was responsible for re-engineering the apparatus for hooking up aircraft while in flight as well as a rewriting the procedure. In 1938, Lt. Trapnell flew in a squadron of eighteen bombers from San Diego, California, to Honolulu, Hawaii, in what was "the greatest over-ocean formation flight" to date. LCDR Trapnell returned to Anacostia in 1942 as the chief of the Test Flight Section. Two years later, and with promotion to commander, he relocated with the section to the new Naval Air Test Center in Maryland. With World War II raging, Trapnell dedicated himself to redesigning flight testing and procedures. He initiated a series of lectures and classes to familiarize pilots not only with the rudiments of flying but to learn the intimate details of flight engineering, performance, stability, and control. He required that the aviator know every aspect of his aircraft under all conditions. So respected was Trapnell's knowledge and ability that, in 1942, he was personally requested by Roy Grumman to evaluate the new Grumman F6F Hellcat, the Navy's answer to the lethal Japanese Zero. Circumventing the usual testing procedures, Grumman had Trapnell take the fighter on a crash program. "He came to the factory and flew the prototype F6F. It suited him, as I remember, except for the longitudinal stability ó he wanted more of that. We built it in and rushed into production without a Navy certificate on the model. We relied on Trapnellís opinion. His test flight took less than three hours. Iím not sure we ever got an official OK on the Hellcat design." Trapnell later gained valuable knowledge of what the Hellcat and its predecessor, the Wildcat, were up against after performing extensive tests in a captured Zero recovered from a crash that same year. Trapnell's unit continued to test a host of American and British aircraft and was responsible for many innovations. Following Trapnell's recommendations after months of testing, engineers at Vought Aviation extensively redesigned a new fighter already under development, the famous F4U Corsair. Of the F7F Tigercat, Trapnell is reputed to have exclaimed: "It's the best damn fighter I've every flown." 1943 saw Trapnell on temporary duty assignment at the Muroc Army Air Field in California for secret testing. On April 21, he became the first naval aviator to pilot a jet aircraft, the Bell XP-59A Airacomet, the first such plane built in the United States. Shortly thereafter, he was promoted