Though there was no specific appropriation for erecting an aircraft factory, this was considered so essential that an allotment of $1,000,000 was made for the purpose. I signed the order authorizing the erection of the plant July 27, 1917. Within ten days the contract was let. Naval Constructor F. G. Coburn was detailed as manager. Under his energetic direction, construction was pushed so rapidly that by October 17 the first buildings were up, considerable machinery installed and on November 2 the keel of the first flying boat was laid. The building was pronounced complete on November 20, only 110 days after the contract was awarded. That factory was enlarged until it covered forty acres, with buildings having 888,935 square feet of floor space. At the time of the armistice, there were 3,642 employees engaged in constructing aircraft of the latest type. The value of its war-time output was more than $5,000,000. Not only did the Navy build and put into operation hundreds of seaplanes, flying boats and other aircraft, but it originated and built the largest seaplanes in existence, the "NC" type, the first of which was completed before the armistice. Few people seem to realize that these huge "NC" planes--the "Nancys" they were called--which became famous in the first flight across the Atlantic in May, 1919, were built for war use, and that the work of developing this new type was begun only five months after we entered the war. It takes a long time to develop a new type of such magnitude. All nations recognized the need of larger seaplanes, able to cruise hundreds of miles and return without refueling. Shipping space was so valuable that taking to Europe the large numbers of planes the Army and Navy had contracted for was a serious problem. The Chief Constructor of the Navy, Admiral Taylor, had often discussed these problems with me. One day in September, he sent for Naval Constructors G. C. Westervelt and J. C. Hunsacker. "I want a plane designed that will fly across the Atlantic," was the surprising task he assigned them. Admiral Taylor's daring idea aroused my warmest enthusiasm. He and his force began work at once. No flying boat of anything like that size and power had ever before been produced. There were all kinds of problems to be solved; numerous experiments had to be made concerning every detail. By the end of 1917 all the main elements of the design had been formulated, and early in 1918 the work of construction was begun. The NC-1 was completed by the first of October, and the first test flight made three days later. This was so successful that, on November 7, just before the armistice, she flew to Washington, where she was inspected, going thence to Hampton Roads and back to Rockaway.