26 |FLIGHTPATH
THE AMERICANS ARRIVE AT BOLSENA
On 19 February an initial group of 32 pilots
fromtheU.S.NavyarrivedatBolsena,asec-
ond group of 18 arriving on 25 March, and
on 21 February 1918, the US Naval Aviation
Detachment Lake Bolsena was formally es-
tablished, under the command of Ensign
W. B. A t w a t er, U. S. N av y R e s er ve For c e, w ho
reported directly to T.V. Calderara, the base
commander.Presenttowitnessthearrival
ofthefirstsailorsandtheconstitutionofthe
newAmericanbasewereC.V.DeFilippiand
CommanderTrain,theNavalAttachéfrom
theAmericanEmbassyinRome,together
obviously, with Ensign Callan.
The Americans quickly started training,
with the course beginning with a ground
school on the theory of flight, navigation,
mechanics, engine studies, and the flying
rulesandregulations.Initialflyingwasled
byItalianinstructors:butwhenitwasdis-
coveredtheywerenotappropriatelyquali-
fied,theywerequicklyreplacedbyAmeri-
cans. The syllabus required that the first
few flights were performed in a FBA, a
French-designed two seat seaplane
equippedwitha160hp (120kW)Isotta
Fraschini engine, followed by a transfer to
theMacchiL.3,anaircraftwhichpossessed
better flight characteristics than the French
seaplane.Normally,afteraroundtwelve
hoursoftraining,astudentwasreadyfor
hisfirstsolo,butifhereachedfourteen
hoursofdualinstructionandwasstillnot
considered capable, he was conceded an-
othertwoflyingsessionsofthirtyminutes
each,whichallowedhisinstructorstode-
termine whether with another couple of
hoursthestudentwouldbesatisfactory;if
he failed to overcome this hurdle, and was
classified as unsuited for the pilot role, he
was subsequently transferred to other du-
ties. The best students in the group were
selected for fighters, flying a few training
missions in the school’s Macchi M.5.
ItwouldappearthatthefirstAmerican
studenttofly(followingCommanderAtwa-
ter’sflightinanFBAon23February)was
QME.M.Smithon7March,andwasaccom-
paniedbyItalianinstructor2°Capo
Valdimiro. A few days later, on 15 March,
pilotJ.B.StanleywasthefirstAmericanto
fly solo, quickly followed by Craswell, Gog-
ginsandHamman,whoweretogoontobe
qualifiedasinstructors.On20March,how-
ever, the Americans recorded their first and
(fortheBolsenaschool)onlyfatalaccident.
In the early afternoon, after Hamman had
conductedaflighttocheckthattheweather
conditionsweregoodenough,at13:44Ma-
chinistMateFirstClassClarenceArthur
NelsontookoffonhisfirstsoloflightinFBA
No.7637.Ontheseflights,thepilotswereis-
sued strict instructions to follow a pre-de-
terminedrouteandaltitude,alwaysabove
thelake.Despitetheinstructions,hewas
observed to only be approximately following
the directions, and after entering cloud, his
aircraftwasseentofallintothelake.Rescu-
ers arrived at the accident site shortly after-
wards and were only able to find small parts
of the wreckage. The commission of inquiry