Glenn Curtiss, who had designed the JN-2, agreed to modify the plane. He redesigned the wing, gave the tail a larger surface area and installed a more powerful engine. The rebuilt planes, designated JN-3s, were more stable. But they also were heavier, and the extra weight reduced the operational ceiling of the Jennys, which would prove to be a major handicap in the high valleys of the Sierra Madre.

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As the airmen of the 1st Aero waited for new planes, tensions reached a breaking point along the U.S.­Mexican border. In 1915 Mexico was a country torn by revolt, with several powerful men fighting for control. Pancho Villa, a former bandit leader who had served briefly as Mexico's president, was one of the most colorful of the belligerents. After being driven from power by the followers of Venustiano Carranza, Villa retreated to northern Mexico. There he led hundreds of well-armed supporters in a fight against the Carranza regime.

Villa attacked a Carranza garrison at Agua Prieta, just a few miles from Douglas, Ariz., during the fall of 1915. He was driven back with heavy losses, but his raid caused concern across the border. In response, the U.S. Army dispatched the 1st Aero Squadron to San Antonio, Texas, where the squadron took possession of its new JN-3s.

Villa withdrew to the rugged province of Chihuahua and reassessed his situation. His military forces had been decimated at Agua Prieta, and he had suffered a major political setback after U.S. President Woodrow Wilson recognized Carranza as the legitimate ruler of Mexico. Villa knew that his only hope for victory lay in forcing American intervention in Mexico, which he in turn hoped would trigger a revolt among the peasants of Chihuahua, many of whom regarded the charismatic guerrilla leader as a folk hero. With this in mind, Villa and a large band of horsemen stopped a train in Mexico on January 11, 1916, and executed 19 of the Americans on board. The border region erupted in panic from San Diego to Brownsville. Two months later the situation was further inflamed when, on March 9, 1916, hundreds of Villa's horsemen crossed the border and raided Columbus, New Mexico. The town was looted and burned, and 17 Americans were killed.

President Wilson immediately asked President Carranza of Mexico for permission to send U.S. troops into his country, and Carranza reluctantly gave permission "for the sole purpose of capturing the bandit Villa." Wilson then ordered General John J. "Black Jack" Pershing to "pursue and disperse," the forces commanded by Villa. One of Pershing's first acts was to order the 1st Aero Squadron to New Mexico. The squadron left Fort Sam Houston on March 13, 1916. Two days later it arrived in Columbus with eight JN-3s, 11 pilots and 82 enlisted men.

Gorrell noted that when the squadron arrived, it "was in horrible shape. The airplanes were not fit for military service, especially along the border. Some of us carried pistols, and two fliers had .22 rifles." Despite their lack of readiness, the fliers prepared for combat. Pershing crossed the border with 6,600 men a week after the Columbus raid. As the soldiers pushed south, hoping to encircle Villa's forces, the 1st Aero Squadron was ordered to Casas Grandes, in Mexico, 90 miles from the U.S. border.

The squadron's commander, Captain Benjamin D. Foulois, then made a serious mistake. He ordered his pilots to take off late on the afternoon of March 19, thus ensuring that the flight would land in the dark. Just after takeoff, engine trouble forced Kilner to turn back.

It grew darker, and Foulois realized that they would have to land. Four planes set down at Ascension; however, the three pilots in the rear had drifted apart and did not see the others land. Alone and flying at night for the first time, each pilot continued south in the dark. Lieutenant Joseph E. Carberry landed at Janos, 10 miles south of Ascension. After nearly colliding with Gorrell in the dark, Lieutenant Robert H. Willis, Jr., landed at Pearson, 40 miles from the nearest American troops. He abandoned his badly damaged plane and began the long walk to Casas Grandes.

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