The Escadrille

Of course, the United States still remained out of World War I at this point, but leaders made it clear that they opposed Germany and saw German belligerence as the main cause for the conflict. The American expat community in Paris was especially supportive of France at this time and found the greatest hope in the idea that the United States would eventually join the fight against the Germans. A prominent surgeon, Dr. Edmund Gros, who had set up the American Hospital and then the American Ambulance Service, decided to establish the Lafayette Escadrille to give the Americans a specific role in the rapidly developing air war. With the help of many of his rich patients, including the Vanderbilts, Gros pushed French authorities to allow an American squadron under French command and then raised money to supplement the pilots’ poor pay.¹ A committee of wealthy expats organized equipment, housing, and combat rewards for the Americans, so that the squadron could begin formal training and then combat missions by the middle of 1916. The Lafayette Escadrille always had the role, from the very beginning, of advertising American support for the French war effort to the point of supplying men to fight. By the time McConnell and the others flew serious missions over the Battle of Verdun, the Americans numbered fifteen and it would continue to grow steadily.² 224 Americans joined the escadrille by the time the United States sent troops to Europe.³