The Lafayette Escadrille

The Lafayette Escadrille

Author: Steven A. Ruffin

Publisher: Casemate

Published: 2020-03-15

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781612008523

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The most complete account of America's first volunteer participants in the Great War yet written, lavishly illustrated with both period photos and color then-and-now shots for a new generation of readers . .


The Lafayette Flying Corps

The Lafayette Flying Corps

Author: James Norman Hall

Publisher:

Published: 1920

Total Pages: 560

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Describes the formation of the L.F.C. following the successes of the Escadrille Lafayette. Includes biographical sketches of L.F.C. members who served in various French escadrilles until after the U.S. entered the war in 1917.


The Lafayette Escadrille

The Lafayette Escadrille

Author: Steven A. Ruffin

Publisher: Casemate Publishers

Published: 2016-05-19

Total Pages: 324

ISBN-13: 1612003516

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

“A fresh look at the 38 Americans in the Escadrille Américaine . . . a finely-researched, well-written and well-illustrated book. It is recommended highly” (Over the Front). The Lafayette Escadrille was an all-volunteer squadron of Americans who flew for France during World War I, arguably the best-known fighter squadron ever to take to the skies. In this work, the entire history of these gallant volunteers—who named themselves after the Marquis de Lafayette, who came to America’s aid during its revolution—is laid out in both text and pictorial form. Along with archival photographs and documents, current snapshots of existing markers and memorials honoring the Lafayette Escadrille were taken by the author in France. In several cases, he was able to match his present-day color photos with older images of the same scene, thus creating a jaw-dropping then-and-now comparison. To add even more color, the author included artwork and aircraft profiles by recognized illustrators, along with numerous full-color photographs of artifacts relating to the squadron’s men and airplanes, as they are displayed today in various museums in the United States and France. The result is undoubtedly the finest photographic collection of the Lafayette Escadrille to appear in print. Along with expert text revealing air-combat experiences, as well as life at the front during the Great War, it is a never-before-seen visual history that both World War I aviation aficionados and those with a passing interest in history will appreciate. “This magnificent book probably provides everything needed by someone wishing to learn about this famous fighting unit.” —Cross and Cockade “When it comes to describing aerial combat in all its bloody fury, [Ruffin] excels.” —Air and Space Magazine


First to Fly

First to Fly

Author: Charles Bracelen Flood

Publisher: Open Road + Grove/Atlantic

Published: 2015-06-02

Total Pages: 269

ISBN-13: 080219138X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

“The compelling story of the squadron of adventurous young American pilots who were among the first to engage in air combat.” —Tampa Bay Times In First to Fly, lauded historian Charles Bracelen Flood draws on rarely seen primary sources to tell the story of the daredevil Americans of the Lafayette Escadrille, who flew in French planes, wore French uniforms, and showed the world an American brand of heroism before the United States entered the Great War. As citizens of a neutral nation from 1914 to early 1917, Americans were prohibited from serving in a foreign army, but many brave young souls soon made their way into European battle zones. It was partly from the ranks of the French Foreign Legion, and with the sponsorship of an expat American surgeon and a Vanderbilt, that the Lafayette Escadrille was formed in 1916 as the first and only all-American squadron in the French Air Service. Flying rudimentary planes, against one-in-three odds of being killed, these fearless young men gathered reconnaissance and shot down enemy aircraft, participated in the Battle of Verdun and faced off with the Red Baron, dueling across the war-torn skies like modern knights on horseback. “First to Fly shows us that there was something noble and honorable about the Escadrille, men who did not turn against their own country but put their lives up to fight for a cause, not because they had to but because it was the right thing to do.” —The Wall Street Journal


Eugene Bullard

Eugene Bullard

Author: Larry W. Greenly

Publisher: NewSouth Books

Published: 2013-01-01

Total Pages: 162

ISBN-13: 158838280X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Presents the life of the African-American pilot who flew missions for France during World War I, experienced racial discrimination in the United States, was beaten in the Peekskill Riots of 1949 and became a member of the French Legion of Honor.


Like A Thunderbolt: The Lafayette Escadrille And The Advent Of American Pursuit In World War I [Illustrated Edition]

Like A Thunderbolt: The Lafayette Escadrille And The Advent Of American Pursuit In World War I [Illustrated Edition]

Author: Roger G. Miller

Publisher: Pickle Partners Publishing

Published: 2015-11-06

Total Pages: 142

ISBN-13: 1786252473

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

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.


A Concise History of the U.S. Air Force

A Concise History of the U.S. Air Force

Author: Stephen Lee McFarland

Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform

Published: 1997

Total Pages: 96

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Except in a few instances, since World War II no American soldier or sailor has been attacked by enemy air power. Conversely, no enemy soldier orsailor has acted in combat without being attacked or at least threatened by American air power. Aviators have brought the air weapon to bear against enemies while denying them the same prerogative. This is the legacy of the U.S. AirForce, purchased at great cost in both human and material resources.More often than not, aerial pioneers had to fight technological ignorance, bureaucratic opposition, public apathy, and disagreement over purpose.Every step in the evolution of air power led into new and untrodden territory, driven by humanitarian impulses; by the search for higher, faster, and farther flight; or by the conviction that the air way was the best way. Warriors have always coveted the high ground. If technology permitted them to reach it, men, women andan air force held and exploited it-from Thomas Selfridge, first among so many who gave that "last full measure of devotion"; to Women's Airforce Service Pilot Ann Baumgartner, who broke social barriers to become the first Americanwoman to pilot a jet; to Benjamin Davis, who broke racial barriers to become the first African American to command a flying group; to Chuck Yeager, a one-time non-commissioned flight officer who was the first to exceed the speed of sound; to John Levitow, who earned the Medal of Honor by throwing himself over a live flare to save his gunship crew; to John Warden, who began a revolution in air power thought and strategy that was put to spectacular use in the Gulf War.Industrialization has brought total war and air power has brought the means to overfly an enemy's defenses and attack its sources of power directly. Americans have perceived air power from the start as a more efficient means of waging war and as a symbol of the nation's commitment to technology to master challenges, minimize casualties, and defeat adversaries.


Disaster at Dieppe: World War II's Little D-Day

Disaster at Dieppe: World War II's Little D-Day

Author: Narayan Sengupta

Publisher: Lulu.com

Published: 2017-11-16

Total Pages: 168

ISBN-13: 1387374141

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

On August 19, 1942, 5,000 Canadian, 1,000 British, 50 American and 24 French troops attacked Dieppe, France. This was Operation Jubilee, World War II's first large amphibious operation. The Allies had hundreds of vessels, Churchill tanks, Commandos, Spitfires, Hurricanes, P-51 Mustangs, B-17s, Typhoons, etc. They expected an easy win. However, they met S-boats, determined German troops and hundreds of Luftwaffe aircraft including superb FW-190s, Stukas, Me-109s, Ju-88s, Do-217s and He-111s, flak and artillery. The sky flooded with aircraft, making it the Western Front's biggest air battle. Germany's pilots were superb. Though outnumbered, they shot down over 100 Allied aircraft. In hours, the landing Canadians had a massive defeat, losing five out of six men and all their tanks. But the lessons learned at Dieppe saved 10 times as many lives at Normandy on D-Day, June 6, 1944. "Disaster at Dieppe" is a well-illustrated fast read. 167 pages, 9"" x 6"", 66 photos and maps.