Like A Thunderbolt: The Lafayette Escadrille And The Advent Of American Pursuit In World War I [Illustrated Edition] by Roger G. Miller

Author:Roger G. Miller [Miller, Roger G.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pickle Partners Publishing
Published: 2015-11-06T00:00:00+00:00

Figure 16 - Western Front with 1st Pursuit Group locations during the war and major training bases

In April 1917, Atkinson led the first flight of Curtiss JN-4 training airplanes to Kelly Field, and he was in place when trains soon began depositing loads of raw, untrained recruits in the cactus, scrub, and dust on the site. By the middle of May, over 4,400 recruits were crowded on to the field. As the men detrained, the few officers and veteran non-commissioned officers on hand counted them off in groups of 150 men and formed them into standard aero squadrons. In October, Atkinson and ten aero squadrons sailed for Europe.

On January 16, 1918, Major Atkinson led a convoy of men, equipment, and supplies to the French aerodrome at Villeneuve-les-Vertus, selected as the site of the 1st Pursuit Organization and Training Center. Villeneuve was the home of the French Escadre 1 under Commandant Victor Menard. The first multi-group fighter wing, Escadre 1 consisted of three groupes de combat, each comprised of four squadrons of chasse aircraft. The presence of the 1st Pursuit Organization and Training Center at the same aerodrome reflected the Air Service’s aspiration to learn modern pursuit operations from France’s best chasse units. By February 16, the construction of barracks and hangars for thirty-six aircraft had been completed, and on that date, the officers and men of the 95th Aero Squadron, one of the units Atkinson had brought with him from Kelly, departed Issoudun for Villeneuve with flags flying and a band playing. Atkinson the responsibility to prepare the first Air Service pursuit squadrons for combat. “The purpose of this Center, as I interpret it, is to form pursuit squadrons from completely trained personnel, both commissioned and enlisted, and to coordinate and adjust them to their equipment,” he wrote. “At the same time, with the aid of the French here, to break the pilots in over the front.”{12} He also sought to draw on the experienced veterans of the Lafayette Escadrille and Lafayette Flying Corps, but this effort was made with reservations and met with mixed success.

The first Lafayette veteran to reach Villeneuve was Raoul Lufbery, who toured the site on January 22, 1918, in advance of the 95th Aero Squadron. Lufbery judged the field too small and recommended that Atkinson base the squadron with the Lafayette Escadrille at La Noblette. Atkinson, in turn, found La Noblette unsatisfactory and came to the same conclusion about Lufbery. Essentially an adventurer with little education and almost no formal officer training, Lufbery spoke poor English and disdained the administrative tasks demanded of a squadron leader. Atkinson recommended that the veteran be relieved of squadron command, and Lufbery spent the next month marking time at Issoudun.

This incident evidenced the importance of professional training and practice to the Air Service, AEF. General Pershing’s goal was an AEF patterned after West Point and the Regular Army. Following his lead, Air Service leaders determined to establish a professional military air force. The Air Service would make use of the Lafayette adventurers and idealists, but they would not characterize the new organization.

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