CUNNINGHAM-ALFRED

THE  FATHER  OF  MARINE  AVIATION

 Alfred Austell Cunningham's interest in aviation began in 1903 when he watched a balloon ascent one afternoon.  The next time the balloon went up he was in it and from then on he considered himself a confirmed aeronautical enthusiast.  In 1909 he accepted a commission as a Second Lieutenant in the Marine Corp.  This was one year after Orville Wright demonstrated his plane to Government officials and Naval officers. In 1911 then-Lieutenant Cunningham was stationed at the Marine Barracks, Philadelphia, where he had become imbued with a fervent desire to fly and was by now experimenting with an airplane which he leased for $25 a month from a civilian aviator.  Although he never got his plane off the ground his enthusiasm for flight was rewarded when, on May 16, 1912, he was ordered to the aviation camp the Navy had established at Annapolis.  He reported there on May 22, 1912, a date recognized as the birthday of Marine Corps aviation.  On August 20, 1912, after two-hours and forty minutes of instruction, Cunningham soloed and the Marine Corps had its first aviator.  For the next fifteen months he made some 400 flights conducting training, and testing tactics and aircraft capabilities as he consulted with Glenn Curtiss concerning the planes that he was developing.  Flying the crude planes the Navy then had, he took weekly training flights across Chesapeake Bay, a thrilling and daring flight in those early days.

 In August 1913, Cunningham sought detachment from aviation duty because my fiancee will not consent to marry me unless I give up flying.  His request was approved and he was ordered to the Navy Yard at Washington for duty as Assistant Quartermaster.  This did not end his aviation career as he served on a board convened at the Navy Department for the purpose of drawing up a comprehensive plan for the organization of a naval aeronautical service.  Sometime between September 1913 and April 1915 his wife must have relented because on April 27, 1915, he was ordered to Pensacola for instruction in and assignment to aviation duty again.  On September 17, 1915, he was designated Naval Aviator #5.  Soon thereafter he was recommended as particularly well qualified to assist as an expert aviator.  By now Europe had been at war for more than two years and now-Captain Cunningham directed his efforts to the establishment of an Aeronautic Advance Base Unit at Philadelphia.  In February 1917 he was detailed to the Philadelphia Navy Yard to establish, equip and command an Aviation Company for a Marine Corps Advance Base Force.  He was commended for his zeal and attention to duty and was given command of the First Aviation Squadron of the Marine Corps.  In addition he was ordered in November 1917 to Paris to collect information concerning French and British aviation activities.  During this assignment he wrote a daily diary which includes the following excerpts:

 November 26, 1917, Avord, France.  Got up at daylight and walked

1-1/2 miles to station almost frozen.  It has been very cold.  Found aviation school was 2-miles from train station and no way to ride.  Started out on foot in mud 2-inches deep and my feet were wet and freezing.  School is larger than all other schools in France combined, 800 airplanes, 11 flying fields besides the main station and 3000 mechanics.  They have every kind of machine here made in France.  This afternoon I made 20 flights to the different schools.  Everyone here is in dead earnest and you can realize the grimness of it when you realize than an average of one man a day is killed flying here.  They keep the deaths as quiet as possible.  I wish I could stay here longer as it is a most interesting place but I will be glad to get back to Paris and be warm again.

 December 18, 1917, Same Locality.  Got up frozen stiff.  Persuaded a French pilot of a biplane fighting Spad to make me over the lines.  We went up like an elevator and talk about speed!  We were over the lines in no time and I was all eyes.  The archies bursting near us worried me some and made it hard to look all the time for boches.  I saw something to one side that looked like a fountain of red ink.  Found it was the machine gun tracer bullets from the ground.  After a few minutes we sighted a boche 2-seater just below us.  We made for him.  It was the finest excitement I ever had.  I got my machine gun ready.  Before we got to him he dived and headed for home.  On one of our rolls I let loose a couple of strings at him but it was too far for good shooting.  After following him a ways over the lines we turned to look for another.  None were out so we came home.  Finest trip I ever had.  If the boche had not turned quite so soon, I think I might have got him.  About 8-PM three boche machines flew over very low.  Two of them did not locate our place and went on.  The other one was flying around trying to locate the hangers so we made for the machine gun pit.  He finally flew down the line and let go a couple of bombs.  We opened on him but the gun jammed and no one could fix it in the dark.  He made three trips and let go two bombs each trip.  He dropped them all in the woods and no machines were hurt.  Later we tried to sleep but every time a big gun would go off I thought it was another raid.  My hands are blue from cold.  There is certainly no lack of excitement around here.

 Upon returning the US in January 1918, he presented a plan to use Marine aircraft to be used in the war in Europe.  His plan was implemented, the Marine aviation unit was deployed to France and Belgium, and for his service in organizing and training this first aviation force he was awarded the Navy Cross.  Following the close of World War I he became Officer-In-Charge of Marine Corps aviation, an assignment in which he remained until December 1920 when he was detailed to command the First Air Squadron in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.  The early policy of the Marine Corps was to detail an officer to aviation duty for only five years after which he was ordered to general duty.  Thus, in July 1922 he was ordered to general duty at Marine Corps Schools, Quantico, where as a Major he served as Assistant Adjutant and Inspector, and then as Division Marine Officer and Aide on the staff of Commander, Battleship Division Three.  In 1928 he served with the 2^nd Brigade of Marines in Nicaragua as Executive Officer.  From 1929 to 1931 he finished his career as Assistant Quartermaster at the Marine Barracks, Philadelphia.  In failing health he retired from the Marine Corps on August 1, 1935, and was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel while on the retired list.

 At the age of 53, LTCOL Cunningham died at Sarasota, Florida, on May 27, 1939, and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.  In November 1944, in his honor, the USS ALFRED A. CUNNINGHAM (DD-752) was named for him and in 1965 he was enshrined in the National Aviation Hall of Fame.  His contribution to naval aviation and the Marine Corps cannot be measured.  He pioneered in aviation when aviation was recognized only by a few men of broad vision like himself.  He gave the very best years of his life pioneering in flying and risked his life and health when few appreciated the risk, the discouragements, and frustrations the early aviator faced. 

 NAVY CROSS CITATION:  The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Cross to Major Alfred Austell Cunningham, United States Marine Corps, for distinguished service in the line of his profession in connection with the organization and training of the First Marine Aviation Force in the United States, and as Commanding Officer of this aviation force in France, where it served against the enemy and rendered valuable service as part of the Northern Bombing Group (USN).

Pictures are of LT Cunningham (1912) and the first USMC airplane (1913).

                                          

                 

Submitted by CDR Roy A. Mosteller, USNR (Ret)