SPA 124 LAFAYETTE ESCADRILLE American Volunteer Airmen in World War 1 (Osprey Aviation Elite No 17)

Jon Guttman

Organized in April 1916 and comprised of American volunteers under a French commander and executive officer, N124--successively dubbed the Escadrille Americaine, Escadrille des Volontaires, and finally the Escadrille Lafayette, became one of the most famous Allied fighter squadrons of World War 1. Although its material achievements were in fact modest, the altruistic but colorful characters who made up the unit captured the pubic's imagination, and contributed to gaining American sympathy for the Allied cause. Full of first-hand accounts from the pilots themselves, this volume includes more than 120 photographs as well as 47 color profiles.