Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-01-17
CHAPTER III.


T Iuxeuil the Americans were
n maui who wa was IT,, to e - their ,a,
entire life Of the Escadrille
Americaine. This remarkable man is
well described by James Norman Hall.
later recruit in his book THE La
layette Flying Corps" Hall says:
"Thenaults leadership during the
whole of this period was never an irk-
some one. His association with his
pilots who regarded him as friend
and good comrade as well as their cap
tain, was intimate and cordial. He
performed his duties with kindness and
tact. delegating much of his authority
10 his French dS-in-command,
LieutS. de Laage de MeuX. de Maison-
Rouge and Vervier-Fauvety. and TO
Thaw and Lufbery. After his pilots
had served their apprenticeship at the
frons, ii was only occasionally that he
took part in the patrols and combats
of the squadron; but this was chiefly
due to the fact that there was always
q nucleus of Older men equipped both
in natural endowment and long train
ing as flight leaders OF the first order
He knew and trusted in their ability
and in time came TO exercise only
nominal leadership III matters of the
air For the members of N 124
II is an association never TO be forgot
ten Their memories of Capt. The
nault, Of his good-fellowship. of his
thoughtful consideration for them upon
innumerahle occasions. through days
Of danger and great strain. must al
ways remain among the happiest which
they have Of the Great War"
Of Capt Thenault tina; he was and is
q man OF fine diScernment. He know
that while his American subordinateS
held for him the warmest OF feeling
they were Americans and that they
wished 10 fight as Americans, with
Out supervision except from among
their own number. He never forced
upon them unduly the fact that they
were under command of French Of
ficer nor did he make the fact OF that
command onerous. He paid them the
high compliment of assuming that they
were competent in their chosen work
and the further compliment of acting
upon that assumption.
Capt. Thenault is now military at
tache Of the French Embassy at Wash
ington. Much of the material in this
story OF his command is drawn from
script has passed under his eye Like
most real fighting soldiers. he is a
quiet man Of almost gentle manner and
the same fine consideration for others
that marked his conduct Of the Esca-
Grille Americana so many years ago
Several of the American members
o. the new squadron had already I'M
derogne their baptism of fire in the air.
Capt William Thaw of Pittsburgh had
served more than a year in Escadrille
Caudron ~, which for part of that
period was under the command of
Capt. Thenault. Thaw had distin-
guished himself in aerial scouting and
artillery observation. Although his
Caudron was not fighting plane, he
once cruised for hours over the lines in
search Of an enemy plane which he
could attack. That was before the
DAY OF aerial machine guns-in fact, it
vas before airplanes had begun TO
Eight each other at all.
The Beginning of Air Fighting.
At the beginning OF the war air.
planes were used for scouting and OBJ
servation entirely: it was not until
late in 1915 that they began TO attack
each other. One OF the first adven-
lures OF aerial warfare was the at
tempt Of some French flyers TO disable
German planes by throwing bricks at
their propeilers, the attackers carrying
. sack Of this plebeian equipment as
extra eQuipment.g~-s
To return to our story, on the oc-
casion mentioned above Thaw's me-
cf1anic was armed with a Winchester
rife with which to attack any German
plane which might come within range.
Unfortunately for the success Of the
plan. the German planes were all
faster than Thaws Caudron and used
their speed TO keep out of his way.
Thaw was given double-motered Cau-
cron equipped with a machine gun In
July Of 1915. but the gun always JAM
med when be had chance TO use II
and he was never able 70 shoot down
an enemy plane, though he cruised for
hours al time in the bitter cold Of
the following Winter.
Norman Prince Of Boston had been
trained as an aviator before he came
% France with his great idea Luf-