page_title: 11th Aero Squadron
section_title: Combat in France
hierarchical_section_title: 11th Aero Squadron / History / Combat in France
caption_attribution_description: English: Maulan Aerodrome - closeup - France.
context_page_description: The 11th Aero Squadron was a United States Army Air Service unit that fought on the Western Front during World War I.
  The squadron was assigned as a Day Bombardment Squadron, performing long-range bombing attacks on roads and railroads; destruction of materiel and massed troop formations behind enemy lines. It also performed strategic reconnaissance over enemy-controlled territory, and tactical bombing attacks on enemy forces in support of Army offensive operations. After the 1918 Armistice with Germany, the squadron returned to the United States in May 1919 and became part of the permanent United States Army Air Service in 1921, being re-designated as the 11th Squadron.
  The 11th earned battle honors for the Lorraine, St. Mihiel, and Meuse-Argonne Offensives. George McManus, creator of the Mr. Jiggs in his syndicated comic strip, Bringing Up Father, was a member of the Squadron and designer of the squadron insignia, a mischievous Jiggs expressing devilment and hustling along with a bomb under one arm.
  The current United States Air Force unit which holds its lineage and history is the 11th Bomb Squadron, assigned to the 2d Operations Group, Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana.
context_section_description: It crossed the English Channel on 13 August, arriving at the port of Le Havre, where it boarded a troop train arriving at the Air Service Replacement Concentration Barracks, Saint Maixent, on the 14th.  After a stay of five days for final equipment issue, the 11th Aero Squadron was moved to the "Zone of Advance" (the Western Front), transiting through the Air Service Production Center No. 2, at Romorantin, before reaching Delouze Aerodrome.     There the 11th was designated as a Day Bombardment squadron, and to be assigned to the 1st Day Bombardment Group when it was formed on next 10 September.  On 1 September 1918, seven teams of pilots and observers/bombardiers reported, ferrying a complement of American-built Dayton-Wright DH-4 aircraft from the 1st Air Depot at Colombey-les-Belles Airdrome.   A period of time was spent giving the DH-4s a through overhauling, before proceeding to Amanty Airdrome on 6 September where the squadron was organized into a combat unit and familiarization flights were made.  Another move to Maulan Aerodrome on 24 September was made which would be where the 11th AS would enter combat.
  The first combat mission was flown on 26 September when a formation of nine aircraft crossed enemy lines on a bombing raid on Etain, flying at 12,000 feet. The raid was assessed as being very successful, and all the US aircraft returned to Maulan.  The 11th didn't carry out a raid again until 2 October, although several of its flying crews were loaned to the 96th Aero Squadron to operate that unit's Breguet XIVs. On 1 October the 11th and 20th Aero Squadrons experimented with a large combined formation, with each unit forming one arm of a "V"; the 11th formed the left arm and the 20th the right arm.  However the 11th was having severe problems with the Liberty V-12 engines of its DH-4s and the formation broke up shortly after and the raid was abandoned.
  The squadron's next combat mission was a bombing raid on Saint-Juvin on 2 October. The bombing was assessed as successful, and all the squadron aircraft returned to Maulan.  On 4 October, a successful afternoon raid on Doulcon was carried out by the 11th and 20th Aero Squadrons.  On 5 October the squadron bombed Aincreville from 15,000 feet with six airplanes.  6 October saw eight aircraft from the squadron raided Doulcon, about 45 km north west of Verdun, in a trial of low-level bombing from 4,000 feet.  Although the DH-4s experienced heavy fire from ground machine guns, no enemy aircraft were seen and all the US aircraft returned.
  The squadron's next raid was three days later, on 9 October, when seven DH-4s bombed Saint-Juvin from 10,000 feet.  The next day, the squadron carried out a morning raid on the railway yards at Milly-sur-Bradon on 10 October from 12,000 feet and returned safely. The afternoon saw another raid on Milly-sur-Bradon, which was bombed from 11,500 feet by eight aircraft. A third raid on Milly-sur-Bradon was ordered in the late afternoon, and the DH-4s were made ready, but the operation was cancelled before take off.  On 18 October, eleven DH-4s bombed Bayonville though mist. On 23 October the squadron took part in a combined group raid on Buzancy when five Fokkers were seen near Bayonville, followed by another five Fokkers and one Albatross south of Buzancy. One enemy aircraft went down 'out of control' near Imecourt.  A German aerodrome between Barricourt and Bayonville was visited by 10 squadron DH-4s on 31 October, and the formation was attacked by ten Fokkers over Tailly. The 11th also bombed Martincourt on 3 November.
  On 4 November 12 aircraft took off to bomb Cheveney le Château from 12,000 feet. Three aircraft were forced to turn back with engine problems before the formation reached the Lines. Back at Maulan, 1Lt Cyrus J Gatton, from Bozeman, Montana, a flight commander and veteran of 12 missions with the French and 13 with the Air Service, and 2Lt G E Bures, a four-mission veteran from Cicero, Illinois, both of whom had just returned to the squadron from leave, volunteered to reinforce the raiders. Five minutes after the departure 
caption: Maulan Aerodrome, France.  Note the six tent and frame hangars at the airfield, with the squadrons' DH-4s lined up in front.   Trails made by vehicles in the field show the routes taken to the station area and personnel tents along the road to Maulan
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