Lafayette Escadrille

The Lafayette Escadrille was formed in April 20, 1916 – a year before the US joined the war and two years before the first American raised squadrons of the United States Air Service managed their way into combat. Their equip-ment, their gear, their commander, their ground crew and organizational structure were all French. So was more or less everything else about the unit down to the uniforms. But at the heart was a band of intrepid Americans...

It is worth noting that while an estimated 4,000 Americans, including writer William Faulkner, have claimed to be Lafayette Escadrille aviators, only 38 Americans and 4 Frenchmen ever flew for it during the entirety of its existence.

The Lafayette Escadrille was officially created on April 20, 1916 and then flew its first mission from Luxeuil-les-Bains on May 13.

Kiffin Yates Rockwell got the escadrille's first victory on May 18, doing it by bringing his Nieuport 11 to within 75 feet before firing at a two seater LVG observation plane. He proceeded to shoot it down making him the first Amer-ican pilot to ever shoot down an enemy aircraft. It was the first time he had seen an enemy aircraft in the air and the first time he had fired his guns in anger. He claimed his kill with just four bullets fired which managed to hit the observer, the pilot and the engine – fine shots indeed.

Norman Prince shot down four, but crash landed after tangling with power lines in the dark on the way back to base after getting his fourth one. Three days later he died of his injuries. Bert Hall got two, and Bill Thaw destroyed four. And Raoul Lufbery shot down 17 between July 31, 1916 and December 4, 1917 becoming an ace on October 12 on the same mission that killed Norman Prince.

At the head of the Lafayette Escadrille and later at the head of the 94th Aero Squadron was a French-born American named Raoul Lufbery. Short, stocky and not so handsome, Raoul Lufbery was the top ace of the Lafayette Escadrille. Lufbery had 16 victories to his credit with the Lafayette Escadrille and one more with the USAS as part of the 1st Pursuit Group. And thus once he joined the USAS, he was the "Ace of Aces" – an informal title held by whoever had the most kills overall other USAS pilots.

The escadrille moved from base to base and was quickly joined to the French Groupe de Chasse 12. With GC 12, it was used to plug holes all over the Western Front. The pilots did rather well and continued to gain fame and build goodwill bridges between the US and France.

The statistics were impressive. By some counts, the pilots flew 3,000 sorties. In exchange for nine pilots killed, the 42 fliers of the Lafayette Escadrille had 40 confirmed victories and one hundred probable victories. The American pilots had ac-counted for 35 of those and Lufbery 17 of that 35. The French officers accounted for the other five.

The Lafayette Escadrille would pass from French service to the United States Air Service at the end of 1917. The name would change from the elegant “Lafayette Escadrille” to the more prosaic 103rd Aero Squadron. And, indeed, the personnel of the 103rd were quite different from those of the 103rd because the Escadrille's personnel were used to build the new USAS squadrons forming up. New pilots were brought to fill in the empty slots. After some ambiguity about where, when and what they would operate, the transformed 103rd swung into action in early 1918.

Please see the video of the 2010 Lafayette Escadrille commemoration

Lafayette Escadrille pilots

These are some of the Lafayette Escadrille's pilots: Kiffin Yates Rockwell, Norman Prince, Clyde Balsley, Ken Marr, James McConnell, Fredrick Prince, Robert Soubiron, Douglas MacMonagle, Courtney Campbell, Edwin Parsons, Ray Bridgman, William Dugan, James Doolittle, Walter Lowell, Harold Willis, James Norman Hall, Henry Jones, David Peterson and Antoine Arnoux de Maison-Rouge, Dudley Hill, Didier Masson, Bill Thaw, Captain Georges Thenault, Raoul Lufbery, Chouteau Johnson, Stephen Bigelow and Robert Rockwell.

103rd Aero Squadron pilots

Charles J. Biddle, Phelps Collins, George Turnure, C. Maury Jones, Charles Wilcox, Paul Baer, Cord Meyer, Edgar Tobin, Hobart A. H. Baker, Seth Low, H. Drummond Cannon, Ernest A. Giroux, Paul W. Eaton, Frank O'Driscoll Hunter, Charles I. Merrick, Stuart E. Edgar, Warren T. Hobbs, John F. Randall, Hugo Kenyon, Clarence H. Faith, Gorman DeFreest Larner, William T. Rolph, Doyen P. Wardwell, Eugene B. Jones, Percy R. Pyne, Van Winkle Todd, George W. Furlow, Theodore H. Hubbard, Dudley H. Manchester, Livingston G. Irving, Charles H. Monroe, Warren E. Eaton, Lawrence E. Cauffman, John Frost, John O. Kirtland, Keene M. Palmer, William T. Ponder, Joseph Waddell, Wellford Macfadden, Jr., William C. Appleton, Jr. Loran B. Cockrell, Martin F. McQuilkin, Herbert B. Bartholf, John M. Koontz

Much of the above are excerpts from my book "American Eagles" or my new book "Lafayette Escadrille". Please support this website and our efforts to recognize our first combat aviators by buying them.

Buy the book ($19.95, paperback, 400 pages, 8.5"x11", perfect bound, black and white) from Lulu.com

or purchase the the .pdf for immediate download. Note that the .pdf document has a 25 day 100% money back guarantee if you are not satisfied for any reason.

Related Links: Quentin Roosevelt | Frank Luke | Eddie Rickenbacker | Raoul Lufbery | "American Eagles" - 345 page illustrated history of US Combat Aviation in World War I

Learn more: 1st Observation Group, 1st Pursuit Group, 1st Bombardment Group, 2nd Pursuit Group, 3rd Pursuit Group, 4th Pursuit Group, and 5th Pursuit Group. See the really cool Google Map we've made just for you.

File under:

1st Observation Group - 1st aero squadron, 12th aero squadron, 50th aero squadron
1st Pursuit Group - 27th aero squadron, 94th aero squadron, 95th aero squadron, 147th aero squadron, 185th aero squadron
1st Bombardment Group - 96th aero squadron, 11th aero squadron, 20th aero squadron, 166th aero squadron
2nd Pursuit Group - 13th aero squadron, 22nd aero squadron, 49th aero squadron, 139th aero squadron
3rd Pursuit Group - 28th aero squadron, 93rd aero squadron, 103rd aero squadron, 213th aero squadron
4th Pursuit Group - 17th aero squadron, 25th aero squadron, 148th aero squadron, 141st aero squadron
5th Pursuit Group - 41st Aero Squadron, 138th Aero Squadron, 638th Aero Squadron