Michel Coiffard’s remarkable rise from infantryman to become one of the top French fighter aces of the war is chronicled by Chrisophe Cony. Sparsely covered in the literature, his 34 victories place him 6th on the French list of aces.
In “A Decorated Soldier” author Will Simpson surveys the combat career and legacy of Eugene Bullard, America’s first black fighter pilot.
Jon Guttman and Frank Bailey trace the combat career of the little-known French Escadrille Spa. 158. One of the few equipped with the Morane A.I monoplane in 1918, its short combat career yielded only 2 air-to-air victories.
Well known by name to most WW 1 historians, Raynal Bolling’s death – the only airmen killed in combat without having flown a single mission – has left his impressive organization achievements largely unknown. Steve Ruffin’s masterful article helps restore Bolling’s rightful place in the pantheon of architects of the US Air Service.
The issue opens with author Michael O’Neal’s study of post-war casualties at the 3rd Air Instruction Center. Steve Ruffin visits France to view the memorials to fallen American airmen, and Thomas Wildenberg examines Spenser Grey’s role in the origins of strategic bombing. Finally, Robin D. Smith views Manfred von Richthofen’s connection to Ostrowo, Poland and a possible romantic relationship there. We conclude with Charles Walthall’s Tangible Links and Peter Kilduff’s Between the Bookends.
Editor Michael O’Neal opens with author Michael O’Neal’s third article on American training casualties at Issoudun, covering the period from August 1918 to the war’s end. Tom Callen uses inscriptions in a German edition of a French philosophical book to look at the return from captivity of Heinz von Beaulieu-Marconnay and Gustav Bähren. Dr. Peter Fedders examines the battle of the Somme and the role air power (on both sides) played during the six months of the campaign. And finally Mike O’Neal reports on a letter to Charles Forschner Watson before his first solo from J. W. Porcher of the Fall Undertaking Co. of Waco Texas. The issue wraps up with Mentioned in Despatches and Between the Bookends.
Volume 38 No. 2, Summer 2023 is out!
In Witness for the Prosecution by Hugh T. Harrington, we get a look at the testimony by former 2nd Lt. Howard Rath in the Billy Mitchell court-martial.
The History of Escadrille Spa 166 by Frank W. Bailey and Jon Guttman gives us the story of a relatively late-comer to the Aeronautique Militaire, which was formed in late July of 1918.
Claude Vollmeyer 3rd AIC Test Pilot by Michael O’Neal demonstrates once again that not all the action is at the front lines; Vollmeyer spent his time in Flight Test at Issoudun.
Prisoners of War in Film by Lt. Col. Greg Eanes, USAF (Ret) recounts the real-life story behind the Jean Renoir film La Grande Illusion.
The Ponnier M.1 Fighter by David Méchin explores a would-be competitor to the Nieuport XI.
In Briggs Kilburn Adams: The American Spirit Mike O’Neal gives us a look at his all-too-brief time with the American Ambulance Hospital and later the Royal Flying Corps.
Maj. Daniel Pool, USAF has fleshed out the photos in the National Air & Space Museum’s copy of Paul R. Stockton’s scrapbook with information on his military career (from the Spanish-American War on) through his time with the 12th Aero Squadron at the end of World War I.
