All the Factors of Victory: Adm. Joseph Mason Reeves and the Origins of Carrier Airpower - Professional Reading

0 Comments | Naval Aviation News, March-April, 2004

Wildenberg, Thomas. All the Factors of Victory: Adm. Joseph Mason Reeves and the Origins of Carrier Airpower. Brassey's, Inc., 22841 Quicksilver Dr., Dulles, VA 20166. 2003. 326 pp. Ill. $27.50.

Bull Reeves is one of those seminal, but shadowy figures of Naval Aviation. The face on the dust jacket that stares back at the reader might be a familiar, but unknown visage sporting a neatly trimmed white goatee and moustache. In the black-and-white photograph, the officer appears as a rear admiral with two rows of the large ribbons of pre-Vietnam style and what might be mistaken for the wings of a Naval Aviator. In reality, the wings are silver, not gold, and represent his designation as a naval aviation observer, not a pilot. He sometimes shows up in various period photos, and was even portrayed in the 1945 Gary Cooper film Task Force.

The author of this heavily researched biography has produced an account of an era that is seldom discussed. The United States had mostly given up its tenuous leadership in military aviation shortly after the Wright brothers' first flight, and it would not regain that position until the middle of WW II. In the intervening 40 years, Naval Aviation had come about through British persistence in developing the aircraft carrier and using it in the last years of WW I. Every major nation took note of British experiences and soon several other countries were planning air-capable ships. America was certainly in on this important development, but was held back by the traditional turf-guarding of surface-ship admirals. The carrier was initially limited in the United States to one converted collier, Langley (CV 1).

Young Joe Reeves had graduated from the Naval Academy and established himself as a superb engineering and gunnery officer. He had seen combat and acquitted himself well during the Battle of Santiago in the Spanish-American War of 1898. Working his way up the promotion ladder during a time when officers sat for examination to be promoted, Reeves showed his unique abilities time and again, and found himself at Naval Aviation's doorstep.

He was fully engaged in the mid-1920s developing tactics and operational procedures. The author describes this important but little-known period, including new aircraft like the Boeing and Curtiss fighters of the time. Like many senior naval officers of his generation. Reeves took the Naval Aviation Observer course that, while not training him to actually pilot aircraft, gave him a solid appreciation of the skills required to fly, particularly from a carrier's flight deck. He threw himself into the role of champion for this new "weapon system."

In June 1927, Reeves became a flag officer and by 1933 he was wearing four stars. Oddly, his career seems to have been complete by the time America entered WW II, although he answered a recall and served in a variety of staff and committee positions.

Reeves quickly showed himself to be a highly capable tinkerer and designer. He was always trying to better the equipment with which he was involved, and was also a good leader who looked after his men. Wildenberg's detailed text is a compendium of the turn-of-the-century Navy that will be of interest to a wider audience. I highly recommend this look at one of Naval Aviation's most important personalities.