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On July 27, 1917, Secretary Of The Navy Josephus Daniels approved the project; the contract was let on August 6th and ground was broken four days later. The entire plant was completed by November 28, 1917, 110 days after ground breaking. When it was completed the greatest need was for patrol Flying Boat s, so production of the H-16 patrol aircraft was started. On March 27, 1918, just 228 days after ground breaking and 151 days from receipt of drawings, the first H-16 built by the NAF was successfully flown. On the following second of April the first two NAF-built H-16s were shipped to the patrol station at Killingholme , England. During its lifetime the Naval Aircraft Factory provided the Navy with its own manufacturing and test organization, and also built aircraft designed by other manufacturers to evaluate the cost of aircraft submitted by industry. The NAF ended aircraft production in early 1945 . The existence of the Naval Aircraft Factory was controversial at times as it put a federally-funded industrial activity in direct competition with civilian industry, and this was one of the reasons it was disestablished. Upon disestablishment, the aircraft test functions were passed to the newly formed Naval Air Test Center at Patuxent River , Maryland . Located at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard , the main construction building still exists, but was converted for use by the Naval Surface Warfare Center , Carderock Division, as a facility for research and development. REFERENCES
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