The enraged crowd threw rocks as the aviators lifted off. Carberry managed to fly to an American-owned smelter six miles away, but Dargue's plane was struck by one of the stones and the stabilizer was damaged. Dargue brought the crippled plane down safely but was immediately surrounded by the hostile crowd.

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Meanwhile, even though he had been dragged off to jail, Foulois managed to contact a Colonel Miranda of the Mexican army, who released the airman and escorted him to the military governor of Chihuahua, General Eulallo Gutierrez. Gutierrez ordered his troops to help Foulois find Dargue. When Foulois and his escorts arrived, Dargue was doing his best to hold off the angry mob, armed with no more than his wits and bare hands. Dargue's plane was repaired later that afternoon, and the somewhat shaken airman flew back to San Geronimo.

The incident revealed the unpopularity of the American intervention among Mexicans of every political persuasion. Indeed, the airmen of the 1st Aero Squadron felt the anger of the populace on more than one occasion. On the following day, April 8, Mexicans fired at Carberry and Dodd as they flew over Chihuahua. Lieutenant Carlton G. Chapman made a forced landing that same day at Santa Rosalia, where he was captured by Carranza supporters. He was eventually released, but not before looters stole field glasses, goggles and ammunition from his plane.

Carranza's forces, led by Minister of War Alvaro Obregon, did not initially resist U.S. intervention. But it wasn't long before the Mexican president, a strong nationalist, became increasingly concerned about the American presence in his country. Fearful that some of his military commanders might defect to Villa, Carranza began to demand that the Americans return home.

Carranza's troops resisted Pershing's forces on several occasions. One of the worst clashes occurred on April 12, 1916, at Parral, when American cavalrymen fired on a hostile crowd of Carrancistas. Two soldiers were killed, as were a large number of Mexicans. That afternoon, Foulois carried an ultimatum from a furious General Gutierrez to Pershing, demanding the withdrawal of U.S. troops.

A defiant Pershing scribbled a reply that he would withdraw when he was ordered to do so by the U.S. president or the secretary of war, which Foulois carried back to Chihuahua City. (The wings of Foulois' airplane were damaged during that flight and were replaced with the wings of one of the remaining planes, leaving the squadron with only four aircraft.) The Wilson administration was having second thoughts about the punitive expedition, and Pershing was ordered to halt operations while high-level officials conducted talks on the situation in Mexico.

Dargue and Gorrell took off on a reconnaissance mission to locate a force of Carrancistas on April 14. They flew 315 miles, an unofficial American distance record at the time. Lieutenant I.A. Rader undertook a similar mission on that day but was forced to land at Ojito, nearly 100 miles from the nearest U.S. force. He abandoned his plane, leaving the squadron with only three planes.

Five days later, Dargue and Willis undertook another scouting mission to Chihuahua City. They carried a new Brock aerial camera capable of making sequenced photos, but they experienced engine trouble 20 miles northwest of Chihuahua and crashed in the woods. Dargue was unhurt, but Willis was temporarily pinned in the wreckage and suffered a broken ankle and a severe scalp wound. The plane, the camera and the photographic plates had all been destroyed in the crash, so Dargue set fire to the wreckage.

In the dry conditions, the surrounding forest caught fire, and the conflagration raged out of control, consuming thousands of acres of countryside. The two men escaped the flames and began to walk to San Antonio, Willis hobbling on his broken ankle. After traveling 40 miles, they stole a mule and rode the remaining 25 miles into San Antonio.

While Rader, Dargue and Willis were walking home, the remaining two JN-3s and the rest of the squadron were sent back to Columbus for refitting. The fliers arrived on April 20, 1916, and found four new Curtiss N-8s, an export version of the JN-4, the latest model of the Jenny. These were the first of 94 JN-4s ordered by the Army in 1916 (the JN-4 soon became the standard U.S. trainer).

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