THE ORIGINAL SEVEN PILOTS OF THE LAFAYETTE ESCADRILLE

It’s Veterans Day, formerly called Armistice Day, which marked the end of World War One on “the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month” of 1918. For Balladeer’s Blog’s final World War One post this year here’s a look at the first seven American pilots of the Lafayette Escadrille.

QUICK FACTS: The French Foreign Legion connection to this storied squadron of American pilots came about because the United States did not enter the First World War until April of 1917 even though it began in 1914. Many American flyers volunteered to fight for the Allied Powers against the Central Powers.

*** Originally called the Escadrille Americaine, the unit had to drop that name when Germany, the Ottoman Turks and other Central Powers nations complained to the U.S. stating such a name indicated a violation of its official neutrality at that point in the war. The new name was the Lafayette Escadrille in honor of the Marquis de Lafayette, the French aristocrat who served in America’s Revolutionary War.

*** This unit was active from March 1916 to February 1918, at which time it was disestablished and its pilots were absorbed into the official United States armed forces because America had by then been one of the belligerent nations for nearly a year.

*** Officers of the escadrille were French, which was standard for the French Foreign Legion. 

*** 224 Americans served in the Lafayette Escadrille, with 51 slain in battle and 11 more dying from other causes. 15 pilots became Prisoners of War and 11 became Aces.

*** Two lion cubs became the escadrille’s mascots. The pilots named them Whiskey and Soda.

THE FIRST SEVEN PILOTS OF THE LAFAYETTE ESCADRILLE:  

NORMAN PRINCE – This founding member of the unit was a graduate of Harvard University and Harvard Law School. He was an early enthusiast of the new field of flying and earned his pilot’s license in 1911.

Norman shot down five enemy aircraft and had four more probables before being killed in a crash-landing in mid-October of 1916. The French awarded him the Legion of Honor, a military award established by Napoleon himself. Prince also earned the Croix de Guerre and the Medaille Militaire.   

WILLIAM THAW II – When World War One broke out in 1914, Thaw joined the French Foreign Legion and donated his plane to the French war effort. (Pilots tended to be from wealthy families back then.)

In 1915, William began flying as part of Escadrille 42 and helped found the Lafayette Escadrille in 1916. During the war this pilot shot down five enemy aircraft and had two more probables. Thaw purchased the male lion cub Whiskey for the escadrille, and it was later joined by the female cub Soda.

Outside of his wartime service, William Thaw stunt-flew up New York’s East River while passing under all four bridges. He died of pneumonia in 1934.     

KIFFIN ROCKWELL – This pilot was credited with the Lafayette Escadrille’s first official kill when he shot down an enemy plane on May 18th, 1916. Rockwell had enlisted in the French Foreign Legion back in August of 1914 and saw considerable action.

Kiffin was wounded in the leg at Arras on May 9th, 1915 and in March 1916 became a founding pilot of the Lafayette Escadrille. On May 26th, 1916, Rockwell was injured in the face during aerial combat but managed to land his plane safely back at the escadrille’s aerodrome.

Sadly, this pilot was killed in aerial combat when he was shot down by explosive bullets over the trenches on the Western Front. It happened on September 23rd, 1916.

VICTOR CHAPMAN – On August 30th, 1914, Chapman enlisted in the French Foreign Legion. After service in the Legion’s ground forces, Victor earned his pilot’s license in 1915 and flew with France’s 1st Aviation Group.

In March of 1916 Sgt. Chapman became one of the first seven pilots of the Lafayette Escadrille. On June 17th, Victor was shot down by German pilot Walter Hohndorf but survived. Unfortunately, on June 23rd he fought German Ace Kurt Wintgens who shot him down and killed him.

Victor Chapman was the first member of the Lafayette Escadrille to be slain in battle.

BERT HALL – When the World War broke out, Hall enlisted in the French Foreign Legion in early August of 1914. Bert had been flying planes since 1910 and in December of 1914 joined the French Flying Corps. He met William Thaw II and in March 1916 helped him form the Lafayette Escadrille.

Hall logged four official shootdowns but became known as the rogue of the unit. A skilled poker player and veteran boaster, Bert’s personality may have rankled at times but he always accorded high praise to his fellow members of the escadrille.

After his service in the war, Bert Hall wrote two books about his wartime experiences – En L’air (1918) and One Man’s War: The Story of the Lafayette Escadrille (1929). Hall left the unit before the war was over, and when his book En L’air was made into a movie in 1918, the flamboyant rascal STARRED IN IT AS HIMSELF. The movie was titled A Romance of the Air. Bert died of a heart attack in 1948.

JAMES R. MCCONNELL – In January of 1915, McConnell enlisted in the Ambulance Corps serving in France. He earned distinction for courageously risking his life to get wounded French soldiers to medical treatment stations.

James’ Ambulance Corps work won him the Croix de Guerre. Longing for more action, McConnell trained to become a fighter pilot and was one of the first members of the Lafayette Escadrille in March 1916. He suffered a severe back injury in 1917 and used his convalescence time to write Flying for France, published that same year.

James R. McConnell was fatally shot down by two German fighter planes on March 19th, 1917.

ELLIOTT C. COWDEN – This Harvard University graduate, like McConnell above, enlisted in the Ambulance Corps in France when the World War broke out. Eventually, he trained as a fighter pilot and was there in March 1916 as part of the Lafayette Escadrille’s founding seven. 

By early 1917, Cowden had shot down three enemy aircraft and earned the Croix de Guerre with Palm and the Medaille Militaire, the first member of the escadrille to win the latter. He then returned to the U.S. and toured to raise money at War Bond rallies as an American hero of the war.

Elliott C. Cowden died of pneumonia in January of 1933.