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Admiral Donald Bradley
Duncan was a distinguished naval aviator and served in the United States
Navy from 1917 – 1956. Admiral Duncan graduated from the Naval Academy in
1917 and was assigned to the USS Oklahoma (BB-37) which operated with the
British Grand Fleet. He later attended graduate school at the Naval Academy
and at Harvard University, receiving a Master of Science degree in Radio
Engineering in 1925.
In 1941, he was the first commander of the USS Long Island (Cve-1), the
Navy's first Merchant ship to be converted escort aircraft carrier. Duncan’s
success on USS Long Island resulted in President Roosevelt’s order to
proceed with more such conversions. These CVE’s became the first base of
Composite Squadron One, which pioneered flying from a carrier.
During World War II, while
Duncan was the air operations officer to Admiral Ernest J. King he made
another major contribution to the allied War efforts. Duncan assisted with
the planning for the Doolittle Raid and was the one who proposed the use of
both the B-25 Mitchell bombers and the Hornet (CV-8) for the raid over
Tokyo. |
