John Blackshoe Sends: Serendipity History – Some Early U.S. Aeronautical Background (Part 2 of 2)

So, what was the big deal about wood for airplanes? 

Typical of most WW1 era aircraft, this “Sopwith 1 ½ Strutter” being restored in the UK over 20 years shows the wooden structure before being covered with fabric and paint.

Source: https://www.newsweek.com/world-war-one-biplane-rebuilt-over-twenty-years-take-skies-soon-1728035

 

BONUS FOR AVIATION RESTORATION BUFFS: For a series of photos showing construction in 2001 of two replica JN-4s go here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/landoni/4116279928/in/photostream/  Here’s a place in the UK making three SE-5s using new tools for old results: https://thevintageaviator.co.nz/projects/se-5a-reproduction/vintage-aviator-se-5as

 

To meet the anticipated need for Sitka spruce lumber for aircraft production requirements, the Signal Corps set up a massive program in September 1917 after disastrous labor unrest cut production that summer.   First step was to find someone to run it.  

Brice Disque saw combat in the Philippines during the Insurrection with a volunteer infantry unit, rising from Private to First Sergeant, then Lieutenant.   He then served with distinction as a cavalry officer in the regular army, before resigning as a Captain in 1916 to become Warden of the Michigan State Prison.  He was recalled to active duty, promoted to Lieutenant Colonel, then Colonel and eventually Brigadier General, and given command of the entire Spruce Production Division program.

Colonel Brice P. Disque, head of the Spruce Production Division, 1918.

Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:8768_Colonel_Brice_P._Disque_(22014186336).jpg

The timber was mostly in the Olympic Peninsula of Washington state, a rugged, roadless, unsettled area.   They needed more lumber mills to process the wood before shipment to aircraft manufacturers in the east, and to allies overseas.  So, six massive lumber mills were built adjacent to Vancouver Barracks in Vancouver, Washington, on the Columbia River, not far from the original Hudson Bay Company Fort Vancouver trading post. During WW2, the Kaiser shipyards built on nearby land turned out hundreds of cargo ships and dozens of Escort Carriers.

Vancouver Spruce Mills 1918.

Source: https://www.nps.gov/articles/fovaclrworldwari.htm

Interior of Vancouver Spruce Mill

Source: https://www.nps.gov/articles/fovaclrworldwari.htm

Sitka spruce trees were huge, usually at least six feet diameter at the base, but some 10 to 20 feet!  Felling and trimming the trees was all by handsaws then, but steam powered cranes and locomotives helped with the heavy lifting.

 Timbers needed to be at least 22 feet long, so the logs were too large and heavy for primitive truck transport, especially since there were only a few treacherous logging trails totally unsuitable for trucks anyway.  This meant that railroad tracks would be needed.  In the space of two years about 350 miles of track were laid along with all the necessary cuts, fills, drainage culverts, bridges and trestles to bring the logs to the mills. 

 

Spruce logs headed for the mills at Vancouver.
Source: https://www.nps.gov/articles/spruceproductiondivision.htm

This is why we ended up with about 9,500 soldiers from Aero Squadrons cutting trees for civilian timber companies, working eight hour days, getting paid Army pay plus extra to match union wages, and some armed with lever action Winchester .30-30 Model 1894 deer rifles.

 

“Whoa, what’s this about working conditions and guns,” Sarge might ask.  Glad you asked!

 

 

Well, back in 1917 they did not yet have Antifa socialist anarchists disrupting the not so-Pacific Northwest, but they had their ancestors, the radical “Industrial Workers of the World” also known as “Wobblies.”   They were constantly feuding with lumber companies, spiking trees, striking mills, etc and usually demanding better working conditions and more pay from the logging companies and railroads.  

The Army knew that could not be tolerated, so they countered with several measures.  First, some 1,800 Winchester Model 1894 .30-30 rifles were issued to the first 12 Spruce Squadrons to protect troops from predators, presumably both biped or quadraped- they do have a lot of bears there!   Troops destined for European combat needed all the M1903 Springfield and the newly adopted M1917 “Enfields” being made, but the common “deer rifle” would suffice, and could be provided without diminishing service rifle production.   These are popular with collectors, and often overlooked as the only indication of their use as “Spruce guns” is the addition of hand stamped “US” and a flaming bomb on the receivers.

“Spruce gun” markings and Spruce Squadron member holding one.
Source: Left- author’s collection; Right: https://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/uploads/monthly_05_2018/post-330-0-19572800-1526996410_thumb.jpg

Colonel Brice Disque was appointed to run the program, and he basically used the existing logging and transport companies to oversee operations and provide the technical expertise and training while he provided warm bodies to do much of the work.   As an incentive for the troops, and also to undercut any Wobbly interference, he instituted an eight our work day.   Also, he got the companies to kick in the difference between the soldiers’ pay and the wage rates paid their civilian co-workers doing the same work. Having neutered the main Wobbly selling points, he also created a quasi-union “Loyal Legion of Loggers and Lumbermen” (Four L’s) pushing the patriotism and support for the war effort, and pledging not to strike.   This brilliant strategy worked extremely well, and production met expectation.

 

Source:  https://foresthistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/9-Williams_Spruce_Division.pdf

 

One “solider in the woods” was Private Albert Robert “Rufus” Davidson, 115^th Aero Squadron, Spruce Production Division, Army Signal Corps, who built railroads and cut trees in the forests of the Olympic Peninsula. This is his campaign hat, with the hat cord of faded green and black of the Aero Service, and name and service number inside.

 

Source: Author’s collection.

 

Rufus as born in St. Vincent, Minnesota in 1892 to Canadian born parents, and by age 8 he was living in Anaconda, Montana where his father was a sewing machine agent.

From his WW1 and WW2 Draft Registration card we know that he was tall, medium build (5’9” and 218 pounds in 1942).

Census records show that he lived in Anaconda as a bachelor most of his life except for early childhood in Minnesota, his time in the Army, and a trip to England in 1927.   Rufus worked for the Anaconda Copper Mining Company, one of the largest mining companies in the world at the time, noted for building the world’s tallest surviving masonry structure, the 585 foot tall chimney from the copper smelter which closed around 1980.

 Montana State Military Records 1904-1918 provide details of his service in the 115^th Spruce Squadron, and in the 123^rd from which he was transferred, with a total time in uniform of about seven months.

Source: https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/20588:62068

 

His unit’s history is summed up as:

115^th Aero Squadron  (or 115^th Spruce Squadron)

The 115th Spruce was formed in July 1918 at Vancouver Barracks. This unit was not created from a ‘Provisional Squadron’, unlike earlier-formed units. In July 1918, they were sent to Joyce, Washington, Siems, Carey-H.S. Kerbaugh Co. The town of Joyce, as well as a post office specially opened at Siemscary, were the main centers of operation of a major railroad construction project to reach the huge stands of spruce near the area currently bounded by Olympic National Park. This project involved over 3,000 soldiers located at many camps within Clallam County. In October 1918, the unit was moved to Siemscary, Washington. In January 1919, the unit was moved to Vancouver Barracks and were demobilized there in that month. this unit had 3 officers and 194 enlisted men.

Source: http://swansongrp.com/spruce/units/index.html

 

Here is a camp where he worked, on a beautiful peninsula day with only a light drizzle.  The troops lived in tent camps, but with some upgrades like hot showers, latrines, mess hall tents, etc.  This one is in Siemscarey, Washington, in Clallam County, with the name of that now gone settlement derived from the name of the lumber company logging in that part of the woods, the Siems-Carey company.

Siemscarey, Washington logging camp (white tents) of the 115th Spruce Squadron. Railroad had just reached this point and construction is still continuing in the foreground. PVT Davidson may be one of the men working on the railroad.

 

Detail from above showing track construction with grading complete, ties places and steam crane moving rails into place.
Source: https://digitalcollections.lib.washington.edu/digital/collection/social/id/7646/rec/1

Anyway, Rufus Davidson wore his hat proudly, as he served his country building railroads to supply logs to make airplanes during the Great War.  He returned home to Anaconda, Montana and lived there the rest of his life, except for a trip to England in 1927.  He died in 1982 until he passed in 1982

He chose to highlight his military service on his tombstone with the branch insignias of the Signal Corps (crossed flags) and Air Service (propeller and wings) flanking “World War I.”

Source: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/63527111/albert-rufus-davidson#view-photo=37238738

 

 

The 9,500 men of the Spruce Production Division of the Signal Corps (and then the Air Service) was a major contributor to our WW1 war effort, and that of our allies, as well as the shipbuilding programs which still used huge quantities of fir in ships.

Since the start of WW1, the Army Air Service had increased from around a hundred planes to an astounding 7,900 planes.  Less than 10 years has passed since they had purchased their first Wright Model A.

The magnitude of the spruce production program is shown by the relative size compared to the other major element of the Army Air Service at the end of November 1918:

Flying Squadrons- 185

Spruce Production Squadrons- 150

Supply Squadrons- 114

Replacement Squadrons- 11

Balloon Companies- 86

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Army_Air_Service

 

On 24 May 1918 The Aviation Section of the Signal Corps was redesignated as the Air Service, U.S. Army; then the Army Air Corps in 1926; Army Air Forces in 1941; and finally divorced from the Army to become the Air Force in 1947.