Before the United States entered the war in 1917, American sympathy for the Allies took many forms. One of the most famous was the Lafayette Escadrille, which started in April, 1916 as the Escadrille Américaine. As this name prompted German diplomatic complaints, it was renamed the Escadrille Lafayette. The fame of its thirty-eight American pilots exceeded their tangible impact; in 20 months, they downed 57 German planes, a solid, if unspectacular achievement.
In February, 1918, the Lafayette Escadrille was absorbed into the U.S. forces as the 103rd Pursuit Squadron. (Many Americans flew with other French units; in general, these volunteers were called the Lafayette Flying Corps.)
On September 23, Kiffin Rockwell and Raoul Lufbery took their Nieuports (now equipped with the latest British interrupter gear) to the the front. They became separated and when Rockwell jumped a two-seater, its rear gunner sprayed him steadily and brought him down.
The French put the reckless Americans on bomber escort duty. On October 12, after a raid on a Mauser factory at Oberndorf, four Lafayette Escadrille pilots were assigned escort duty. Fokkers jumped the returning bombers, and Norman Prince got one, but while approaching an emergency strip, he snagged his landing gear in a power line. His Nieuport flipped over, mortally wounding Prince.
 © Osprey Publishing Ltd, www.ospreypublishing.com, picture from Spad VII Aces of World War I |
The call went out for more American volunteers; fifty more enrolled. In late 1916, Spads replaced the Nieuports, and redesignated S.124. By January, 1917, Raoul Lufbery had shot down seven German planes to become the leading American ace. Notwithstanding the aura of heroism that settled on the group, it was not without problems.
One flier, Bert Hall, regarded by many as a boorish braggart, a soldier of fortune, was sent packing. But he did shoot down four German planes.
Bert Hall - from 1935 Hall of Fame of the Air
cartoon
feature, click for large view
Eleven Americans who served with French air forces became aces:
Two Lafayette Escadrille fliers, James Norman Hall and Charles Nordhoff, co-authored the world-famous Mutiny on the Bounty (1932) which has been filmed three times.
James Norman Hall - from 1935 Hall of Fame of the Air cartoon
feature, click for large view
When Hall and Nordhoff received an advance from Harper's to write travel articles, they moved to Tahiti. In 1921 appeared their travel book Faery Lands of the South Seas. Hall continued with travel books and Nordhoff published novels. In 1925 Hall married Sarah Winchester, his friend had married a Polynesian woman a few years before.
In 1929 appeared Nordhoff's and Hall's jointly written book about flying, Falcons of France. After Hall' suggestion the team started to write Mutiny on the Bounty, the story about charismatic Fletcher Christian and Captain William Bligh. It was based upon factual events which were almost forgotten, although John Barrows had published in 1831 an account of the mutiny.
N.124 and Spad 124 both refer to the Lafayette Escadrille.
Sources:
Another of the Osprey Aircraft of the Aces series, the second World War One topic. Forty colorful profile plates. Wonderful original period photos, including two of Albert Ball that I have never seen elsewhere. Two lengthy chapters on British and French aces. The book covers many aces with fewer than 15 kills, so it goes beyond the famous aces like Ball, Nungesser, Guynemer, and Rickenbacker. It covers the varieties of the Nieuport (11, 17, 28, etc.) in detail, down to the machine gunon the Type 11: a Lewis gun, of .303 caliber, carrying 476 rounds in its drum, and was mounted on the upper wing by a "Foster" mount, so named for the RFC sergeant who invented it. |
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