Aces and airlines

LXXVIII

With the sinking of the Lusitania and the loss of 128 American lives in 1915, it was becoming increasingly evident to many Americans that the United States would be drawn into the Great War. 

The Escadrille de Lafayette was made up of American aviators who decided to fight for the Allied cause while America was still neutral. They chose as their squadron emblem a native American wearing a red, white, and blue war headdress

In 1916, a group of American volunteers created the Escadrille de Lafayette, a French combat air squadron made up entirely of Americans.

In 1916 as well, an award-winning race driver Eddie Rickenbacker (1890-1973), the son of Swiss-German immigrants, approached the U.S. Army with the idea of creating a Flight Squadron populated entirely by racers. Although the idea went nowhere, Rickenbacker was accepted for flight training though he was a little old at the time (26); despite his age, he became America’s top ace, with 26 kills. After the war, he turned Eastern Air Lines into a major air carrier. 

This SPAD XIII, liveried in the colors of Captain Eddie Rickenbacker, America’s top ace with 26 kills, features the famous symbol of the Hat-In-The-Ring Squadron

At the same time as Rickenbacker approached the Army, a group of Yale students founded the Yale Aero Club. The Aero Club was to become the backbone of the emerging Naval Air Service as the “First Yale Unit.” David S. Ingalls (1899-1985) of the First Yale Unit was the first naval aviator to become an ace with five kills. He later served as Assistant Secretary of the Navy.  

David S. Ingalls became a print media hero with his exploits. He usually flew a Sopwith Camel

 

 

Juan Terry Trippe (1899-1981), a member of a subsequent “Yale Unit” finished his flight training just as World War I ended. Trippe went on to found Pan American Airlines.

Though Juan Trippe never flew in combat, his flight training experience was to influence the style of Pan American Airways. This large diorama of the “Dixie Clipper” decorated Trippe’s office. The big Boeing 314A once served as Air Force One