The Lafayette Squadron was a small group of American flyers that had originally seen combat in Mexico, flying for the revolutionary armies. They were among the first Americans to see action in the First World War, many of them flying with the squadron since its inception. The group was authorized by the French Air Department on March 21, 1916, and officially known as the Escadrille Américaine, or Escadrille No. 124. The fliers first deployed on April 20, 1916 in Luxeuil-les-Bains, France. Because the US was not yet officially in the war, the name “Américaine” was later changed to “Lafayette” to avoid political criticism. The Nieuport 1101 shown above is typical of the aircraft flown by the Lafayette Squadron.
Douglas MacMonagle was a relative latecomer, having joined in June 1917.
Monday, September 24, 1917
Up 7:30 a.m. With Lieut. Bernard all morning. Sad news today. A young American flyer named Douglas MacMonagle was killed by Boche at 9:30 a.m. MacMonagle and two others were over to our barracks Saturday and were coming back today for dinner. The other two came and I talked to them about it. They were with him when the German killed MacMonagle, then the German was killed by MacMonagle’s comrade. MacMonagle is in our morgue and will be buried tomorrow morning. He was a member of the Lafayette Escadrille. Uptown at 7:00 p.m. Back 9:00 p.m. Bed. Later: Just had taken my leggings off to undress when we heard the drum of a Boche, the Bang, Bang. One bomb light 200 feet east and another 200 feet west of barracks. I dropped flat on the ground, on my belly. The shrapnel peppered the barracks so close. Broke all the windows. Went outside and up to the hole which was 15 feet deep and 30 feet across. Picked up some shrapnel which was red hot. Stayed up 30 minutes, then to bed again and never woke up. Bunch were singing in YMCA tent and he aimed for them but bombs hit 200 feet either side of it.
The Lafayette Squadron saw service in nearly every sector of the war, but was assigned to the Verdun Sector to support the French Offensive in the Verdun Sector from August 11 to September 28, 1917. The squadron fought 150 combats over Verdun during these seven weeks, losing MacMonagle and Victor Campbell in combat. Another flyer, Harold Willis, was shot down and made a prisoner of war. The unit was responsible for seven kills of their own during this period.
Funeral of Douglas MacMonagle
The Lafayette Escadrille was ultimately disbanded in February 1918, to be reestablished as the U.S. 103rd Aero Pursuit Squadron. Its members included 38 Americans and 4 Frenchmen. In addition to their aerial exploits, the Lafayette Escadrille was famous for keeping two lion cubs at their headquarters, named Whiskey and Soda.
These early flyers were the ultimate idols of the war, and at times action on the ground would actually stop to watch them, especially when they were in action with each other.
In the early days of the war, air wars were like one-on-one gladiator contests, flyers shooting at each other with hand-held weapons. Early flyers wore no parachutes, so a hit by an enemy was usually fatal, and the casualty rate among the air corps was far higher than for troops on the ground. Before long more sophisticated, built-in weapons were developed, and techniques were more advanced, with planes flying in groups and executing more complicated tactical maneuvers. Aircraft was effective initially as an observation tool, although pilots would need to make visual signs or drop notes to headquarters to relay information on enemy movements, since they didn’t carry wireless communications. Later they were employed to strafe and bomb enemy positions, a role that was obviously employed against the rail yards of the 13th Engineers at Fleury and Souilly, as well as other nearby towns, such as Bar-le-Duc. The range of the planes was short however, and did not extend more than twenty miles or so from the air bases, which were always established very close to the front lines.
Lafayette Squadron – 1917
Above: The Lafayette Escadrille in July 1917 outside their barracks at Chaudun, France
Standing, left to right: Soubiron, Doolittle, Campbell, Persons, Bridgman, Dugan, MacMonagle, Lowell, Willis, Jones, Peterson, and de Maison-Rouge (French Deputy Commander)
Seated, left to right: Hill, Masson with “Soda”, Thaw, Thenault (the French Commander), Lufbery with “Whiskey”, Johnson, Bigelow, and Rockwell.
Although the Lafayette Escadrille was incorporated into the American Air Corps in 1918, the history of the squadron was preserved in numerous books and movies (the movie Flyboys is a fictionalized account of their exploits). In the 1920s the graves of all the American men who died flying for the French were scattered all over France, but an effort was made to locate them and to bring them all together in one place. Today a monument on the outskirts of Paris stands to the memory of the Lafayette Flying Corps (a name used to describe all of the American pilots, including the Lafayette Escadrille pilots, who flew for the French during World War I), and includes a mausoleum with a crypt for each of the soldiers who died in the war. Many of them are empty, as the bodies of the airmen were not recovered, or their graves not found, but the remains of Douglas MacMonagle are interred in the monument.
As a whole, the Lafayette Flying Corps achieved 199 confirmed victories. Thirteen men became aces. Fifty-nine died in combat, six from training accidents. Nineteen were wounded and fifteen became prisoners of war.
