Marine Corps. Aircraft: 1913-2000

All aircraft operated by the United States Marine Corps have been procured by
the U.S. Navy and consequently have been designated by the same systems as established by the Navy. In July 1911, the first two U.S. Navy aircraft, the A-1 and A-2 were purchased from Glenn Curtiss. An Aviation Camp was established at Greenbury Point, Annapolis, Md. On 22 May 1912, lstLt Alfred A. Cunningham was assigned to flight instruction there, which is regarded as the birthday of Marine Corps aviation. In the beginning, there was no official assignment of aircraft to the Marine Corps as there was no aviation organization within the Corps. However, by April 1913 the logbook of the A-2 showed that it was being flown almost exclusively by Lieutenant Bernard L. Smith and later with William M. Mcllvain. The aircraft was redesignated E-1 on 22 September 1913. When the Marine Corps element of the Aviation Camp at Annapolis was ordered to Culebra Island, Puerto Rico, for exercises with the Advance Base Unit in January 1914, it was regarded as the Marine Section of the Navy Flying School. One of the two aircraft they operated was the E-1, while the other was the C-3 flying boat. Photos show that the C-3 was identified as a Marine Corps aircraft with the designation USMC in large letters on the tail. Both of these instances appear to only have been assignments within the
Aviation Camp and not really assignment to the Marine Corps. The Marine Section,
Navy Flying School was organized on 9 January 1915. There are several other early
aircraft such as the H-12 and H-16 that Marines may have flown in training but that were never actually assigned to the Marine Corps.