laststandonzombieisland

About 100 years ago this week, the Officers of Marine Aviation at Brown Field, Quantico, Virginia, sent an invitation to participate in a “Hop” Over the Moon in what appear to be Boeing O-2s. The costumed dance was scheduled for 22 October 1926.

In 1926, Marine Corps Aviation operated a modest fleet of roughly 100 aircraft. During this interwar transition period—shortly before active interventions like the Nicaraguan Campaign—the Marine Corps phased out surplus World War I-era biplanes and attempted to modernize its inventory.

Primary Aircraft Types in Service (1926)

1. Observation & Light Bombardment

• De Havilland DH-4B / O2B-1 (Boeing/Curtiss):
  • The workhorse of Marine Aviation during the 1920s. Originally a WWI-era biplane, many were modernized around 1925–1926 (redesignated as the O2B-1), with steel-tube fuselages replacing older wood frames. They were used extensively for observation, mail delivery, recon, and light bombing.

2. Fighters & Pursuit Biplanes

• Curtiss F6C Hawk Series (F6C-1 / F6C-2):
  • Marine Fighting Squadrons (such as VF-1M and VF-2M) operated early variants of the Curtiss Hawk fighter.
    

    Three Curtiss F6C-4 Hawks are seen flying over Quantico in 1931. From the Frederick H. Smith Collection (COLL/3072) at the Marine Corps Archives and Special Collections

• Boeing FB Series (FB-1 / FB-3):
  • Boeing produced early carrier/land-based naval fighters that served Marine fighting squadrons in small numbers.

3. Training & Utility Aircraft

• Curtiss JN-4 “Jenny” / N9:
  • Primary trainers used for primary flight instruction at bases like Quantico and San Diego.
• Consolidated NY-1:
  • Introduced in 1926 to replace aging WWI-era primary trainers.

4. Transports & Flying Boats

• Fokker / Ford Stout Transports:
  • Late 1926 marked the beginning of multi-engine transport evaluations (leading to the adoption of Fokker trimotors like the TA-1).
• Curtiss HS-2L / Macchi Flying Boats:
  • Operated in limited numbers for coastal patrol and amphibian duties.
• Loening OL-6 amphibians: Six Loening OL-6 amphibians from VO-10M deployed with a U.S. Marine force sent to Shanghai and Tientsin (Tianjin), China, in 1927, operating from Hsin Ho Airfield.
  

  “Loening OL-6 #7329 in front of hangar, Sumary, Guam, 1929.” From the Clayton Smith Collection (COLL/1224) at the Marine Corps Archives and Special Collections

Authorized Strength: Throughout the mid-1920s, Marine Corps Aviation’s authorized officer strength was capped at around 100 officers, with roughly 800–900 enlisted personnel.

The 1926 Five-Year Naval Aviation Plan: Enacted by Congress in July 1926, this act set a target to “expand total Navy/Marine Corps aviation strength to 1,000 modern operational aircraft over five years,” kicking off a major modernization wave in 1927.

However, the Marines would only end up with 204 operational aircraft by Pearl Harbor.

By VJ Day, the service had more than 10,000 aircraft of all types in 153 authorized squadrons in 30 Marine Air Groups (MAGs) and five Marine Air Wings (MAWs), with four out of five of the latter in the Pacific and one on the East Coast.