War Bird Ace: The Great War Exploits of Capt. Field E. Kindley

4. First Combat

Chapter Four First Combat Well old man you are missing half your life by not being out here and especially in the air. It is great to be flying along in formation gazing down upon the trenches below watching artillery fire & etc and then all of a sudden our leader throws a fit (that is a few rolls etc) and we have to “fit” after him. Of course a little archie and the popping of machine guns behind makes you wish you could do 210 m.p.h. instead of 110 but yet 110 m.p.h. soon turns the tables on Fritz and he has the pleasure of cak cak cak sounds. The sound of machine gun fire at you is different than from you I assure you. Lt. Field E. Kindley, letter to Uther Kindley, June 4, 1918 W ith their training completed, the American pilots trained by the British, including Lt. Field E. Kindley, were assigned to Royal Air Force units or to two American squadrons in the British combat area. Although the 148th and 17th American pursuit squadrons were eventually orga- First Combat | 43 nized by the new American pilots, they had been totally equipped by the British as well as completely trained by the RAF. In typical action, Lieutenant Kindley received orders first to the 65th Squadron of the Royal Air Force in France and later moved to the 148th American pursuit squadron at the northern British front. The preponderance of the U.S. air effort in the war occurred in the French rather than the British sector of the Western Front. The U.S. Air Service located its headquarters there. American commanders planned the U.S. aerial buildup in France in basically two ways. Some squadrons, formed after initial training at U.S. air bases, would deploy as units or partial units to the European continent. Other squadrons would be organized after individuals reached France and were then trained by French flying schools and ground crew training centers. In the French sector, since the planes, engines, and equipment were French-made, training at French bases became critical to getting the Americans combat-ready as soon as possible. Americans already flying with French squadrons and under French command, such as the Lafayette Escadrille, would provide seasoned leaders for some of the new American flying units. Raoul Lufbery became one of the most noted fliers to make the move from French to American control. Many American pilots graduated from French flying training and then were assigned to the French front for combat. These pilots, similar to those in the British situation, would work in a French squadron or eventually make the transition to a newly created American one. The three top U.S. aces in World War I, Eddie Rickenbacker, Frank Luke, and Raoul Lufbery, trained with the French and fought in the French portion of the Western Front. They represented by far the greater number of American pilots fighting in World War I. As the United States continued its build-up to support the war effort, it formed Aviation Instruction Centers in Europe to train more American crews with American instructors. A large Aviation Instruction Center at Issoudun, France, sixty-five miles south of Orléans, for example, conducted training in French Nieuport planes. Lt. Edward V. Rickenbacker was an engineering officer and instructor at Issoudun. Other Aviation Instruction Centers offered specialized training of some kind, such as preparing officers for observation and bombardment, although there was some duplication in various centers’ efforts. These Aviation Instruction Centers proved extremely important to the formation and preparation of American flight crews. 44 | WAR BIRD ACE While most attention understandably focused on collaboration with the French, some Americans received training in Italy, mainly at an Aviation Instruction Center at Foggia, and most of them went into combat with Italian squadrons. Capt. Fiorello H. LaGuardia, former congressional representative from New York and later mayor of New York City, was one of the notables there.1 Whether the pilots came from British, French, or American training , there was a sense of urgency in getting the greatest number to the Western Front as soon as possible. The collapse of tsarist Russia and the ensuing Bolshevik revolution freed veteran German soldiers for transfer to the West. The British and French were aware of trains arriving with these eastern troops. This indicated a German massing of men for a probable...