The worried young pilot flew south, deeper into hostile territory, navigating by the stars. Below the fabric-covered wings of his Curtiss JN-3 ‘Jenny’ darkness had already obscured the unfamiliar landscape of northern Mexico. Lieutenant Edgar S. Gorrell had never flown at night before, and his engine was overheating.

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The flight had been jinxed from the start. Pre-flight preparations consumed more time than expected, so the eight planes of the 1st Aero Squadron had not taken off until late in the afternoon on March 19, 1916. Not long after they flew south from Columbus, New Mexico, Lieutenant Walter G. Kilner had turned back with engine problems.

Navigation errors contributed to the squadron’s problems. Each plane carried a different type of compass, and the aviators were equipped with poor maps. Only one flier, Lieutenant Townsend F. Dodd, had ever made a night flight before. After the sun dropped behind the Sierra Madre, Gorrell lost sight of his fellow pilots and flew on alone. Finally, hopelessly lost, Gorrell turned and headed north again, but his plane had reached the limit of its endurance. With the engine on the verge of seizing up, the young pilot brought the crippled plane in for a rough but successful landing by moonlight.

Gorrell knew that he was deep within enemy territory — territory occupied by the mounted and heavily armed followers of Mexican revolutionary General Francisco ‘Pancho’ Villa (the assumed name of Doroteo Arango). He drew his .45-caliber pistol, abandoned his plane and fled into the darkness. Gorrell’s first journey into northern Mexico was typical of the fate awaiting the pilots of the 1st Aero Squadron, the only American air unit to fly in combat prior to World War I.

The outbreak of World War I during the summer of 1914 first revealed the inadequacy of America’s military aviation program. At the war’s outset, the entire air force consisted of 12 officers, 54 men and six planes. At the same time, dozens of British, French and German airmen fought daily over the trenches of the Western Front. Although the numbers of U.S. men and aircraft tripled in the next year, then tripled again, the 1st Aero Squadron remained America’s sole operational air unit until 1917.

The squadron was organized in September 1914 and first based at North Island, San Diego. But in March 1915, five pilots, 30 men and three planes had been sent to Galveston, Texas, in response to tensions along the U.S.Mexican border. The entire squadron was transferred to Fort Sill, Okla., where the pilots were issued eight Curtiss JN-2s and charged with learning aerial artillery spotting.

Shortly after arriving at Fort Sill, two planes and four pilots were transferred to Brownsville, Texas. It was there, on August 26, 1915, that the airmen first took up one of their new planes. Lieutenants J.C. Morrow and B.Q. Jones encountered turbulence at 1,100 feet, and their Jenny unexpectedly dropped 200 feet. The shaken aviators managed to coax the plane up to 4,500 feet but found it extremely difficult to control. On a subsequent flight, Morrow and his observer were badly hurt when their JN-2 nose-dived during takeoff and smashed into the ground.

The rest of the squadron also tried out the JN-2s and found them less than satisfactory. Pilot R.B. Sutton was badly injured and his observer (who sat in the front seat) was killed during one flight. After that accident, the artillery officers at Fort Sill categorically refused to fly in the JN-2s except during ‘war and in case of absolute necessity.’

The worried young pilot flew south, deeper into hostile territory, navigating by the stars. Below the fabric-covered wings of his Curtiss JN-3 ‘Jenny’ darkness had already obscured the unfamiliar landscape of northern Mexico. Lieutenant Edgar S. Gorrell had never flown at night before, and his engine was overheating.

The flight had been jinxed from the start. Pre-flight preparations consumed more time than expected, so the eight planes of the 1st Aero Squadron had not taken off until late in the afternoon on March 19, 1916. Not long after they flew south from Columbus, New Mexico, Lieutenant Walter G. Kilner had turned back with engine problems.

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