An Interview with Owen J. McNamara How did you get interested in a book about naval aviation in World War 1? "I was always interested in it as a kid: When the US got into the war in April 1917, my father, John F. McNamara, left Boston College to join the Navy's new flight training program at Pensacola. He was 19 years old when he became naval aviator number 199. He flew antisubmarine patrol over the English Channel and the North Sea, and is credited with carrying out the first attack by a US naval aviator that inflicted damage on a German U-boat." So is this his story? "No. This is fiction. UC 531 never existed. A Test of Wings is John F. McNamara's story only in the sense that I appropriated bits of his biography and my research was greatly enriched by some first-hand information about him, for instance, his diary and Navy records. In addition, during the 1970s, I surveyed and interviewed a group of WW1 naval aviators who were in flight training with him or had flown from the same bases in England. Then, when I was in the Navy, I spent most of my hitch on the flight deck of a 'jeep' aircraft carrier. I was in the crash crew and on the arresting gear team. I couldn't help but reflect on how far naval aviation had come from the days when my father was involved in it." So your interest in the subject has never flagged? "Not at all. To me, those early days when US aviation went to war were, and remain, a fascinating time of trial: the Navy brass was far from convinced that aviation could deliver any real benefit. A Test of Wings is my way of highlighting US naval aviation and its first test in war." How 'ready' was naval aviation when the US got into the war? "Only 54 aircraft were on hand, every one of them a trainer, unfit for war service. The Navy had only 48 aviators and students who could fly, and only 150 or 200 enlisted men were working with them. Just one naval air station-that in Pensacola, Florida, where the first primitive flying machines arrived in 1914 and where flight training continues today-was operating in all of the United States. There were no air stations in the war zone-none in fact anywhere abroad. Young men finished up or left college, led by the First Yale Unit, and joined with those 48 older career men already flying. The exodus from college was small at first, as young fellows like my father signed up and headed for Pensacola. Shortly afterwards, the program grew tremendously. And all these eager college volunteers formed the United States Naval Reserve Flying Corps, an organization that serves us still."