night flying instruction in the Navy. He was promoted to Lieutenant on August 29, 1916. World War I Following the United States entry into World War I, Bellinger was promoted to the temporary rank of Lieutenant commander on October 15, 1917 and ordered to the newly established Naval Air Station Hampton Roads, Virginia as first Commanding officer of that station. He was responsible for the initial expansion of the station and also supervised the instruction of many regular and reserve navy pilots, including future Secretary of the Navy, James Forrestal, who was a member of the Princeton University Naval Reserve Flying Corps at the time. During Bellinger's tenure, more pilots were trained there than any other station, including Naval Air Station Pensacola or approximately 40 percent of the total of 1,656 Naval Aviators. Student pilots were given about 400 minutes of flying instruction in Curtiss trainers. Upon completion, they soloed for five hours in Curtiss Navy Flying Boats and then shifted to the larger Curtiss N-9 seaplanes. This was a very short training time compared to that which naval pilots receive today, but apparently very effective. Many became "aces" in Europe by shooting down at least three enemy aircraft. Trans-Atlantic flight In May 1919, Bellinger was attached to the Seaplane Division One under his old superior, Commander John H. Towers and was tasked with the command of Curtiss NC seaplane with designation NC-1. Towers commanded whole division and also seaplane NC-3 and Bellinger's Naval Academy classmate, Lieutenant commander Albert C. Read, commanded seaplane NC-4. The Seaplane Division One was tasked with Trans-Atlantic crossing from Newfoundland to Azores. They departed from Naval Air Station Rockaway on May 8, 1919 and arrived at Trepassey, Newfoundland and after repairs and refitting, the NC's took off for the Azores on May 16. Unfortunatelly bad weather and high seas forced the crews of NC-1 (Bellinger) and NC-3 (Towers) to abort the mission and regretfully left their plane which sank. The NC-4 (Read) continued the mission and as the only plane reached successfully the original target, when arrived at the town of Horta on Faial Island in the Azores on May 17, 1919. Bellinger, Towers, and their crews were rescued by Greek freighter Ionia. Although Bellinger and his crew did not complete the flight, he was cited for its vigorous effort and an outstanding example of heroic persistence in face of nature's worst odds. He received