Like A Thunderbolt: The Lafayette Escadrille And The Advent Of American Pursuit In World War I [Illustrated Edition] - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook Like A Thunderbolt: The Lafayette Escadrille And The Advent Of American Pursuit In World War I [Illustrated Edition] write by Roger G. Miller. This book was released on 2015-11-06. Like A Thunderbolt: The Lafayette Escadrille And The Advent Of American Pursuit In World War I [Illustrated Edition] available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Includes 29 Illustrations The advent of an American squadron, or “escadrille,” within the French air force, the Service Aeronautique, had been far from a simple process. French leaders initially held the belief, common at the time, that the war begun in 1914 would be a short one. The potential value of American volunteers fighting for France both for propaganda purposes and for helping bring the power of the New World into the war on the side of the Allies was thus irrelevant at first. By early 1915, however, the French began to accept American volunteers and assign them to escadrilles. In early 1916, the Service Aeronautique united several of these men in an elite chasse unit, which quickly earned an enviable reputation for audacity, bravery, and élan. Success of this unit, the Lafayette Escadrille, had three consequences. First, its existence encouraged a large number of Americans, far more than needed in one escadrille, to volunteer for French aviation. These individuals, identified unofficially as members of a “Lafayette Flying Corps,” served in numerous French air units. Second, the publicity surrounding the Lafayette Escadrille contributed favorable press for the Allied cause, strengthened ties between France and the U.S., and ultimately helped prepare the U.S. to participate on the Allied side of the conflict. Third, the existence of a large body of experienced American pilots provided combat veterans for the Air Service of the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) in France when the U.S. ultimately entered the war. These veterans helped instill in the U.S. Air Service the attitudes and practices of the Service Aeronautique, an infusion especially reflected in two U.S. pursuit squadrons, the 103rd Aero Squadron, made up of Lafayette Escadrille pilots, and the 94th Aero Squadron, the most famous American combat squadron of the war.
Like a Thunderbolt
Like a Thunderbolt - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook Like a Thunderbolt write by Roger Gene Miller. This book was released on 2007. Like a Thunderbolt available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle.
Like a Thunderbolt: the Lafayette Escadrille and the Advent of American Pursuit in World War I
Like a Thunderbolt: the Lafayette Escadrille and the Advent of American Pursuit in World War I - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook Like a Thunderbolt: the Lafayette Escadrille and the Advent of American Pursuit in World War I write by Roger Miller. This book was released on 2012-06-08. Like a Thunderbolt: the Lafayette Escadrille and the Advent of American Pursuit in World War I available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. On the morning of May 18, 1916, a German LVG appeared in the sky over Thann in the Vosges region, near the ancient French city of Nancy. The LVG was a well-armed, two-seat observation airplane and the Vosges a quiet sector of the Western Front, in stark contrast to the merciless slaughter taking place to the north at Verdun. Normally the two airmen could expect to do their reconnaissance with little interruption, but on this day they had left luck behind. A speck appeared in the sky to the west and rapidly grew into an enemy pursuit aircraft, an avion de chasse, an agile, single-seat Nieuport. The Germans, busy at their trade, failed to see the enemy draw near. A veteran hunter or more cautious pilot might have seized the opportunity to surprise the LVG and launch an attack out of the sun or from behind a cloud, but this one approached directly, without guile. Suddenly aware of the danger, the observer seized his machine gun and began firing while the pilot turned the airplane toward the safety of the German lines. The chasse pilot closed to point blank range and, just as a collision appeared imminent, fired a quick burst, then swerved away. The encounter was over that quickly. Both the observer and pilot collapsed; the LVG rolled and plunged to earth; the Nieuport banked away leaving a plume of smoke to mark the scene of combat. French troops witnessed the brief fight and by the time the Nieuport reached its field at Luxeuil-les-Bains had confirmed the kill. It was an auspicious event. Everything about the victorious aircraft said "France" except the pilot's name. Kiffen Yates Rockwell was an American citizen assigned to Escadrille N 124, known unofficially as l'Escadrille Americaine, and his victory was the unit's first. It was quick and impressive by contemporary standards of air combat. Rockwell had engaged at incredibly close range, almost sticking his gun into the enemy cockpit, but his daring attack allowed the LVG's observer to put a hole in the Nieuport's top wing main spar. Rockwell, in turn, killed the two men with only four bullets, a marvelous feat of marksmanship. Cheering comrades lifted him from the cockpit and began a wild celebration. Atradition began with N 124's first victory. Rockwell's brother Paul, serving elsewhere in the French Army, provided a bottle of eighty-year-old bourbon. Kiffen Rockwell took the first drink, but the Escadrille set aside the rest. From then on, credit for downing an enemy aircraft earned the victorious pilot a shot from "The Bottle of Death."
Like a Thunderbolt
Like a Thunderbolt - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook Like a Thunderbolt write by Roger Gene Miller. This book was released on 2007. Like a Thunderbolt available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle.
Like a Thunderbolt
Like a Thunderbolt - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook Like a Thunderbolt write by Office of Air Force History. This book was released on 2015-02-24. Like a Thunderbolt available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. The advent of an American squadron, or “escadrille,” within the French air force, the Service Aéronautique, had been far from a simple process. French leaders initially held the belief, common at the time, that the war begun in 1914 would be a short one. The potential value of American volunteers fighting for France both for propaganda purposes and for helping bring the power of the New World into the war on the side of the Allies was thus irrelevant at first. By early 1915, however, the French began to accept American volunteers and assign them toescadrilles. In early 1916, the Service Aéronautique united several of these men in an elite chasse unit, which quickly earned an enviable reputation for audacity, bravery, and élan.Success of this unit, the Lafayette Escadrille, had three consequences. First, its existence encouraged a large number of Americans, far more than needed in one escadrille, to volunteer for French aviation. These individuals, identified unofficially as members of a “Lafayette Flying Corps,” served in numerous French air units. Second, the publicity surrounding the Lafayette Escadrille contributed favorable press for the Allied cause, strengthened ties between France and the U.S., and ultimately helped prepare the U.S. to participate on the Allied side of the conflict. Third, the existence of a large body of experienced American pilots provided combat veterans for the Air Service of the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) in France when the U.S. ultimately entered the war. These veterans helped instill in the U.S. Air Service the attitudes and practices of the Service Aéronautique, an infusion especially reflected in two U.S. pursuit squadrons, the 103rd Aero Squadron, made up of Lafayette Escadrille pilots, and the 94th AeroSquadron, the most famous American combat squadron of the war. Further, this body of veterans influenced all U.S. pursuit units as Lafayette personnel spread throughout the Air Service.This was not the whole story, though. In early 1918, two pursuit units, the 27th and 147th Aero Squadrons, joined with the 94th and 95th Aero Squadrons to form the 1st Pursuit Group, the U.S. Air Service's first and most famous combat groupand forerunner of the U.S. Air Force's present-day wings. These, however, were British-trained squadrons commanded by Royal Flying Corps (RFC) veterans, and they contributed a British ethos to the American pursuit force, an ethos characterized by emphasis on the offensive at all hazards. Finally, and perhaps most important,the U.S. Army officers who created and commanded the U.S. Air Service had their own shared identity and sense of professionalism, that of the regular U.S. Army and of the Military Academy at West Point.By late 1918, the Air Service in France had begun to develop its own leaders who, whether imbued with the attributes of the French, British, or American systems, or a combination thereof, brought their own standards and practices toAmerican pursuit. Perhaps no one epitomized this contribution more than the eventual U.S. ace-of aces, Edward V. “Eddie” Rickenbacker. The final result in the early 1920s was a distinctly American fighter force with a special sense of identity.
