The 278th Aero Squadron was a

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 war ...

unit that fought on the Western Front during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. The squadron was assigned as a Corps Observation Squadron, performing short-range, tactical reconnaissance over the VII Corps,

United States First Army First Army is the oldest and longest-established field army of the United States Army. It served as a theater army, having seen service in both World War I and World War II, and supplied the US army with soldiers and equipment during the Korea ...

sector of the Western Front in France, providing battlefield intelligence.Maurer, Maurer (1978), The US Air Service in World War I, The Office of Air Force History, Headquarters USAF Washington
/ref> After the

1918 Armistice with Germany The Armistice of 11 November 1918 was the armistice signed at Le Francport near Compiègne that ended fighting on land, sea, and air in World War I between the Entente and their last remaining opponent, Germany. Previous armistices ...

, the squadron was assigned to the

United States Third Army The United States Army Central, formerly the Third United States Army, commonly referred to as the Third Army and as ARCENT, is a military formation of the United States Army which saw service in World War I and World War II, in the 1991 Gulf Wa ...

as part of the

Occupation of the Rhineland The Occupation of the Rhineland from 1 December 1918 until 30 June 1930 was a consequence of the collapse of the Imperial German Army in 1918, after which Germany's provisional government was obliged to agree to the terms of the 1918 armist ...

in Germany. It returned to the United States in June 1919 and was demobilzied.Series "E", Volume 22, History of the 222d-376th Aero Squadrons. Gorrell's History of the American Expeditionary Forces Air Service, 1917–1919, National Archives, Washington, D.C.Order of Battle of the United States Land Forces in the First World War, Volume 3, Part 3, Center of Military History, United States Army, 1949 (1988 Reprint) There is no current

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

Air National Guard The Air National Guard (ANG), also known as the Air Guard, is a federal military reserve force of the United States Air Force, as well as the air militia of each U.S. state, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the ter ...

unit that holds its lineage or history.

History

The 278th Aero Squadron was organized at

Love Field, Dallas Love Field is a neighborhood located in northwest Dallas, Texas ( USA). It lies southwest of and is adjacent to Dallas Love Field Airport and is bounded by Denton Drive, Inwood Road, Harry Hines Boulevard, and Webb Chapel Extension. The neighbo ...

, Texas on 14 February 1918. The squadron was trained in various mechanics skills with the

Curtiss JN-4 The Curtiss JN "Jenny" was a series of biplanes built by the Curtiss Aeroplane Company of Hammondsport, New York, later the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company. Although the Curtiss JN series was originally produced as a training aircraft for th ...

trainer, and other necessary skills for duty in France. It was also used to support the operations of the various departments at Love Field. However, on 8 July 1918, the squadron was ordered to report to the Aviation Concentration Center, Garden City, Long Island, for overseas duty. It was further ordered to report to the Port of Entry,

Hoboken, New Jersey Hoboken ( ; Unami: ') is a city in Hudson County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 60,417. The Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program calculated that the city's population was 58,690 i ...

and on 18 August 1918, it sailed for the port of

Brest, France Brest (; ) is a port city in the Finistère department, Brittany. Located in a sheltered bay not far from the western tip of the peninsula, and the western extremity of metropolitan France, Brest is an important harbour and the second French mi ...

on board the , arriving in France on 27 August after an uneventful voyage across the Atlantic Ocean. At Brest, the squadron remained at the Pontanezen Barracks awaiting orders until 2 September when it boarded a train bound for the Replacement Concentration Center, AEF,

St. Maixent Replacement Barracks The Air Service Replacement Concentration Barracks is a former military facility in the vicinity of Saint-Maixent-l'École, Poitou-Charentes, France. It was used by the Air Service, United States Army as the Air Service Replacement Concentration ...

for equipping, and personnel processing. It arrived at St. Maixent on 4 September and was then further ordered to proceed to the 1st Air Depot at

Colombey-les-Belles Airdrome : ''see also: Organization of the Air Service of the American Expeditionary Force'' When the United States entered World War I on 6 April 1917, the Air Service of the United States Army existed only as a branch of the Signal Corps, and was kno ...

. There the men were given gas masks and trained how to use the mask with

tear gas Tear gas, also known as a lachrymator agent or lachrymator (), sometimes colloquially known as "mace" after the early commercial aerosol, is a chemical weapon that stimulates the nerves of the lacrimal gland in the eye to produce tears. In ad ...

. There, the men of the 278th also heard the artillery of the Western Front for the first time of the Zone of Advance. On 1 October, it was moved to the nearby

Autreville Airdrome Autreville Airdrome was a temporary World War I airfield in France. It was located S of Toul, at the northern tip of the Vosges department in northeastern France, near the large depot of Colombey les Belles. Overview Autreville Airdrome was one ...

where it began to receive pilots and observers, as well as some

Dayton-Wright DH-4 The Dayton-Wright Company was formed in 1917, on the declaration of war between the United States and Germany, by a group of Ohio investors that included Charles F. Kettering and Edward A. Deeds of Dayton Engineering Laboratories Company ( DELCO ...

observation aircraft, the squadron being designated a Corps Observation (reconnaissance) squadron. It was assigned to the First Army

VII Corps Observation Group The VII Corps Observation Group was an Air Service, United States Army unit that fought on the Western Front during World War I as part of the First Army Air Service. It was later transferred to the Third Army Air Service as part of the United ...

on 29 October and was ordered to the Croix de Metz Aerodrome, near

Toul Toul () is a commune in the Meurthe-et-Moselle department in north-eastern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department. Geography Toul is between Commercy and Nancy, and the river Moselle and Canal de la Marne au Rhin. Climate Toul h ...

on 10 November. However, the Armistice with Germany on 11 November meant the 278th Aero Squadron would not see any combat at the front. Unfortunately, the squadron did suffer a tragic incident when on 29 November, 2d Lieutenants Ogilieve and Williams were killed in a plane crash. In "Wings of Honor" by James J. Slone Jr., Slone gives the names of the pilot and observer as Lts. Alexander K. Ogilive and Bill N. Williams, stating that they crashed and burned in their DH-4 on 29 Nov.. There was also another accident just prior to the disbanding of the 278th according to James Slone: Lt Jerry Ilich was killed when he was hit by Lt. Gustafson's airplane of the 25th Pursuit Squadron." name="James J. Sloan Jr". Wings of Honor, American Airmen in WW1

Third Army of Occupation

The squadron remained at Croix de Metz Aerodrome (with Second Army Air Services from 14 November) until being assigned to

Sinzig Airdrome Sinzig is a town in the district of Ahrweiler, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated on the river Rhine, about 5 km south-east of Remagen and 25 km south-east of Bonn, and it has approximately 20,000 inhabitants (2004). ...

, Germany on 15 April 1919 to serve as part of the occupation force of the

Rhineland The Rhineland (german: Rheinland; french: Rhénanie; nl, Rijnland; ksh, Rhingland; Latinised name: ''Rhenania'') is a loosely defined area of Western Germany along the Rhine, chiefly its middle section. Term Historically, the Rhinelands ...

under the Third Army Air Service,

III Corps Observation Group The III Corps Observation Group was a United States Army Air Service unit that fought on the Western Front during World War I as part of the Air Service, First United States Army. It was demobilized on 12 May 1919. There is no modern United Sta ...

.Series "P", Volume 2, History of Air Service Units Attached to the 3d Army. Gorrell's History of the American Expeditionary Forces Air Service, 1917–1919, National Archives, Washington, D.C. There, the squadron began a series of photo-reconnaissance flights in the occupied

of major manufacturing centers, important cities and towns in both Occupied Germany as well as

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

. Lines of communication (railroads, rivers and roads) were carefully mapped and photographed. In addition, squadron was able to perform test flights on surrendered German aircraft. Flights of the

Fokker D.VII The Fokker D.VII was a German World War I fighter aircraft designed by Reinhold Platz of the Fokker-Flugzeugwerke. Germany produced around 3,300 D.VII aircraft in the second half of 1918. In service with the ''Luftstreitkräfte'', the D.VII qu ...

Pfalz D.XII The Pfalz D.XII was a German fighter aircraft built by Pfalz Flugzeugwerke. Designed by Rudolph Gehringer as a successor to the Pfalz D.III, the D.XII entered service in significant numbers near the end of the First World War. It was the last P ...

Halberstadt Halberstadt ( Eastphalian: ''Halverstidde'') is a town in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt, the capital of Harz district. Located north of the Harz mountain range, it is known for its old town center that was greatly destroyed by Allied bombi ...

s and

Rumpler Rumpler-Luftfahrzeugbau GmbH, Rumpler-Werke, usually known simply as Rumpler was a German aircraft and automobile manufacturer founded in Berlin by Austrian engineer Edmund Rumpler in 1909 as Rumpler Luftfahrzeugbau.Gunston 1993, p.259 The fir ...

aircraft were made and evaluations were made.

Demobilization

On 18 May 1919 orders were received from Third Army for the squadron to report to the 1st Air Depot,

to turn in all of its supplies and equipment and was relieved from duty with the AEF. The squadron's DH-4 aircraft were delivered to the Air Service Production Center No. 2. at

Romorantin Aerodrome Romorantin - Pruniers Air Detachment (DA 273) is a French Air Force military facility, located southwest of Romorantin-Lanthenay, in the Loir-et-Cher Departments of France, department of central France. Pruniers airfield was part of a huge depot ...

, and there, practically all of the pilots and observers were detached from the squadron.Series "D", Weekly Statistical Reports of Air Service Activities, October 1918 – May 1919. Gorrell's History of the American Expeditionary Forces Air Service, 1917–1919, National Archives, Washington, D.C. Personnel at Colombey were subsequently assigned to the commanding general, services of supply, and ordered to report to one of several staging camps in France. There, personnel awaited scheduling to report to one of the base ports in France for transport to the United States and subsequent demobilization. The 278th Aero Squadron was demobilized at

Mitchell Field Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport is a civil–military airport south of downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States., effective May 21, 2020. It is included in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) National Plan of Integrated Air ...

, New York on 13 June 1919.Series "O", Volume 22, Weekly Statistical Reports on progress of Air Service Activities, October 1918 – May 1919. Gorrell's History of the American Expeditionary Forces Air Service, 1917–1919, National Archives, Washington, D.C.

Lineage

* Organized as 278th Aero Squadron on 14 February 1918. : Re-designated: 278th Aero Squadron (Corps Observation), on 1 October 1918 : Demobilized on 13 June 1919

Assignments

* Post Headquarters, Love Field, 14 February 1918 * Aviation Concentration Center, 8 July 1918 * Headquarters, Chief of Air Service, AEF, 27 August 1918 * Air Service Replacement Concentration Center, AEF, 2 September 1918 * 1st Air Depot, 11 September 1919 *

, 29 October 1918 *

Second Army Air Service The Second Army Air Service was an Air Service, United States Army unit that fought on the Western Front during World War I as part of the Air Service, Second United States Army. It was demobilized in France on 15 April 1919 with the demobilizati ...

, 14 November 1918 * IV Corps Observation Group, 15 April 1919 * 1st Air Depot, 18 May 1919 * Commanding General, Services of Supply, May 1919 * Post Headquarters, Mitchel Field, June 1919

Stations

* Love Field, Texas, 14 February 1918 *

Aviation Concentration Center Camp Albert L. Mills (Camp Mills) was a military installation on Long Island, New York. It was located about ten miles from the eastern boundary of New York City on the Hempstead Plains within what is now the village of Garden City. In September 1 ...

, Garden City, New York, 8 July 1918 * Port of Entry,

, 17 August 1918 : Overseas transport: , 18–27 August 1918 * Pontanezen Barracks,

, 27 August 1918 *

, France, 4 September 1918 *

, France, 11 September 1918 *

, France, 1 October 1918 * Croix de Metz Aerodrome, Toul, France, 10 November 1918 *

, Germany, 15 April 1919 *

, France, 18 May 1919 * France, May–June 1919 *

Mitchel Field Mitchell may refer to: People *Mitchell (surname) *Mitchell (given name) Places Australia * Mitchell, Australian Capital Territory, a light-industrial estate * Mitchell, New South Wales, a suburb of Bathurst * Mitchell, Northern Territory ...

, New York, 13 June 1919

Enemy aircraft flown for evaluation

* Evaluated

, Halberstadt and Rumpler aircraft, 1919

References

{{Wwi-air Squadrons of the United States Army Air Service Squadrons of the United States Army Air Service in World War I Military units and formations established in 1918 Military units and formations disestablished in 1919