24th Aero Squadron The 24th Aero Squadron was a Air Service , United States Army unit that fought on the Western Front during World War I . The squadron was assigned as an Army Observation Squadron , performing long - range , strategic reconnaissance over the entire length of the United States First Army sector of the Western Front in France . After the 1918 Armistice with Germany , the squadron was assigned to the United States Third Army as part of the Occupation of the Rhineland in Germany . It returned to the United States in August 1919 and was demobilized . In 1921 , the squadron was consolidated with the United States Army Air Service 24th Squadron . It later served in the Panama Canal Zone during World War II as the 24th Fighter Squadron under 6th Air Force . It has been inactive since October 1946 . History . The 24th Fighter Squadron was originally formed on 1 May 1917 as Company F , Provisional Aviation School Squadron at Kelly Field , Texas . It then became the 19th Provisional Aviation School Squadron on 14 June 1917 and the 24th Aero Squadron ( Observation ) 23 July 1917 . On 11 November 1917 , the original squadron was divided , with half of the squadron being re - formed into the 185th Aero Squadron . On 28 December the 24th Squadron left Kelly Field , moving to the Aviation Concentration Center , Camp Mills , Garden City , New York where the unit awaited transport for overseas service . The squadron sailed on the Cunard Liner RMS Carmania on 9 January , arriving at Liverpool , England on 24 January . From Liverpool , the squadron went by train to the Romney Rest Camp , Winchester , where it awaited a training assignment with the Royal Flying Corps for advanced training . On 31 January , the squadron was divided into four flights for training , which " A " Flight was assigned to RFC Wye , Kent ; " B " Flight to RFC London Colney , Hertfordshire ; " C " Flight to RFC Sedgeford , Norfolk and " D " Flight RFC Wyton , Huntingdonshire . On 7 March , " B " Flight was moved to RFC Croydon in South London . At these locations , squadron personnel worked with British RFC units in maintaining aircraft and learning the means and methods of an operational squadron . On 1 May , the squadron was re - assembled at RFC Narborough , Norfolk for final training . On 11 July 1918 , the squadron was considered ready for combat duty and was sent to Le Harve , France , where it arrived on 22 July . It moved to the St . Maixent Aerodrome , where it was processed into the American Expeditionary Forces . 6 August saw another movement to Ourches Aerodrome , where it was designated a Corps Observation squadron and assigned to the IV Corps Observation Group , receiving Salmson 2A2 aircraft . However , at the last minute , it was reassigned to the First Army Observation Group at Gondreville - sur - Moselle Aerodrome on 22d August . Combat in France . Its first combat mission came on 12 September 1918 during the St . Mihiel Offensive , and 13 more missions were flown during the following ten days . The unit ' s first confirmed combat victory came on 15 September 1918 when 2d Lt . Roe E . Wells ( Pilot ) and 2d Lt . Albert W . Swinebroad ( Observer ) shot down a German aircraft . The unit also lost three aircraft during the same period , and of the crews from these aircraft , two men became POWs . On 22 September the group was moved to Vavicourt Airdrome , behind the Verdun Front in preparation of the Meuse - Argonne Offensive . During the offensive , the squadron was almost continually engaged in combat . During the offensive , the squadron sent out a total of 155 reconnaissance flights , completing a total of 8729 kilometers behind enemy lines , bringing back valuable intelligence acquired by visual reconnaissance or by aerial photography and in aerial combat destroying 9 enemy aircraft . 22 of the missions completed during the offensive were special reconnaissance missions directed by First Army Headquarters to obtain specific information urgently needed or to verify reports that required confirmation . All of these missions were carried out at extremely low altitudes . For these special duties , teams were detached from the squadron and sent to Army Headquarters at Souilly between 9 and 18 October . On one such mission , 1st Lt . Raymond P . Dillon ( Pilot ) and 2d Lt . John B . Lee III engaged nine enemy aircraft and claimed three of them . Third Army of Occupation . After the November 1918 Armistice with Germany , the squadron remained at Vavincourt Aerodrome until 15 April 1919 . With the inactivation of the First Army Air Service , the 24th was then assigned to Weißenthurm Airdrome , Germany to serve as part of the occupation force of the Rhineland under the Third Army Air Service , III Corps Observation Group . For the next six months the squadron flew a mixture of US - built Dayton - Wright DH - 4s , French SPAD XIIIs , and also the squadron was able to perform test flights on surrendered German aircraft . Flights of the Fokker D . VII , Pfalz D . XII , Halberstadts and Rumpler aircraft were made and evaluations were made . On 18 July 1919 , the squadron first went to the 1st Air Depot at Colombey - les - Belles Airdrome , to turn in all of its supplies and equipment and was relieved from duty with the AEF . The squadron ' s planes were delivered to the Air Service Production Center No . 2 . at Romorantin Aerodrome . Personnel 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 . Upon return to the US , most squadron personnel were demobilized at at Camp Mills , New York in late July 1919 . The 24th Aero Squadron returned to the United States on or about 1 August 1919 and reported to Mitchell Field , on Long Island , New York . However , the squadron was sent to Park Field , near Memphis Tennessee where personnel were de - mobilized and returned to civilian life . It was carried as an administrative unit under the Army II Corps , however , it was not re - manned and was finally inactivated on 1 October 1919 .