135th Aero Squadron The 135th 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 a Corps Observation Squadron , performing short - range , tactical reconnaissance over the IV Corps , United States First Army sector of the Western Front in France , providing battlefield intelligence . In combat , the 135th was the first Air Service unit equipped with the all American made Dayton - Wright DH - 4 aircraft . IV Corps was transferred to the United States Second Army in October 1918 for a planned offensive drive on Metz which was cancelled due to the 1918 Armistice with Germany on 11 November . The squadron returned to the United States in June 1919 and became part of the permanent United States Army Air Service in 1921 , being re - designated as the 22d Squadron ( Observation ) . The current United States Air Force unit which holds its lineage and history is the 22d Intelligence Squadron , assigned to the 707th Intelligence , Surveillance and Reconnaissance Group , Fort George G . Meade , Maryland . History . Origins . The 135th Aero Squadron was organized at Rockwell Field , near San Diego , California on 1 August 1917 . It was formed from personnel transferred from the 14th and 18th Aero Squadrons , being originality designated as " Company A , 1st Aviation School , Rockwell Field " . The men of the squadron began their training as aircraft mechanics on the first planes used by the United States Army . Fourteen Wright - Martin Model V and Curtiss Model J " Tractors " were used to train the first men as pilots in the Army . In fact , the first eighty - seven officers to be trained for flying were trained at Rockwell Field . Towards the end of their training at Rockwell Field , the 135th was alerted for overseas service . After a short period , orders were received on 25 November and the squadron boarded a train bound for the Aviation Concentration Center , Long Island , New York . The squadron arrived on 1 December and was sent to Hazelhurtst Field ( # 2 ) . The men , almost all being from southern California , were not used to the cold , damp weather and several became sick . On 16 December , the squadron boarded the RMS Orduna and after a delay , left for England . The overseas voyage was uneventful with the exception that the ship was diverted to arrive in Glasgow , Scotland , arriving on 31 December . Upon arrival , the squadron was sent by train south to Winchester , England , arriving on 1 December 1918 . Training in England . At the Rest Camp at Winchester ( Morn Hill ) , the squadron was attached to the Royal Flying Corps for additional training and divided up into Flights . Flights were sent to RFC stations at Waddington , Scampton and South Carlton , the last arriving on 8 January . Training with the RFC continued until the end of June , and the squadron was re - assembled at Winchester on the 24th . Movement was made to France , arriving at Le Harve on 28 June . From the staging area at Le Harve , the squadron boarded French railway cars and moved south to the American 3d Air Instructional Center at Issoudun Aerodrome . However at the 3d AIC , the squadron was assigned to petty menial tasks , until further orders were received to proceed to Amanty Airdrome , where , upon arrival the squadron was again assigned to customary Camp detail duties . On 30 July , orders were again received to move to Ourches Aerodrome where the 135th was designated as a Corps Observation squadron , assigned to the IV Corps Observation Group . At Ourches , the squadron was equipped with American - made de Havilland DH - 4 s , built by Dayton - Wright and using Liberty L - 12 engines . The aircraft were flown in by the pilots assigned to the squadron from the 1st Air Depot at Colombey - les - Belles Airdrome . By the end of the first week of August , the squadron received its full compliment of 24 aircraft , along with the observers and pilots . Combat in France . On 7 August , the 132d Aero Squadron flew its first mission of the war . The first sortie was quite an affair with Brigadier General Benjamin Foulois , then Chief of the Air Service , Zone of Advance , leading the formation of squadron aircraft . A motion picture operator was present to record the event . Motion pictures were taken of the 18 American planes lined up in front of the hangars . The sortie , however did not cross the line into enemy territory , for the planes flew only as far as Nancy . After about an hour , all planes returned to Amanty without any problems . For the next week or so the squadron performed subsequent missions , with no enemy aircraft being engaged , although German Anti - Aircraft Artillery hitting the planes with shrapnel . The first combat with enemy aircraft took place on 16 August during a photographic mission across the lines . While the observer was taking photographs , the plane was attacked by a German aircraft . In the combat that ensued , the pilot was wounded three times in the leg and the aircraft fuel line was severed by a bullet causing the engine to stall . It was only the skillful piloting of the wounded pilot who managed to make an un - powered glide back across the lines . For his actions , the pilot was awarded a Distinguished Service Cross , he was taken to a hospital but re - joined the squadron later . Initially the 135th was assigned to monitor and photograph the sector from Bouconville to Pont - à - Mousson . Just before the Battle of Saint - Mihiel attack on 12 September , the squadron was reassigned to the front of the 89th Division as well as the IV Corps Artillery , providing adjustments to the artillery as required . On the day of the attack , rain was falling and the clouds were unusually low . However operations commenced with 2d Lieutenant Bowyer as pilot and 1st Lieutenant Johnson as the observer . Due to the aircraft having to fly very low , and though the American artillery barrage , one shell struck their aircraft . The plane was instantly demolished in the air , killing both men . Subsequently both officers were recommended for the Distinguished Service Medal . Numerous sorties and combats occurred throughout the month of September , with the squadron being shifted from one division to another , providing the commanders operational intelligence and reconnaissance photography . On 30 September , the squadron , along with the IV Corps Observation Group , moved to Gengault Aerodrome , near Toul . From Toul , mission of the most perilous nature were undertaken under difficult curcumstances , however the pilots and observers of the squadron continued to provide excellent results . Besides the work of observation and photography , the 135th made a number of bombing missions , carrying twenty pound bombs which were dropped on objectives in enemy territory . On 3 November , the squadron flew in formation on a bombing mission over Chambley and bombed enemy targets in the town . By the time of the Armistice on 11 November , the squadron made 1 , 016 sorties and lost five officers in combat ; two pilots and three observers . The squadron was also credited with the destruction of eight enemy aircraft in combat . Demobilization . After the armistice , the AEF was very slow in returning its forces to the United States . The Squadron remained at Toul until 10 February 1919 when orders were received from Second Army for the squadron to report to the 1st Air Depot , 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 , and there , practically all of the pilots and observers were detached from the Squadron . Personnel were subsequently assigned to the Commanding General , Services of Supply and ordered to report to a staging camp at Tresses , France , where it remained until 18 April . There , personnel awaited scheduling to report to one of the Base Ports in France for transport to the United States . It then moved to the Port of Embarkation at Bordeaux where it boarded a transport ship which returned them to the United States , arriving at the port of New York about 6 May . After returning from France , most of the 135th Aero Squadron demobilized at Hazelhurst Field , Long Island , and returned to civilian life . A small cadre of the unit remained in the Air Service , and were assigned to Post Field , Oklahoma , and attached as an observation squadron , supplying aircraft for the United States Army Field Artillery School at Fort Sill and supported Army units at Fort Leavenworth , Kansas . The 135th Aero Squadron became part of the permanent United States Army Air Service in 1921 , being re - designated as the 22d Squadron ( Observation ) . Rin Tin Tin . As part of the advances made by the French and American forces during the Battle of Saint - Mihiel , U . S . Army corporal Lee Duncan was sent forward from Ourches on 15 September to the small French village of Flirey to find a suitable landing ground for military aircraft . There Duncan found a severely damaged kennel which had once supplied the German Army with German Shepherd dogs . The only dogs left alive in the kennel were a starving mother with a litter of five nursing puppies , their eyes still shut because they were less than a week old . Duncan rescued the dogs and brought them back to the 135th Aero Squadron . He kept a male and a female . He felt that these two dogs were symbols of his good luck . He called them Rin Tin Tin and Nanette after a pair of good luck charms called Rintintin and Nénette that French children often gave to the American soldiers . Smuggling back the dogs aboard a ship taking him back to the US at the end of the war , eventually Rin Tin Tin was discovered by Hollywood filmmakers by his ability to leap great heights at a dog show . When he died in 1932 , Lee Duncan took Rin Tin Tin ' s body back to France , where he had him buried in a Paris cemetery , the country of his birth .