Crown City History I N C O L L A B O R AT I O N W I T H H O T E L D E L C O R O N A D O & C O R O N A D O H I S T O R I C A L A S S O C I AT I O N
The Navy’s First Flying Stunt Team B y C H R I S T I N A B U L O W, M U S E U M A S S O C I AT E , C O R O N A D O H I S T O R I C A L A S S O C I AT I O N
Dec. 7, 1941
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CORONADO HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION
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ear Adm. Aaron Putnam “Put” Storrs III was a naval aviator and member of a short-lived naval aerobatic team, along with Lt. D.W. Tomlinson and Lt.j.g. W.V. Davis Jr. called The Three Seahawks. The stunt team was based at North Island and is known as the precursor to the Navy’s Blue Angels. The three pilots did not receive permission to form an aerobatic team, so they worked on their own time and out of direct view of their superiors until they could prove their skills. Tomlinson modified the engines of their F2B aircraft so they would not stall while inverted. He taught Davis and Storrs first above the fog line. When they were able to perform rolls, dives and loops without touching the cloud line, they moved to areas near the mountains. The team first performed in San Francisco in spring 1928 before de-
The Three Seahawks: W.V. Davis, D.W. Tomlinson and A.P. Storrs.
Capt. Van Valkenburgh, commanding officer of the USS Arizona, was killed in the line of duty aboard his ship during the attack on Pearl Harbor. Van Valkenburgh’s widow and children lived on Star Park. He was posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, Purple Heart, and in 1944, the Navy destroyer USS Van Valkenburgh (DD-656) was commissioned.
CROWN CITY MAGAZINE
| DECEMBER 2019
