I thought the distinction happened during WWII when the Navy abandoned the RAF-style triads and adopted four-aircraft divisions but I’m honestly not positive either.
Jimmy Thach invented the four-plane division and the two-plane section in 1941-42. leading to the abandonment of the three-aircraft division.
I’ll see if I can find it, but the answer is so complicated that there is an actual academic thesis on the topic. Basically the collision of naval treaties, carrier development in the US, rapid advances in aircraft technology (the arrival of the monoplane), and tactics was solidified by 1940 when the navy realized it was smarter to add more aircraft to a squadron than more squadrons to a carrier. With reference to the VF community specifically, it was codified with the introduction of the Thach Weave where squadrons started operating in sections of two (not three) to create divisions of four. Other carrier communities shifted to echelons of four especially after carrier scouting squadrons gave way to just bombing squadrons along with torpedo squadrons on a carrier deck. It gets real messy when you get to escort carriers and the creation of composite (VC) squadrons that had their own tactics. Still, the Navy didn’t routinely use the term “division” with reference to aviation squadrons during the war.
The VA-3!
This one has been converted for passengers (4 star types). Did the navy convert more than one?
Pretty cool that the CNO could take off from Andrews and fly out to (and land on) a carrier in relative comfort.
42% Ensign Numb Nutz…but don’t worry…we have these new fangled whirly-bird things coming out soon.
