Thomas D. Davies
Thomas D. Davies (born November 3, 1914 in Cleveland , Ohio ; † January 21, 1991 in St. Martin , Caribbean ) was an American Rear Admiral in the US Navy , who was a naval aviator and a specialist in navigation and astronomy during his active military service Navigation was. He was instrumental in the development of the Lockheed P-2 Neptune - reconnaissance aircraft and flew a world record for distances from Perth in Australia to Columbus (Ohio) in 1946 .
Later, as Vice Director of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, ACDA was an expert in disarmament and disarmament control . He was also the founder and first president of The Foundation for the Promotion of the Art of Navigation .
Life
Davies, son of the Wales- born manager at Acme Aircraft Corporation David A. Davies, began studying at the Case Institute of Technology in 1931 after attending school , which he graduated in 1933. During this time he began to be interested in physics and optical physics in particular, especially after a guest lecture by Albert Einstein .
In 1934 he entered the US Navy as a midshipman and graduated from the US Naval Academy in Annapolis , which he graduated with a Bachelor of Science (BS) in 1937 . While studying naval artillery and artillery there, he noticed the difficulties the Navy had in determining the correct range of targets. Among his instructors in the subject of navigation was the future Rear Admiral Arthur A. Ageton and in 1937 he wrote his first article for the journal Naval Institute Proceedings . From his point of view, the solution to this problem was the development of a new type for stereoscopic vision , which he implemented by means of a practical model of the sighting device for distance measurement. His target for the determination of the range was the dome of the Maryland State Capital .
His attempts were so successful that officers of the Artillery Bureau (Bureau of Ordnance) asked him to show them the range finder. After the performance, the officers saw great potential for using the device. In the period that followed, the optical rangefinder was tested on the most important ships of the US Navy with large-caliber cannons. The sighting device developed by Davies to determine the range was used on all ships of the US Navy with large-caliber cannons during the Second World War as well as on the ships for coastal bombing in the Korean War . The sighting devices can now be viewed on museum ships such as the battleship USS North Carolina on the banks of the Cape Fear River in Wilmington .
During his studies at the US Naval Academy, he was also the art editor of the local journal Log and the editor of the student newspaper Trident .
Uses as a naval officer and World War II
After completion of the US Naval Academy in 1937 Davies was initially used as Ensign on the same Portland class belonging heavy cruiser USS Portland in the US Pacific Fleet . In February 1939, he was transferred to the heavy cruiser USS Wichita , before completing a naval pilot's training in early 1942, which he completed in late 1942. He then became first officer ( Executive Officer ) offset to the Bomber Squadron 129, where he and his fighter aircraft type Lockheed Ventura submarine -Abwehreinsätze in the South Atlantic against submarines of the German Navy flew. From an air base in Brazil, the squadron was responsible for protecting coastal shipping in South America . On one of these surveillance flights he managed to hit U 604 and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his heroism and excellent flying performance in destroying this important enemy ship .
During his two-year service in Brazil, he learned the Portuguese language , which was then an advantage as Commanding Officer of the US-Brazilian training unit. During this time he translated manuals into Portuguese for the Brazilian Navy to organize maintenance and flight training knowledge.
Development of the Lockheed P-2 Neptune and world record flight
After finishing his work as Commanding Officer of the US-Brazilian training unit, he dealt with the development of aircraft for the US Navy. On February 19, 1943, the Department of the Navy handed ( US Department of the Navy ) a letter of intent to the aircraft manufacturer Aircraft Manufacturing Company to proceed with the development of two prototypes of Lockheed P-2 Neptune - reconnaissance aircraft to begin (XP2V-1). The design drawings had just begun when Frigate Captain Davies took over his new role as aircraft design contract officer at the Bureau of Aeronautics responsible for material support to the Naval Aviation Forces . His job was to research and assist in the selection of the next land-based aircraft to replace the Lockheed Ventura (PV-1 Ventura). Participation in this project was a great challenge, as the responsibilities and responsibilities as contract officer during these years enabled him to influence the final design for the XP2V-1 significantly. His engineering knowledge contributed in particular, so that his support of the Lockheed engineers and his insistence on an extended flight time for the naval reconnaissance aircraft laid the foundation for a subsequent world record for the range for a propeller-driven aircraft.
Davies, now head of the aircraft planning group at the Bureau of Aeronautics, also came up with the idea of modifying the first production model of the new Lockheed P-2 for long-range flight to demonstrate the ability of the Navy's anti-submarine defenses to reach targets worldwide. With the approval of the then Chief of Naval Operations , Admiral Chester W. Nimitz , he developed the plan to set a flight world record over a distance of 11,256 miles, which ultimately lasted for 16 years.
In September 1946, a modified version of one of the first two prototypes of the Lockheed P-2 Neptune was brought to Perth , Australia . On this plane called The Truculent Turtle , Davies and his crew wanted to fly the world distance record. The aircraft was meticulously checked by them and engineers from the Lockheed Aircraft Company , who were concerned that the aircraft was overloaded because of the far greater amount of fuel required to reach its destination. The aircraft's shock absorbers were fully compressed during the taxiing tests . The tires had very little space between the tread and the wheel hub, so that any bump could have resulted in the tires being torn from the rim. While the Lockheed engineers were concerned and scared, based on his own calculations, Davies was confident the plane would fly.
After boarding the crew, Perth's Lord Mayor Joseph Totterdell appeared to wish the crew good luck. He also brought a small kangaroo in a wooden cage for Davies to fly to the United States. From the perspective of the Lockheed engineers, this was the end, as, from their point of view, the aircraft was already hopelessly overloaded. Davies accepted the kangaroo as a gift for the American people and had the animal stowed in the tail of the aircraft. After an exceptionally long take-off, the aircraft took off, with the ascent kept to a minimum to save fuel and with altitude less than 6,000 feet for the first several thousand miles . For his services in the world record flight, US President Harry S. Truman and his crew received a Gold Star instead of a second Distinguished Flying Cross in a ceremony in the White House .
Post war uses and development of a celestial compass
After that, Commander Davies remained associated with naval aviators. As commander of Task Group 68.7 , he and another pilot made the first attempts at take-off ( Jet Assisted Take Offs (JATO)) with an aircraft the size and weight of the Lockheed P-2 Neptune from the deck of an aircraft carrier on April 27, 1948 , namely the USS Coral Sea off Norfolk . These attempts proved the practicality of operations with heavy long-haul aircraft on aircraft carriers. These tests ultimately resulted in the establishment of a need for carrier-based aircraft . For a time it also held the world speed record from the east coast to the west coast of the United States . The previous world records took place from the west to the east coast using the prevailing westerly winds . He also achieved this world record without refueling non-stop.
As a member of the staff of Admiral Richard Evelyn Byrd , he designed the first set of skis for planes with triaxial landing gear and developed a celestial compass for navigation at the poles where conventional compasses were unusable. This new compass was later used in astronomical navigation for commercial aircraft for the early transpolar flights to Europe. He also equipped two aircraft with special navigation and photo equipment for mapping the Antarctic . The celestial compass consisted of a set of polarized lenses in a frame that was mounted on top of the aircraft. By rotating the lenses, an accurate relative position determination of the sun could be made according to the nautical almanac, so that the gyrocompasses could be precisely aligned. This procedure allowed the aircraft to navigate the polar regions where other compasses were useless. Magnetic compasses could not be used and gyro compasses could only be used if they were constantly being realigned. For this necessary and useful invention of this celestial compass, he was awarded the Thurlow Prize in 1949 by the Institute of Navigation (ION) for outstanding contributions to the field of navigation sciences.
Aeronautical Engineer and Cuban Crisis
From 1950 to 1952 Davies was responsible for the aircraft repair and repair workshop at the Naval Air Station in Sand Point and then until 1954 an officer in the staff of the Commander of the Air Fleet in the Mediterranean . During this stationing he was in particular responsible for the naval reconnaissance aircraft at the Sigonella military airfield , which was the only airfield in Sicily to have maintenance facilities for such aircraft. Upon his return to the United States, Davies was appointed Commanding Officer of the Naval Air Engineering Facility in Philadelphia , where he was responsible for the interception systems and catapults on aircraft carriers. He was also involved in the development of steam catapults and interception systems and remained in this position until he was transferred to Washington, DC in 1958.
Between 1960 and 1961, Davies served as Captain Commander of operating in the Western Pacific USS Caliente , a replenishment oiler of Cimarron class . In this function, he strengthened his practical experience in navigation and astronomical navigation. In 1962 he was a graduate of the National War College in Washington, DC Then he was from 1962 to 1963 Commander of Air Fleet Squadron 3 in Brunswick . During this time there was the Cuban Missile Crisis , in the course of which his unit became an important part of the US air surveillance forces. During the airspace surveillance, the importance of precise navigation became clear once again, as a necessary prerequisite for a comprehensive search and detection of ships. The experience gained during the Cuban Missile Crisis was later used in the development of a command and control system for the aircraft carrier division. Thereupon he was between 1963 and 1964 commander of the Naval Air Station in Norfolk .
Promotion to rear admiral
On July 1, 1965, Davies was promoted to Rear Admiral and seconded to the staff of Secretary of the Navy ( US Secretary of the Navy ) Paul Nitze . During his tenure there until 1967, he founded the Office of Program Appraisal ( OPA ) and was its director during that time. In this role, he was responsible for reviewing all major naval programs in the areas of organization, affordability, and utility. In 1967 he became commander of the aircraft carrier division 20, continuing the development of surface surveillance and the command and control system. The thoroughness of the system of data collection, ship identification, electronic emission control and navigation allowed all Soviet reconnaissance ships that pursued US aircraft carriers during the Cold War to be avoided. These Soviet ships were a major focus of the Navy Department, as they could pick up a US ship as a target at any time. During enemy attacks, aircraft carriers were among the first targets, so that the command and control system developed by Davies was canceled for the pursuers by a tactic of silence and deception. The system, which identified all surface contacts and recorded their position, became an important assistant in the localization of submarines. Knowing the exact location of each surface contact through identification and knowing the acoustic properties of each contact drive were key factors in locating all five Soviet submarines operating in the Mediterranean . His system attracted attention at all levels, so that the officers subordinate to him trained the commanders of the aircraft carrier divisions, commanders and control officers on the technology he had developed over the next four years.
In 1969, Rear Admiral Davies was appointed by Chief of Naval Development and also Chief Oceanographer of the Navy . In this role, he dealt with the continuation of the development of weapon systems, which he had worked out as commander of the aircraft carrier division 20. In particular, he helped develop two systems that were used in the confrontations in the Middle East , namely the vertical launch vehicle for ship-based missile systems and the cruise missile . In the meantime, interest in the command and control system he developed grew among the fleet commanders, so that 29 of these systems were installed on all important ships in the Navy. As chief oceanographer, he worked temporarily with the French marine researcher Jacques-Yves Cousteau .
In 1973 Davies was retired after 40 years of service in the US Navy. Davies has received several awards for his military merits and, in addition to the two Distinguished Flying Crosses, received the Navy Distinguished Service Medal , the Legion of Merit and the Brazilian Order of the Southern Cross . He was also awarded the De la Vaulx Medal of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI).
ACDA Vice Director
Immediately thereafter, Davies was appointed Vice-Director of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, ACDA, by US President Richard Nixon . He held this position until 1980, during which time he worked as an expert on disarmament and disarmament control with the then directors Fred Iklé , Paul Warnke and George M. Seignious . In addition, he headed two US delegations to negotiations with the Soviet Union. An interim post-graduate studies in the subject International Relations at George Washington University , he finished with a Master of Science (MS).
As Vice-Director of the ACDA, he was initially responsible for the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons , the establishment of the ban on nuclear weapons tests , the control of chemical and biological weapons and the talks on the limitation of strategic arms ( SALT ) . He carried out these tasks until 1974 and then represented the ACDA in the US delegation to the threshold negotiations for the TTB (Threshold Test Ban Treaty) in Moscow , which was signed by US President Nixon in 1974. In 1975 the new US President Gerald Ford signed the ratification act, whereby the US became a partner of the Geneva Protocol on the prohibition of the use of asphyxiating, poisonous or similar gases as well as bacteriological agents in war . 1976 Ford signed the Treaty on further civilian nuclear devices (Peaceful Nuclear Explosion Treaty) . Both agreements limited nuclear explosions beyond a certain level, with Davies each playing a key role in the negotiations.
In 1975, Davies took on a new role within the ACDA as Vice Director and Head of the Nonproliferation and Advanced Technology Bureau . He held this position until 1976 and was particularly involved in the creation of the so-called ENMOD Convention (Convention on the Prohibition of Military or Any Other Hostile Use of Environmental Modification Techniques) , an agreement to prevent environmental wars. This convention, which was signed by US President Jimmy Carter in 1977 , he prepared in particular in 1974 and 1975 as head of the US delegation in bilateral negotiations with the Soviet Union.
During the Carter presidency, Davies became ACDA vice director on multilateral affairs. In this function, he continued to deal with the prohibition of nuclear weapons tests and the further control of chemical, biological and radiological weapons, nuclear weapon-free zones and environmental regulations due to his specialist knowledge . In addition, he took on further responsibility for multilateral weapons control negotiations at the United Nations and the UN Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, UNCD ( UN Conference on Disarmament ) . In addition, he headed an in-house group to support numerous gun control initiatives.
At the end of 1977 his book Star Sight Reduction Tables for 42 Stars: Assumed Altitude Method of Celestial Navigation and 1982 Sight Reduction Tables for Sun, Moon and Planets: Assumed Altitude Method of Celestial Navigation appeared .
In 1980, Davies co-founded the Maryland- based Navigation Foundation , an organization dedicated to preserving the art of navigation, and became its founding president.
In 1988, at the request of the National Geographic Society , the Navigation Foundation began an investigation into documents relating to Frigate Captain Robert Edwin Peary's North Pole expedition . It was found in 1989 that Peary, Matthew Henson and their four Inuit leaders Egingwah, Seeglo, Ootah and Ooqueah had reached the closest point to the North Pole on April 6, 1909. Peary's claim to be the first person to reach the North Pole has always been contested.
The Navigation Foundation study found that Peary had misrepresented his actual position, and that he was actually around 121 miles from the North Pole as the closest point. The calculation made by the Boston astronomer Dennis Rawlins , who had long denied Peary's claim to reach the North Pole, was based on a document from the Peary Archives that contained numerical notes. Rawlins was of the opinion that these were navigational notes of sextant readings. However, after the study, Davies stated that the numbers were the serial numbers of watches Peary had used on his 1906 expedition.
Davies died on January 21, 1991 of complications from a virus infection .
Publications
- Some Thoughts on New Ship Configuration. The Helicopter-Destroyer Concept. A Lecture devilvered at Naval War College, February 5, 1969 , in: Naval War College Review , May 1969, pp. 25-34
- Star Sight Reduction Tables for 42 Stars: Assumed Altitude Method of Celestial Navigation , 1977
- Sight Reduction Tables for Sun, Moon and Planets: Assumed Altitude Method of Celestial Navigation , 1982
Web links
- Short biography in Naval War College Review , May 1969, p. 30
- Rear Adm. Thomas D. Davies, US Navy (Retired) on the Navigation Foundation homepage
- Rear Adm. Thomas D. Davies, 76, Aviator and Expert on Navigation , in: The New York Times, January 26, 1991
- Thomas D. Davies; Retired Rear Admiral , in: The Los Angeles Times January 27, 1991
- Thomas D. Davies , in: The Baltimore Sun, January 28, 1991
Individual evidence
- ^ Joe Nickell: Camera Clues: A Handbook for Photographic Investigation , 2010, ISBN 0-81313-828-0 , p. 58
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Davies, Thomas D. |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American military, United States Navy Rear Admiral |
| DATE OF BIRTH | November 3, 1914 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Cleveland , Ohio |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 21, 1991 |
| Place of death | St. Martin (island) , Caribbean |