La Fayette Flying Corps service certificate
La Fayette Flying Corps service ribbon

The Lafayette Flying Corps is a name given to the American volunteer pilots who flew in the French Air Force (Armée de l'Air) during World War I. It includes the pilots who flew with the bona fide Lafayette Escadrille squadron.

Numbers

The estimations of number of pilots range from 180 to over 300. The generally accepted number of pilots who successfully completed French flight training is 209. Of these, 180 served in combat.[1]

More than 50 Flying Corps personnel (including members of the Lafayette Escadrille) initially served in the Ambulance Corps of the American Field Service.[2] AFS Surgeon-General Col. Edmund L. Gros, M.D. is credited with initiating the corps.[3]

Casualties and honors

Sixty-nine Corps members died during the war, 42 of them in action against the enemy. The rest were results of disease, accidents, wounds, and suicide. The planes weren't very sturdy, and sometimes guns jammed, too, just when they were needed.[4] The Corps is credited with 159 enemy kills. It amassed 31 Croix de Guerre, and its pilots were awarded seven Médailles militaires and four Légions d'honneur. Eleven of its members were deemed flying aces, claiming five air kills or more. The core squadron suffered nine losses and was credited with 41 victories.[5]

Lafayette Escadrille pilots with Fram and a Nieuport 16, March 1916. Pilots L-R: Sergeant Victor Emmanuel Chapman of New York City, New York; Sergeant Elliott Christopher Cowdin II of New York City, New York; Adjutant Bert Hall of Missouri, USA; Lieutenant William Thaw II of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Lieutenant Alfred de Laage de Meux of Clesse, Deux Sèvres, France; Sous-Lieutenant Norman Prince of Boston, Massachusetts; Sergeant James Rogers McConnell of Carthage, North Carolina; Sergeant Kiffin Yates Rockwell of Asheville, North Carolina; Captain Georges Thenault of Paris, France, and Fram (Captain Thenault's "bon chien")

Note

There is frequent confusion between the terms Lafayette Escadrille and Lafayette Flying Corps, exacerbated by the inaccuracies in the movie Flyboys.

Member list

Members[6]

The following pilots are not listed as part of the Flying Corps by the Lafayette Escadrille Memorial Foundation.

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lafayette Flying Corps.

References

  1. ^ "The Lafayette Escadrille versus the Lafayette Flying Corps". angelfire.com. Archived from the original on February 27, 2009. Retrieved July 22, 2017.
  2. ^ "The Field Service Takes to the Air: The Lafayette Escadrille". ourstory.info. Archived from the original on December 26, 2013. Retrieved July 22, 2017.
  3. ^ Hall, James Norman; Nordhoff, Charles; Hamilton, Edgar G., eds. (1920). The Lafayette Flying Corps. Boston, New York: Houghton Mifflin Company.
  4. ^ Flood, Charles B. (2015). First to Fly. New York City: Atlantic Monthly Press. p. 27. ISBN 978-0-80212-520-0.
  5. ^ Franks, Norman (1992). Over the Front: A Complete Record of the Fighter Aces and Units of the United States and French Air Services, 1914–1918. London, UK: Grub Street. ISBN 978-0-948817-54-0.
  6. ^ Gordon, Dennis. "The 269 Pilots of the Lafayette Flying Corps" (PDF). The Lafayette Flying Corps. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 December 2009. Retrieved July 22, 2017.
  7. ^ "Gordon Bernard Macke discovered in U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918". Ancestry.com.
  8. ^ Medal in grand daughter's possession.
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