His naval pedigree displayed no signs that would point to his prominent role in the development of naval aviation, his graduation from the U.S. Naval Academy coming just eleven years after the end of the Civil War. Service at sea came on board the more traditional naval weapons of war in the form of gunboats, monitors and, in his last seagoing duty, command of a battleship. When assigned to shore duty in the Bureau of Ordnance in Washington D.C., as an Assistant to the Aide for Material , it was perhaps the fact that he was the newcomer that on September 26, 1910, he was given the “additional duty” of handling incoming correspondence relating to aviation. Thankfully for naval aviation, Captain Washington Irving Chambers took his position seriously, his work laying the foundation for a century of progress in aviation within the United States Navy.
When Chambers arrived in the nation’s capital there was already discussion of the applicability of airplanes in naval operation, though it amounted more to theory than practical application. The fifty-four year old officer, who at the time admittedly saw in the airplane only the potential for scouting, sought to see for himself the progress of the airplane first hand. In late-1910 he took to visiting air meets that were becoming increasingly popular in the first decade after the Wright Brothers’ epic flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. At these meets he inspected airplane designs that were the pinnacle of technology in the day and more importantly met leaders in the fledgling aviation industry. Among them was aircraft manufacturer Glenn Curtiss, who in his hometown of Hammondsport, New York, was specializing in the design of seaplanes, and Eugene Ely, a daring pilot and member of Curtiss’s exhibition team.
Chambers’ discussions and subsequent advancement of the ideas through official channels played a large role in the realization of Ely’s demonstration of the capabilities of an aircraft to operate from a ship on board the cruisers Birmingham and Pennsylvania in 1910–1911 as well as demonstration flights made by Glenn Curtiss in a hydroaeroplane in San Diego Bay in January 1911. On May 8, 1911, it was over Chambers’ signature that requisitions for the purchase of the Navy’s first aircraft were prepared. This is considered the birthday of U.S. Naval Aviation.
By this time, Chambers had become a student of the technology of aviation, studying all the materials of the day on the science of flight and taking a keen interest in aircraft designs, including pressing for an aerodynamic laboratory. Nothing escaped his attention or opinion, whether it be engines or catapults for shipboard operations. Chambers was the first to propose standards for the qualification of aviators in the Navy, resulting in the creation of the designation Navy Air Pilot, which subsequently was changed to Naval Aviator. He led the Chambers Board, one of the Navy’s first attempts at formulating policies and plans for the direction of aviation in the sea service, one of its recommendations being the establishment of the Navy’s first air station at Pensacola, Florida.
Chambers served as the de facto head of naval aviation for nearly three years and remained an active adviser on aviation technology through World War I, his role in securing a foundation for naval aviation’s growth vital to its subsequent century of accomplishment.
Other Significant September Events in Naval Aviation History
September 4, 1923- Maiden flight of USS Shenandoah (ZR 1)
September 23, 1931- XOP-1 autogiro lands on USS Langley (CV 1)
September 2, 1951-HMR-161 arrives in Korea