Chapter 668. To authorize the construction and procurement of aircraft and aircraft equipment in the Navy and Marine Corps, and to adjust and define the status of the operating personnel in connection therewith
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CHAP. 668.— An Act To authorize the construction and procurement of aircraft and aircraft equipment in the Navy and Marine Corps, and to adjust and define the status of the operating personnel in connection therewith.June 24, 1926.[[H. R. 9690](/us/bill/69/hr/9690).][[Public, No. 422](/us/69/pl/422).] *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled*,Aircraft, Navy.Construction of, etc. authorized. That, for the purpose of further developing and further increasing aeronautics 765in the Navy, the President of the United States is hereby authorized to undertake the construction and procurement of aircraft, spare parts, and equipment for the Navy as enumerated below:
Paragraph 1. During the fiscal year ending June 30, 1927, notIn fiscal year June 30, 1927. to exceed two hundred and thirty-live airplanes with spare parts and equipment, to cost not to exceed $12,285,000: *Provided*, That*Proviso*.Additional to currant authorization. the number of airplanes and the limit of cost herein specified for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1927, shall be in addition to the seventy-eight airplanes with spare parts and equipment for which the sum of $3,300,000 is included under the appropriation increase*Ante*, p. 613. of the Navy in the Navy Department and Naval Establishment Appropriation Act for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1927.
Par. 2. During the fiscal year ending June 30, 1928, not to exceedIn 1928. three hundred and thirteen airplanes with spare parts and equipment, to cost not to exceed $16,223,750. Par. 3. During the fiscal year ending June 30, 1929, not to exceedIn 1929. three hundred and thirty-five airplanes with spare parts and equipment, to cost not to exceed $17,582,500. Par. 4. During the fiscal year ending June 30, 1930, not to exceedIn 1930. three hundred and fifty-seven airplanes with spare parts and equipment, to cost not to exceed $18,941,250.
Par. 5. During the fiscal year ending June 30, 1931, not to exceedIn 1931. three hundred and seventy-four airplanes with spare parts and equipment, to cost not to exceed $20,046,250; in all, during theTotal for five-year period. five-year period beginning July 1, 1926, and ending June 30, 1931, one thousand six hundred and fourteen airplanes, with spare parts and equipment, to cost not to exceed $85,078,750.Authorization for subsequent years. Par. 6. During the fiscal year ending June 30, 1932, and during each fiscal year thereafter, not to exceed three hundred and thirty-three airplanes with spare parts and equipment, to cost not to exceed $17,476,250.
Par. 7. The number of airplanes, spare parts, and equipmentAuthorization to maintain in service after June 30, 1932, not less than 1,000 airplanes, etc. thus authorized to be constructed or procured during the five fiscal years beginning July 1, 1926, and ending June 30, 1931, and the number authorized to be constructed or procured during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1932, and during each fiscal year thereafter is the number which it has been estimated will be required to increase, during a five-year period beginning July 1, 1926, the useful airplanes on hand or otherwise provided for on June 30, 1926, to one thousand and to maintain the number of useful airplanes at not less than this number which is hereby established as the authorized number of useful airplanes to be employed in the Navy: *Provided*, That, in the event satisfactory*Provisos*.Deficiencies to be made up. arrangements for the procurement of the authorized number of airplanes are not made in any fiscal year, such deficiency may be made up in the next ensuing year or years: *Provided further*, ThatDescription of “useful airplanes.
” “ useful airplanes,” as used in this Act, shall be those airplanes on the Navy list which are, or which after reasonable repairs can be made, in all respects safe to fly and fitted to take part in active military operations in time of war, and shall be exclusive of those airplanes classified as experimental or, with the approval of the Secretary of the Navy, declared obsolete: *Provided further*,Act limited to authorizations for procuring aircraft. That nothing herein shall be construed as more than an authorization for the procurement of aircraft within the limits enumerated in this Act, nor in any way to abridge the right of Congress to determine what numbers of aircraft may be appropriated for in any fiscal year within the limits so authorized. section 2 Paragraph 1.
Two rigid airships of a type suitable for use asTwo rigid airships authorized.*Post*, p. 1291. adjuncts to the fleet and of approximately six million cubic feet 766volume each at a total cost not to exceed $8,000,000 for both ships, construction of one to be undertaken as soon as practicable and *Proviso*.Construction in United States.By contract or by Department.prior to July 1, 1928: *Provided*, That the two airships herein authorized shall be constructed in the United States: *Provided further*, That one or both of said airships shall be constructed either under contract similar to contracts covering the construction of other vessels for the Navy, or by the Navy Department, as the Secretary of the Navy may deem to be in the best interests of the Government.
Par. 2. One experimental metalclad airship. One experimental metalclad airship of approximately two hundred thousand cubic feet volume, at a cost not to exceed $300,000, chargeable to the appropriation provided in the Navy Department *Ante*, p. 609.and Naval Establishment Appropriation Act for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1927, for continuing experiments and development *Proviso*.Contract restriction.work on all types of aircraft: *Provided*, That the metalclad airship herein authorized shall be procured under contract, only on such terms and subject to such restrictions as the Secretary of the Navy Fund designated to expedite construction.may deem proper: *Provided further*, That to expedite construction of the experimental metalclad airship, $300,000 of the sum of *Ante*, p, 609.$1,928,000 included in the Navy Department and Naval Establishment Appropriation Act for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1927, for continuing experiments and development work on all types of aircraft may be made immediately available.
Par. 3. Construction at navy yards if bidders combine to restrict competition. The Secretary of the Navy is authorized to build at any navy yard or naval factory any of the aircraft, spare parts, or equipment herein authorized should it reasonably appear that the persons, firms, or corporations, or the agents thereof, bidding for the construction of any of said aircraft, spare parts, or equipment have entered into any combination, agreement, or understanding the effect, object, or purpose of which is to deprive the Government of fair, open, and unrestricted competition in letting contracts for the construction of any of said aircraft, spare parts, or Or if bidders demand excessive price for particular type, etc.equipment, or should it reasonably appear that any persons, firm, or corporation, or the agents thereof, being solely or peculiarly in position to manufacture or furnish the particular type or design of aircraft, spare parts, or equipment required by the Navy, in bidding on such aircraft, spare parts, or equipment, have named a price in excess of cost of production plus a reasonable profit.
Amount, authorized toward construction of enumerated craft for fiscal year 1927.To provide for the construction of the heavier-than-air craft and the lighter-than-air craft herein enumerated and described, except the experimental metalclad airship, there is hereby authorized to be appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, such sums as may be necessary, including, for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1927, toward the construction of the heavier-than-air craft program, the sum of not to exceed $12,285,000, and toward the construction of the two rigid airships, to be available until expended, $1,100,000, of which sum $100,000 may be made immediately available. section 3 (personnel) Par. 1.
“Naval aviator.”.Meaning of term. That hereafter when the term “ naval aviator ” is used in this Act or any other Act it shall mean any commissioned officer or warrant line officer in the Navy or Marine Corps who has success-fully completed the course prescribed by competent authority for naval aviators and who has been or may hereafter be designated or appointed a naval aviator by competent authority and who has flown alone in a heavier-than-air craft not less than seventy-five hours and who has flown in heavier-than-air craft a total of not less than two hundred hours or who has been in the air, under training, in rigid airships not less than one hundred and fifty hours and successfully completed the course prescribed by competent authority. 767 Par. 2.
That hereafter when the term “ aviation pilot ” is used“Aviation pilot.” Meaning of term. in this Act or any other Act it shall mean any enlisted man in the Navy or Marine Corps who has successfully completed the course prescribed for aviation pilots and who has been or may hereafter be designated or appointed an aviation pilot by competent authority and who has flown alone in a heavier-than-air craft not less than seventy-five hours and who has flown in heavier-than-air craft a total of not less than two hundred hours.
The term “ pilot ” shall be construed to mean a naval aviator or“Pilot.”Term construed. an aviation pilot. Par. 3. That hereafter when the term “ naval aviation observer ”“Naval aviation observer.”Meaning of term. is used in this Act or any other Act it shall mean any commissioned or warrant officer in the Navy or Marine Corps who has successfully completed the course prescribed by competent authority as a naval aviation observer and who has been in the air not less than one hundred hours and who has been or may hereafter be designated or appointed as a naval aviation observer by competent authority in the Navy.
Par. 4. That hereafter when a line officer of the Navy is to beNaval aviator.Aviation school, etc., to be commanded by. detailed to the command of a Navy aviation school or of a Navy air station or of a Navy air unit organized for flight tactical purposes he shall be a naval aviator. Par. 5. Line officers detailed to command of aircraft carriers orAviator or aviation observer.Carrier or tender to be commanded by. aircraft tenders shall be naval aviators or naval aviation observers who are otherwise qualified.
Par. 6. That any officer of the Navy, line, or staff of the permanentA avancement of commanders or lieutenant commanders whose regular promotion jeopardized by period specialized in aviation. rank or grade of commander or lieutenant commander, at. the time of the passage of this Act who has specialized in aviation for such a period of time as to jeopardize his selection for promotion or advancement to the next higher grade or rank under existing pro-visions of law and whose service in aviation has been in the public interest shall be so notified by the Secretary of the Navy and at his own request be designated as an officer who will be carried as an additional number in the next higher grade or rank not above the grade of captain if and when promoted or advanced thereto: *Provided*,*Proviso*.Consideration by selection boards.
That selection boards in cases of such officers shall confine their consideration to the fitness alone of such officers for promotion, not to the comparative fitness of such officers. Par. 7. That hereafter when a line officer of the Marine Corps isMarino Corps aviator.Detailed to command schools, etc. to be detailed to the command of a Marine Corps aviation school or of a Marine Corps air station or of a Marine Corps air unit organized for flight tactical purposes he shall be a Marine Corps aviator.
Par. 8. On and after July 1, 1928, the number of enlisted pilotsNumber of enlisted pilots after July 1, 1928. in the Navy shall not be less than 30 per centum of the total number of pilots employed in the Navy on aviation duty. section 4 To aid the Secretary of the Navy in fostering naval aeronautics,Assistant Secretary of the Navy.Additional, to be appointed to aid in naval aeronautics. and to perform such functions as the Secretary may direct, there shall be an additional Assistant Secretary of the Navy, who shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, and whose compensation shall be fixed in accordanceDuties. with the Classification Act of 1923.
He shall, under the direction of the Secretary of the Navy, be charged with the supervision of naval aeronautics and the coordination of its activities with other govern-mental agencies and, in addition, such other duties as may be assigned to him by the Secretary of the Navy. There shall bePersonnel for his office. detailed to his office from the Bureau of Aeronautics such number 768of officers and civilian employees as may be authorized by the Secretary of the Navy. Approved, June 24, 1926.