplane. The aircraft approached more quickly than had the F3F-Is a moment before. The Wildcat, with its throttle pushed to full military power, had a maximum speed of 330 miles per hour, 100 miles faster than the F3F-1.
The not yet wholly accepted F4F-3 would eventually replace the F3F-1 as the standard Navy fighter. It was so new that none of the people participating in the graduating exercise had yet seen one.
With one notable exception. On the reviewin stand was a vice admiral, whose uniform bore the golden wings of a naval aviator. The second, unscheduled flyby had been his idea. He had reasoned that if getting F3F- 1 Navy fighters into the newsreels was good, getting the new, greatly superior F4F-3 was better. He had also reasoned that if he suggested this, he would be turned down. Only a few Wildcats had come off the production line, and these were occupied with testing. They could not be spared for a showy display like this one, it would have been argued.
The admiral beamed as the first F4F-3 did a barrel roll at 330 knots and then climbed out. Instantly another Wildcat came, also made a barrel roll at 330 knots, and then disappeared. Then came a third and final one. By the time it had passed over, the audience, including the secretary of the Navy, had broken into applause.
The band began to play “Anchors Aweigh!”
The commandant was smiling. He had no other choice. The battleship bastard could hardly scream about broken regulations and unauthorized flybys to a secretary of the Navy who was smiling like a proud father.
Anacostia Naval Air Station Washington, D.C. 1355 Hours 4 June 1941
Anacostia Tower cleared Navy zero zero three-a flight of three F4F-3 aircraft-to land singly, at sixty-second intervals, on runway two zero. Commander J. K. Hawes, USN, flying the first F4F-3, broke off from the formation over the District of Columbia jail and General Hospital, and made a steep descending turn to the left. He passed over the Sousa Bridge, at the Washington Navy Yard, came in low over the Anacostia River, and touched down. A Follow Me truck waited for him.
Sixty seconds later, Lieutenant (j.g.) Edwin H. Bitter, USN, landed the second F417-3, and sixty seconds after that, Lieutenant (j.g.) Richard L. Canidy, USNR, landed the third.