William Thaw II
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William Thaw II
Lieutenant Colonel William Thaw II () was an American combat aviator who served in World War I and became a flying ace. Credited with five confirmed and two unconfirmed aerial victories, he is believed to be the first American to engage in aerial combat in the war. He was the first to fly up the East River under all four bridges. Early life He was born on August 12, 1893, to Benjamin Thaw, Sr. He learned to fly in 1913, while he was attending Yale University. His father bought him a Curtiss Hydro flying boat that he took to France for the Schneider Trophy races. When war broke out, Thaw gave his airplane to the French and enlisted in the Foreign Legion. Military career He joined ''Escadrille 6''. He then became a corporal in ''Escadrille 42'' in 1915, flying a Caudron. He flew a Nieuport in '' Escadrille 65'', before transferring into a French unit composed of American volunteers, known as the Escadrille Americaine, Escadrille 124 under its new designation became nicknamed the ...
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Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania behind Philadelphia, and the List of United States cities by population, 68th-largest city in the U.S. with a population of 302,971 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The city anchors the Pittsburgh metropolitan area of Western Pennsylvania; its population of 2.37 million is the largest in both the Ohio Valley and Appalachia, the Pennsylvania metropolitan areas, second-largest in Pennsylvania, and the List of metropolitan statistical areas, 27th-largest in the U.S. It is the principal city of the greater Pittsburgh–New Castle–Weirton combined statistical area that extends into Ohio and West Virginia. Pitts ...
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French Foreign Legion
The French Foreign Legion (french: Légion étrangère) is a corps of the French Army which comprises several specialties: infantry, Armoured Cavalry Arm, cavalry, Military engineering, engineers, Airborne forces, airborne troops. It was created in 1831 to allow List of militaries that recruit foreigners, foreign nationals into the French Army. It formed part of the Army of Africa (France), Armée d’Afrique, the French Army's units associated with France's colonial project in Africa, until the end of the Algerian War, Algerian war in 1962. Legionnaires are highly trained soldiers and the Legion is unique in that it is open to foreign recruits willing to serve in the French Armed Forces. The Legion is today known as a unit whose training focuses on traditional military skills and on its strong Morale, esprit de corps, as its men and women come from different countries with different cultures. Consequently, training is often described as not only physically challenging, but also ...
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Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The ''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette'', also known simply as the PG, is the largest newspaper serving metropolitan Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Descended from the ''Pittsburgh Gazette'', established in 1786 as the first newspaper published west of the Allegheny Mountains, the paper formed under its present title in 1927 from the consolidation of the ''Pittsburgh Gazette Times'' and ''The Pittsburgh Post''. The ''Post-Gazette'' ended daily print publication in 2018 and has cut down to two print editions per week (Sunday and Thursday), going online-only the rest of the week. In the 2010s, the editorial tone of the paper shifted from liberal to conservative, particularly after the editorial pages of the paper were consolidated in 2018 with '' The Blade'' of Toledo, Ohio. After the consolidation, Keith Burris, the pro-Trump editorial page editor of '' The Blade'', directed the editorial pages of both papers. Early history ''Gazette'' The ''Post-Gazette'' began its history as a four-page w ...
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Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania behind Philadelphia, and the List of United States cities by population, 68th-largest city in the U.S. with a population of 302,971 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The city anchors the Pittsburgh metropolitan area of Western Pennsylvania; its population of 2.37 million is the largest in both the Ohio Valley and Appalachia, the Pennsylvania metropolitan areas, second-largest in Pennsylvania, and the List of metropolitan statistical areas, 27th-largest in the U.S. It is the principal city of the greater Pittsburgh–New Castle–Weirton combined statistical area that extends into Ohio and West Virginia. Pitts ...
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United States Army Air Service
The United States Army Air Service (USAAS)Craven and Cate Vol. 1, p. 9 (also known as the ''"Air Service"'', ''"U.S. Air Service"'' and before its legislative establishment in 1920, the ''"Air Service, United States Army"'') was the aerial warfare service component of the United States Army between 1918 and 1926 and a forerunner of the United States Air Force. It was established as an independent but temporary branch of the U.S. War Department during World War I by two executive orders of President Woodrow Wilson: on May 24, 1918, replacing the Aviation Section, Signal Corps as the nation's air force; and March 19, 1919, establishing a military Director of Air Service to control all aviation activities., p. 149, Appendix 2 Redesignations of the Army Air Arm, 1907–1942. Its life was extended for another year in July 1919, during which time Congress passed the legislation necessary to make it a permanent establishment. The National Defense Act of 1920 assigned the Air Service t ...
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Lafayette Escadrille
The La Fayette Escadrille (french: Escadrille de La Fayette) was the name of the French Air Force unit escadrille N 124 during the First World War (1914–1918). This escadrille of the ''Aéronautique Militaire'' was composed largely of American volunteer pilots flying fighters. It was named in honor of the Marquis de Lafayette, French hero of the American Revolutionary War. In September 1917, the escadrille was transferred to the US Army under the designation 103rd Aero Squadron. In 1921, The French Air Force recreated a N124 unit who claimed lineage from the war-time La Fayette escadrille and is now part of the escadron 2/4 La Fayette. History Dr. Edmund L. Gros, a founder of the American Hospital of Paris and organizer of the American Ambulance Field Service, and Norman Prince, a Harvard-educated lawyer and an American expatriate already flying for France, led the attempts to persuade the French government of the value of a volunteer American air unit fighting fo ...
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Escadrille 65
''Escadrille 65'' of the French Air Force was established during World War I. It was founded at Lyon-Bron Airport on 2 August 1915. History Though it was equipped with a mixed bag of aircraft, it was designated as ''Escadrille C 65'' for its Caudron G.IVs. It was assigned to ''VII Armee'' of the French Army on 24 October 1915. It was re-equipped in its entirety with Nieuports, and was redesignated ''Escadrille N 65'' on 21 February 1916. In June 1916, it was consolidated into an ad hoc ''Groupe de Combat'' that was based at Cachy. Other ''escadrilles'' within the ''Groupe'' were ''Escadrille 3, N3'', ''Escadrille 37, N37'', ''Escadrille 62, N62'', ''Escadrille 73, N73'', and ''Escadrille 103, N103''. In early November 1916, ''Escadrille N65'' was reassigned into ''Groupe de Combat 13''. ''GC 13'' also contained ''Escadrille N67'', ''Escadrille N112'', and ''Escadrille N.124''.Franks, Bailey 1992, pp. 94-95. On 5 December 1916, ''Escadrille N 65'' received its first citation. As 1 ...
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Nieuport
Nieuport, later Nieuport-Delage, was a French aeroplane company that primarily built racing aircraft before World War I and fighter aircraft during World War I and between the wars. History Beginnings Originally formed as Nieuport-Duplex in 1902 for the manufacture of engine components the company was reformed in 1909 as the Société Générale d'Aéro-locomotion, and its products were marketed to the aviation industry, including ignition components. During this time they built their first aircraft, a small single-seat pod and boom monoplane. This was destroyed shortly after having been flown successfully, during the Great Flood of Paris in 1909 . A second design flew before the end of 1909 and had the essential form of modern aircraft, including an enclosed fuselage with the pilot protected from the slipstream and a horizontal tail whose aerodynamic force acted downwards, balancing the weight of the engine ahead of the centre of gravity, as opposed to upwards as on contemp ...
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Caudron
The Société des Avions Caudron was a French aircraft company founded in 1909 as the Association Aéroplanes Caudron Frères by brothers Gaston and René Caudron. It was one of the earliest aircraft manufacturers in France and produced planes for the military in both World War I and World War II. From 1933 onwards, it was a subsidiary of Renault. Alphonse (Gaston) (1882–1915) and René Caudron (1884–1959) Born in Favières, Somme to parents who farmed nearby in Romiotte, the Caudron brothers were educated at a college in Abbeville. Gaston, as Alphonse was always known, intended to become an engineer but his education was cut short by health problems; René was interested in the development of mechanics and was a sportsman. After military service in an artillery regiment, they returned to work on the farm. They began to build their first aircraft, a large biplane, in August 1908. Initially unable to obtain an engine, they flew it as a glider, towed by a horse, and tested it t ...
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Osprey Publishing
Osprey Publishing is a British, Oxford-based, publishing company specializing in military history. Predominantly an illustrated publisher, many of their books contain full-colour artwork plates, maps and photographs, and the company produces over a dozen ongoing series, each focusing on a specific aspect of the history of warfare. Osprey has published over 2,300 books. They are best known for their ''Men-at-Arms'' series, running to over 500 titles, with each book dedicated to a specific historical army or military unit. Osprey is an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing. History In the 1960s, the Brooke Bond Tea Company began including a series of military aircraft cards with packages of their tea. The cards proved popular, and the artist Dick Ward proposed the idea of publishing illustrated books about military aircraft. The idea was approved and a small subsidiary company called Osprey was formed in 1968. The company’s first book, ''North American P-51D Mustang in USAAF-USAF Ser ...
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Schneider Trophy
The Coupe d'Aviation Maritime Jacques Schneider, also known as the Schneider Trophy, Schneider Prize or (incorrectly) the Schneider Cup is a trophy that was awarded annually (and later, biennially) to the winner of a race for seaplanes and flying boats. The Schneider Trophy is now held at the Science Museum, South Kensington, London. Announced in 1912 by Jacques Schneider, a French financier, balloonist and aircraft enthusiast, the competition offered a prize of approximately £1,000. The race was held twelve times between 1913 and 1931. It was intended to encourage technical advances in civil aviation but became a contest for pure speed with laps over a (usually) triangular course, initially and later extended to . The contests were staged as time trials, with aircraft setting off individually at set intervals, usually 15 minutes apart. The contests were very popular and some attracted crowds of over 200,000 spectators. The race was significant in advancing aeroplane design, pa ...
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Curtiss Hydro
Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company (1909 – 1929) was an American aircraft manufacturer originally founded by Glenn Hammond Curtiss and Augustus Moore Herring in Hammondsport, New York. After significant commercial success in its first decades, it merged with the Wright Aeronautical to form Curtiss-Wright Corporation. History Origin In 1907, Glenn Curtiss was recruited by the scientist Dr. Alexander Graham Bell as a founding member of Bell's Aerial Experiment Association (AEA), with the intent of establishing an aeronautical research and development organization. According to Bell, it was a "co-operative scientific association, not for gain but for the love of the art and doing what we can to help one another."Milberry 1979, p 13. In 1909, shortly before the AEA was disbanded, Curtiss partnered with Augustus Moore Herring to form the Herring-Curtiss Company.Gunston 1993, p. 87. It was renamed the Curtiss Aeroplane Company in 1910 and reorganized in 1912 after being taken-o ...
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