THE PERFECT TRAP
TODAY EVERY U.S. NAVAL AVIATOR WHO STRAPS INTO AN AIRCRAFT COCKPIT OWES A DEBT TO A MAN THEY NEVER MET AND FEW HAVE EVEN HEARD OF, VICE ADMIRAL FREDERICK M. TRAPNELL, THE “GODFATHER OF MODERN NAVAL AVIATION.”
Every fighter, attack aircraft, troop carrier, transport, helicopter and aerial surveillance plane in the Navy inventory for the last 65 years has been tested, evaluated and improved by the dedicated graduates of the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School at Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Maryland. There, hundreds of men and women are the direct inheritors of the legacy that Trapnell began when he first pinned on his wings of gold in 1927.
Born in July 1902, Trapnell displayed a love of the sea and ships at an early age. An appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis honed his gift for engineering, a trait that served him well all his life. There he gained the nickname by which he was forever known, “Trap.” His good looks, win ning personality and humility made him popular. Serving on battleships and cruisers after his graduation in 1923, the young officer earned the respect of the enlisted men through his willingness to work alongside them and get his hands dirty.
Fascinated by the Navy’s early scout biplanes, Trapnell applied for aviation training at NAS Pensacola in Florida. He displayed a natural ability as a pilot and took great pains to familiarize himself with every airplane he flew. When he earned his wings in March 1927, Trapnell was unknowingly situated on the threshold of the most dynamic generation in aviation history.
Lieutenant Trapnell was assigned to the pioneering Torpedo Squadron 1 of the newly commissioned aircraft carrier , flying the three-seater Martin T3M biplane, joined the fleet exercises off Hawaii, where Trapnell began to fly and evaluate the current crop of bombers. He then joined the Navy’s first officially designated fighter squadron, VB-1 (later VF-5). The “Red Rippers” would become the longest-serving fighter squadron in the Navy. They flew the nimble and rakish Curtiss F6C Hawk, a carrier-capable variant of the Army’s P-1 Hawk. Trapnell loved the agile biplane.
