Kiffin Rockwell, the Lafayette Escadrille and the Birth of the United States Air Force

Kiffin Rockwell, the Lafayette Escadrille and the Birth of the United States Air Force PDF Author: T.B. Murphy
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 1476624313
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 200

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Book Description
With the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, Kiffin Yates Rockwell, from Asheville, North Carolina, volunteered to fight for France. Initially serving with the French Foreign Legion as a soldier in the trenches, he soon became a founding member of the Lafayette Escadrille, a squadron made up mostly of American volunteer pilots who served under the French flag before the United States entered the war. On May 19, 1916, Rockwell became the first American pilot of the war to shoot down a German plane. He was killed during aerial combat on September 23, 1916, at age 24. This book covers Rockwell’s early life and military service with the Lafayette Escadrille, the first ever American air combat unit and the precursor to the United States Air Force.

Kiffin Rockwell, the Lafayette Escadrille and the Birth of the United States Air Force

Kiffin Rockwell, the Lafayette Escadrille and the Birth of the United States Air Force PDF Author: T.B. Murphy
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 1476624313
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 200

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Book Description
With the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, Kiffin Yates Rockwell, from Asheville, North Carolina, volunteered to fight for France. Initially serving with the French Foreign Legion as a soldier in the trenches, he soon became a founding member of the Lafayette Escadrille, a squadron made up mostly of American volunteer pilots who served under the French flag before the United States entered the war. On May 19, 1916, Rockwell became the first American pilot of the war to shoot down a German plane. He was killed during aerial combat on September 23, 1916, at age 24. This book covers Rockwell’s early life and military service with the Lafayette Escadrille, the first ever American air combat unit and the precursor to the United States Air Force.

Kiffin Rockwell, the Lafayette Escadrille and the Birth of the United States Air Force

Kiffin Rockwell, the Lafayette Escadrille and the Birth of the United States Air Force PDF Author: T.B. Murphy
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 1476664013
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 198

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Book Description
With the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, Kiffin Yates Rockwell, from Asheville, North Carolina, volunteered to fight for France. Initially serving with the French Foreign Legion as a soldier in the trenches, he soon became a founding member of the Lafayette Escadrille, a squadron made up mostly of American volunteer pilots who served under the French flag before the United States entered the war. On May 19, 1916, Rockwell became the first American pilot of the war to shoot down a German plane. He was killed during aerial combat on September 23, 1916, at age 24. This book covers Rockwell's early life and military service with the Lafayette Escadrille, the first ever American air combat unit and the precursor to the United States Air Force.

Air Force and Space Digest

Air Force and Space Digest PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Aeronautics
Languages : en
Pages : 874

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Book Description


Kiffin Rockwell

Kiffin Rockwell PDF Author: Marc Eric McClure
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781976000089
Category : Fighter pilots
Languages : en
Pages : 92

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Book Description
During the summer of 1914 the drumbeat of war excited public attention the world round. Among those following events that looked to drag all of Europe into the abyss of war was 21-year-old Kiffin Rockwell. As the diplomatic crisis in Europe unfolded, Kiffin sensed that the opportunity to pursue a life of action had at last arrived. By summer's end he would step out and boldly grasp the chance to pursue a life of purpose. That decision would not only transform his life but would enshrine his place in history and make him America's first renowned hero of the Great War. Selections from the foreword: "I have, on a number of occasions, pointed out that the 38 pilots of the Lafayette Escadrille created a culture that influenced all combat pilots who came after them, even today. The Air Force values of courage, discipline, and commitment go right back to these young Americans who held and displayed those virtues. Among those men Kiffin Rockwell best exemplified Air Force values...in fact he shaped them. His French captain, Georges Thénault, described Rockwell as "a great soldier with a high sense of duty" and praised the young pilot for serving "simply and valiantly, without boasting and without ambition." "Rockwell was quiet and kept to himself but in the air he was a fearless, skilled, and ferocious combat pilot. Fortunately, the taciturn Rockwell expressed himself eloquently and openly in letters to family and friends. Those letters have been a source of inspiration since 1925, when his brother, Paul, first published them. Those letters serve as the foundation for Marc McClure's book Kiffin Rockwell: First American Hero of the Great War as well as the author's new documentary film Valor. These two works offer an intimate understanding of the young American soldier and pilot, who continues to be an example of excellence and a source of inspiration." T. Michael Moseley General (Ret.) United States Air Force 18th Chief of Staff

Flying Camelot

Flying Camelot PDF Author: Michael W. Hankins
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 1501760661
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 281

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Book Description
Flying Camelot brings us back to the post-Vietnam era, when the US Air Force launched two new, state-of-the art fighter aircraft: the F-15 Eagle and the F-16 Fighting Falcon. It was an era when debates about aircraft superiority went public—and these were not uncontested discussions. Michael W. Hankins delves deep into the fighter pilot culture that gave rise to both designs, showing how a small but vocal group of pilots, engineers, and analysts in the Department of Defense weaponized their own culture to affect technological development and larger political change. The design and advancement of the F-15 and F-16 reflected this group's nostalgic desire to recapture the best of World War I air combat. Known as the "Fighter Mafia," and later growing into the media savvy political powerhouse "Reform Movement," it believed that American weapons systems were too complicated and expensive, and thus vulnerable. The group's leader was Colonel John Boyd, a contentious former fighter pilot heralded as a messianic figure by many in its ranks. He and his group advocated for a shift in focus from the multi-role interceptors the Air Force had designed in the early Cold War towards specialized air-to-air combat dogfighters. Their influence stretched beyond design and into larger politicized debates about US national security, debates that still resonate today. A biography of fighter pilot culture and the nostalgia that drove decision-making, Flying Camelot deftly engages both popular culture and archives to animate the movement that shook the foundations of the Pentagon and Congress.

A Destiny of Undying Greatness

A Destiny of Undying Greatness PDF Author: Mark M. Trapp
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781733171229
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 734

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Book Description
"I want to live now more than I ever did in my life but not from the selfish standpoint. This war has taught me many things and now I want to live to do whatever good is possible. But if I am killed anytime in the war I will not be afraid to die, and you may know that I will die like a man should, feeling that it is the greatest death that a man can die." - Kiffin RockwellFor more than two and a half years the example of Kiffin Rockwell and other idealistic American boys fighting on behalf of France shone like a beacon across the Atlantic Ocean, summoning America to take part in the ongoing struggle for civilization. Kiffin and a handful of other like-minded young men were intent on paying their portion of America's debt to Lafayette who, acting on similar impulses and ideals, had crossed the ocean more than a century before to assist America in its fight for independence.First in the trenches as volunteers with the French Foreign Legion, and then in the skies among the world's first fighter pilots, the unbelievable courage and voluntary sacrifice of these boys drew the attention of the world and galvanized American public opinion on the side of France. Played out against the almost unfathomable carnage of the war, the sinking of the Lusitania and the presidential election of 1916, this book sheds new light on the unforgettable true account of Kiffin and the other "boys who remembered Lafayette." Eventually, more than a million U.S. soldiers would cross the Atlantic to help save France. All of them followed in the footsteps of Kiffin Rockwell.Mark M. Trapp is a lawyer in Chicago. This is his first book.www.undyinggreatness.com

The Lafayette Escadrille

The Lafayette Escadrille PDF Author: Steven A. Ruffin
Publisher: Casemate Publishers
ISBN: 1612003516
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 324

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Book Description
“A fresh look at the 38 Americans in the Escadrille Américaine . . . a finely-researched, well-written and well-illustrated book. It is recommended highly” (Over the Front). The Lafayette Escadrille was an all-volunteer squadron of Americans who flew for France during World War I, arguably the best-known fighter squadron ever to take to the skies. In this work, the entire history of these gallant volunteers—who named themselves after the Marquis de Lafayette, who came to America’s aid during its revolution—is laid out in both text and pictorial form. Along with archival photographs and documents, current snapshots of existing markers and memorials honoring the Lafayette Escadrille were taken by the author in France. In several cases, he was able to match his present-day color photos with older images of the same scene, thus creating a jaw-dropping then-and-now comparison. To add even more color, the author included artwork and aircraft profiles by recognized illustrators, along with numerous full-color photographs of artifacts relating to the squadron’s men and airplanes, as they are displayed today in various museums in the United States and France. The result is undoubtedly the finest photographic collection of the Lafayette Escadrille to appear in print. Along with expert text revealing air-combat experiences, as well as life at the front during the Great War, it is a never-before-seen visual history that both World War I aviation aficionados and those with a passing interest in history will appreciate. “This magnificent book probably provides everything needed by someone wishing to learn about this famous fighting unit.” —Cross and Cockade “When it comes to describing aerial combat in all its bloody fury, [Ruffin] excels.” —Air and Space Magazine

First Over There

First Over There PDF Author: Steve T. TOM
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780811738040
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 320

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Book Description
First to Fight is a high-octane drama of a remarkable soldier, one of the first American fighter pilots at the dawn of aerial combat, the era of the Red Baron. But more than a story of World War I aviation, it is the story of an idealist who volunteered--long before his country drafted its first soldier--to fight and die in defense of civilization.

Americans at War in Foreign Forces

Americans at War in Foreign Forces PDF Author: Chris Dickon
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 1476615373
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description
The role of Americans in the two world wars is well known, but with a glaring exception--one that reveals a little-known aspect of the common history of the United States and Canada. By the time of the American entrance into World War I in April 1917 and World War II in December 1941, tens of thousands of Americans had already fought and died in those conflicts in the uniforms of other nations. Most had quietly traveled over the northern border to join the ground, air and naval forces of the Commonwealth nations, others to France, Poland, China and the other nations and armed forces that played a role in the continuing world conflict of the first half of the century. In preceding their own nation to war, they influenced the course of events in those years and, though threatened with loss of citizenship, were ultimately met with the acceptance of their own government. This book tells the story of who these Americans were, why they took the actions they did, their experiences in war, and the effects of their presence as Americans in foreign forces.

The Story Of The Lafayette Escadrille Told By Its Commander

The Story Of The Lafayette Escadrille Told By Its Commander PDF Author: Captain Georges Thenault
Publisher: Pickle Partners Publishing
ISBN: 1782892044
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 99

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Book Description
“Aces over the Western Front The Lafayette Escadrille is now a legend of early aeronautics and warfare in the air. Originally titled the Escadrille Americaine, this squadron of the French Air Force of the Great War was formed in 1916 and as it name suggests was piloted mainly by Americans who came to the Western Front to fight the battle of the skies for the Allies out of conviction—in the hope of encouraging the United States to join the fray—or simply in the spirit of adventure. The élan of this crack squadron has survived it and today its Indian chief insignia is instantly recognisable. There have been several books concerning the Lafayette Escadrille, but this one has unimpeachable credentials since its author was none other than the unit’s commander. Few readers interested in the subject of this book will need explanation as to its contents.”-Leonaur Print Version