U.S.A.S.: 17th Aero (four pilots), 17th Aero (senior officers), 17th Aero (staff & pilots), 17th & 148th officers, 17th Aero officers ✯ 25th Aero officers end of November 1918, 25th Aero officers on Dec. 7, 1918 ✯ 85th Aero officers ✯ 135th Aero officers on August 9, 1918, 135th Aero staff officers, 135th Aero officers on November 8, 1918 ✯ 148th Aero (A Flight), 148th Aero (B flight), 148th Aero officers, 148th Aero officers ✯ 166th Aero (B flight), 166th Aero (B flight, officers) ✯ For the 11th Aero, see this page.
No. 48 Squadron, Americans and Canadians June 15, 1918
Stewart K. Taylor published this photo from Harry Yarwood Lewis on p. 201 of “Uncompromising and Efficient” and identified the men depicted. The Americans are: Shaw (back row, second from right), Goad (middle row, first on left), and Battey (front row, right). Courtesy of the editor of Cross & Cockade International.
No. 85 Squadron R.A.F., St. Omer, June 21, 1918
Squadron 85 with mascots and a line of SE5a’s in a photo taken by David McLellan at St. Omer (Imperial War Museum Q12049; see also the similar Q12050). The copy of this photo in Skelton’s Callahan, the Last War Bird, is dated June 21, 1918, and the men are identified (second Oxford men in bold), left to right: Alec Cunningham-Reid, M. C. McGregor, D. C. Inglis, L. K. Callahan, E. W. Springs, G. B. A. Baker, J. D. Canning, Daniel, S. B. Horn, Carruthers, A. C. Randall, Brown, W. H. Longton, J. Dymond, Brewster, C. C. Dixon, W. E. H. Cushing, unknown, Abbott and Rosie. A copy of the photo with Callahan prominently marked was published in the Chicago Tribune on September 15, 1918. Another photo of pilots from No. 85 Squadron at St. Omer that is in the IWM collections (Q 58665) includes Billy Bishop standing fourth from right, and Callahan second from right.
Pilots of the 17th Aero in early July 1918.
Left to right: Lloyd Andrews Hamilton, Ralph William Snoke, William Joseph Armstrong, Bradley Cleaver Lawton, and Harriss Percy Alderman (barely visible). This photo was apparently taken by Robert Miles Todd at Petite Synthe sometime before July 11, 1918, when Lawton was injured. See Todd’s Sopwith Camel Fighter Ace, p. 63, and p. 65 (where it is reproduced with more of Alderman visible). The above is reproduced from a digitized copy (“Photograph of Four Pilots in Uniform”) at the Portal to Texas History; the original is at the University of Texas at Dallas. See also the reproduction on p. 34 of Reed and Roland’s Camel Drivers.
Senior officers of the 17th Aero at Toul in November 1918.
The senior officers of the 17th Aero, left to right (second Oxford men in bold): David T. Wells, Lorenz K. Ayers, Frederick M. Clapp, William T. Clements, Samuel Eckert, Weston W. Goodnow, William Joseph Armstrong, George A Vaughn, Jacob J. Ross, Paul Emery Myers. The identifications are based on those provided by Vaughn, War Flying in France, p. 141a. The above is reproduced from the copy in Clements’s photo album. There is another copy in Pictorial History of Air Service from Photos of Photographic Section, Air Service: Group Photos [Part I] (= Gorrell M.17), where it appears without caption or identifications; in the index at the beginning of the volume it is number 146 and listed as “17th Aero Squadron, 2nd Army, Officers.”
The staff and flying officers of the 17th Aero Squadron at Toul.
This photo of the 17th’s officers (staff and pilots) was probably taken in late November 1918. The men are, left to right, (second Oxford detachment men in bold): Frank A. Dixon, Ernest S. Mason, Floyd M. Showalter, Frederick M. Clapp, Edward S. Lubbers, David T. Wells, William F. Schadt, Paul Emery Myers, George A. Vaughn, Jesse Campbell, Lorenz K. Ayers, Weston W. Goodnow, Samuel B. Eckert, Howard Burdick, Leonard J. Desson, Jacob J. Ross, John A. Myers, William R. House, Ralph W. Snoke, William J. Armstrong, Albert F. Everett, John F. Donoho, Martin C. Giesecke, Cuthbert Tunstall, and William T. Clements. This has been reproduced from a copy in Clements’s photo album; Samuel B. Eckert’s copy is reproduced, with identifications, on p. 123 of Reed and Roland’s Camel Drivers. A further copy appears in Pictorial History of Air Service from Photos of Photographic Section, Air Service: Group Photos [Part I] (= Gorrell M.17), where it appears without caption or identifications; in the index at the beginning of the volume it is number 147 and listed as “17th Aero Squadron, 2nd Army, Officers”
The officers of the 17th and 148th Squadrons at Toul, November 8, 1918.
This photo (NARA 111-SC-39372) was taken at Toul on November 8, 1918, by Clyde L. Eddy of the Signal Corps. On the left are officers of the 17th Aero, on the right, officers of the 148th. See below for identifications of the men in the 17th and the 148th.
Officers of the 17th Aero in NARA 111-SC-39372
The men of the 17th from the photo of the 17th and 148th (names of men from the second Oxford detachment are bolded). The three men in the back who are only partially visible are (left to right): Weston Goodnow, Frank Dixon, and Irving Corse. In the middle row (l. to r.): George Vaughn, Albert Everett, John Donoho, Howard Burdick, John Myers, Ralph Snoke, William Armstrong (peaked cap), Samuel Eckert. Kneeling in front are (l. to r.): Edward Lubbers, Ernest Mason, William Schadt, William House, Martin Giesecke, William Clements, Leonard Desson (peaked cap). Identifications are based in part on a slightly different photo of this grouping with identifications on p. 139a of Vaughn’s War Flying in France.
Officers of the 25th Aero Squadron at the end of November 1918.
Front row: Laurence Norton Polk, Eugene Hoy Barksdale, Donald Swett Poler, Willard Wood Lauer, Reed Gresham Landis (holding Mike), Frederick Ernest Luff, Conrad Henry Matthiessen, Jr., Morse Bernard Kent, Sidney Spalding Batchelder. Middle row: William Walter Rahman, Jesse Allen Crafton, Paul Verdier Burwell, Donald Andrew Wilson, Aubrey Fred Diamond, Guy Maynard Baldwin, John Baltzly Garver, Maurice MacGregor Kidd, Oliver Pruett Johnson. Back row: Samuel Roger Klubock, Joseph Elwood Boudwin, Jr., Ralph Dickieson Jennings, David Wilber Lewis, Robert Addison Reese. Names of second Oxford detachment members are in bold. The identifications are based on those for a similar photo on p. 19 of Sloan, “The 25th Aero Squadron.” There is a copy of the above photo in the Barksdale Global Power Museum at Barksdale Air Force Base, and scans of that or a similar copy have been posted on Wikipedia and Find-a-Grave pages. See here for larger version.
Officers of the 25th Aero Squadron at Toul, December 7, 1918.
Officers of the 25th Aero Squadron at Toul, December 7, 1918 (NARA 111-SC-37929) lined up in front of a Spad XIII. The identifications of the men at the NARA record (taken from the Catalogue of Official A.E.F. Photographs) are not all accurate. The identifications provided by Thomas G. Miller, Jr., with his reproduction of the photo on p. 39 of his “USAS Fliers with the RFC/RAF, 1917-18,” appear to be correct. Left to right (with second Oxford men identified in bold): Guy M. Baldwin, John B. Garver, Paul V. Burwell, Jesse A. Crafton, John C. Rorison, Donald S. Poler, Aubrey F. Diamond, Morse B. Kent, David W. Lewis, Donald A Wilson, Reed G. Landis, Frederick E. Luff, Conrad H. Matthiessen, Willard W. Lauer, Karl W. Fisher, Claire R. Oberst, Joseph E. Boudwin (behind), Jr., Sidney S. Batchelder (in front), Samuel R. Klubock, Maurice M. Kidd, Eugene H. Barksdale, Ralph D. Jennings, Joel G. Harris (? also identified as J. D. or I. D. Harris), and Lawrence N. Polk.
85th Aero Officers at Toul
Officers of the 85th Aero Squadron at Toul. From the photo album of Fred Nason Furber, courtesy of the National WWI Museum and Memorial in Kansas City, Missouri. Larger image here. Back row: Charles Reed Goold, Fred Nason Furber (Observer), Wayne Walter Coe (O), Eugene Hornby Blanche (O), William Harold Smith (Pilot), Stephen Delavan Day (O), Walter George Horstman (O), John Adams Baird (P), Lawrence McCeney Jones (O), James Christopher Wallis (O), Harry Melvin Lundquist (P), Ben Sein a.k.a David Bennett Sain (O), James Lafayette Gober (P), Arthur Minot Reed (O), Robert Thomas Palmer (P), Roy Parker Eastland (O), Lester Draper Seymour, Theodore Rector Brace (O) Front row: Robert Driscoll Boyle (P), Leonard A. Sullivan (P), John Anthony Poulin (P), John Lee McCart (P), Floyd Matthews Chafee (O), Wayland Hoyt Brown (O), William Richard Rousseau (MD), Herbert Schaffner (C.O.) & Pilot, Winfield Earl Sisson (P), Thomas Harding (?)Young (O), Arthur Edward Silcott (P), Martin A. Ryan (P), Bernard Heineman (O), Arthur Mitchell (P), Nathaniel Henry Meeker (P)
Pilots and Observers of the 135th Aero, August 9, 1918, at Ourches.
This photo (NARA 111-SC-19036) was taken on August 9, 1918, by Lt. M. S. Lentz, of the Signal Corps, and is described as “line up of pilots and observers who took part in the first flight of all American Liberty Motor Planes to start over German lines, 135th. Aero Squadron, Ourches, France.” Both Hart (History of the 135th Aero Squadron, facing p. 33) and Smart (The Hawks that Guided the Guns, p. 31) kept copies and provided identifications of the men. Fleet is fourth from the right, Suiter is sixth from right, and Landon is twelfth from right.
Staff officers of the 135th Aero Squadron at Toul.
This photo of staff officers of the 135th Aero Squadron was taken at Toul, probably around the time of the armistice. The caption to a copy on p. 52 of Smart’s “The Hawks that Guided the Guns” identifies the men. Back row, left to right: Louis R. Schlesinger, Wallace A. Coleman, C. B. Stewart, Tom Bromley, Lawrence L. Smart. Front row, left to right: Charles C. Fleet, Charles M. Clark, Edward C. Landon, Charles D. Stoner, Percival G. Hart. The above has been cropped from photo C-190 in Pictorial History of Air Service from Photos of Photographic Section, Air Service: Group Photos [Part I].
Officers of the 135th Aero November 8, 1918.
“All that remains of first 36 officers assigned to 135th Aero Squadron.” Detail from a photo (NARA 111-SC-39370) taken by signal corps photographer Clyde Langston Eddy on November 8, 1918, at Toul. Left to right: Wallace Angus Coleman, Donald Brown Cole, Walker Marshall Jagoe, Charles Carvel Fleet, Edward Milton Urband, Bradley Johnson Saunders, Leland Durwood Schock, Percival Gray Hart, Maurice J[ohnson?] Reed, Otto Earl Benell, Richard McDonald Scott, Jr. Hart reproduced this photo in his History of the 135th Aero Squadron. His caption reads in part: “. . . Reed and Scott. The last man was not identified.” Comparisons with other photos suggest that the Signal Corps identifications are accurate.
A Flight of the 148th Aero Squadron
Members of A Flight, 148th Aero Squadron, from a photo (NARA 111-SC-24284) taken September 14, 1918, at Remaisnil by Signal Corps photographer Edward Otto Harrs. The pilots, left to right, are Lawrence Theodore Wyly, Louis William Rabe, Field Eugene Kindley, Walter Burnside Knox, and Jesse Orrin Creech.
B Flight of the 148th Aero Squadron
B flight of the 148th Squadron, in a photo taken by Signal Corps photographer E. O. Harris at Remaisnil September 15, 1918 (NARA 111-SC-24289). The pilots are, left to right: Percy E. Cunnius, Sidney Q. Noel, Springs, Callahan, Orville A. Ralston, and Harry Jenkinson, Jr.
Officers of the 148th Squadron at Toul
Officers (pilots, observers, and administrative) of the 148th Aero Squadron at Toul, probably in late November or in December, 1918. Callahan is second from the right. Henry Robinson Clay, Jr., is fifth from left, Thomas L. Moore, fifth from right, Bennett Oliver, third from the right (only part of head visible). The man third from left may be William E. Cravens, the medical officer; seventh from the left may be squadron commander Morton L. Newhall. This photo is taken from Pictorial History of Air Service from Photos of Photographic Section, Air Service: Group Photos [Part I] (= Gorrell M.17) where it appears without caption or identifications; in the index at the beginning of the volume it is number 195 and listed as “148th Aero Squadron, 2nd Army, Officers.”
Officers of the 148th Aero in NARA 111-SC-39372
The men of the 148th from the photo of the 17th and 148th (names of men from the second Oxford detachment are bolded). The six men in the back who are only partially visible are (left to right): Sidney Noel or Gail Beamer, Laurence Callahan or Henry Starkey, Callahan or Starkey (face almost entirely obscured), WalterKnox (peaked cap), William Taylor, George Dorsey. Middle row (l. to r.): Morton Newhall, Charles McLean, John Hogan, Clayton Bissell, Field Kindley, Foster Marshall (peaked cap), Thomas Moore (peaked cap), Elliott Springs (campaign hat), William Cravens (medical officer, no pilot’s wings). Front row: Jesse Creech (holding dog), Sylvester Latham or Henry Starkey, Louis Rabe, Henry Clay, William Colgan, John Welsh, Bennett Oliver, Percy Cunnius, Orville Ralston or Lawrence Wyly, Wyly or Ralston. Identifications are based on those accompanying the picture on p. 273 of Springs, Letters from a War Bird, and those accompanying a similar photo reproduced in some copies of Skelton, Callahan, the Last War Bird. There are some discrepancies in the identifications. The identifications accompanying the NARA photo 111-SC-39372 also diverge (and do not include the men in the front row.)
Officers and men of the 166 Aero Squadron
This photo of enlisted men and officers was kept by Fremont Cutler Foss and is among his papers. Another copy can be found in Pictorial History of Air Service (Gorrell M.17), where it is photo C204. Devery can be spotted towards the middle and staring at the camera, the second man to the left of the short, stout man in overalls. A copy of this photo kept by Richard Smith Austin suggests that this is B flight (my thanks to Mike O’Neal for this information). A larger version of the photo can be seen here.
Detail of officers of the 166th Aero Squadron
On the back of Foss’s photo of officers and enlisted men of the 166th, he has identified these eight officers, by last name only, as ones who “operated with squadron.” With the assistance of Mike O’Neal, I have attempted to provide full names (second Oxford detachment member names in bold). Left to right: George Raymond Cullman, Edward Lee Brown, “Kirk” (probably Stanley Cooper Kerk), Russell R. (Reynaldo?) Dale, “Woods” (probably Gilbert Allan Woods, although not documented as with the 166th), Linn Daicy Merrill, Edward Crews Black, and John Joseph Devery.
