104th Aero Squadron The 104th 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 V Corps , United States First Army sector of the Western Front in France , providing battlefield intelligence . After the 1918 Armistice with Germany , the squadron returned to the United States in June 1919 and became part of the permanent United States Army Air Service in 1921 , when it was redesignated as the 13th Squadron ( Attack ) . The current United States Air Force unit which continues its lineage and history is the 13th Bomb Squadron , assigned to the 509th Operations Group at Whiteman Air Force Base , Missouri . History . The 104th Aero Squadron was organized on 25 August 1917 . The unit was formed from all the unassigned recruits at Kelly Field , Texas , who were lined up in formation and 150 men were counted off to form the squadron . No attention was paid to the capabilities of its members at the time , because there were no facilities at Kelly Field for trade testing or flight training . The unit was instructed in close order drill and ordinary post duties . The urgency of the need for men in France led to the squadron receiving orders to report to the Aviation Concentration Center at Garden City , New York , on 30 October . On 28 November the squadron sailed aboard the SS Baltic and arrived at Liverpool , England , on 7 December . The next day , the squadron proceeded to Winchester where they were quartered at the Windall Rest Camp . The Air Service attached the 104th to the British Royal Flying Corps for training . At Winchester , the squadron was split into four flight s , with each flight going to a separate English flying school for training . The headquarters flight was established at Winchester , before moving to the Central Flying School at RFC Upavon and then to Netheravon . Other flights went to the Mechanics School at RFC Salisbury , RFC Andover and the motor transport school at RFC Yatesbury . On 10 July 1918 , all four flights met at Winchester to prepare for movement to France , but an outbreak of Spanish influenza delayed their movement across the English Channel to Le Havre , France , until 19 July . On the same day the squadron boarded a troop train and arrived at the American Expeditionary Force ( AEF ) St . Maixent Replacement Barracks on 22 July . After being processed and properly equipped , the squadron first moved to Amanty Airdrome on 1 August where the 104th was classified as a Corps Observation squadron . It then was moved to Epiez Aerodrome on 4 August , where the squadron received its first aircraft , French Salmson 2A2 s and was assigned to the V Corps Observation Group . On 8 August the 104th was transferred to the " Zone of Advance " and proceeded to Luxeuil - les - Bains Aerodrome where it joined the 88th and 99th Aero Squadron s of the group . By 8 September the squadron was ready for action , and it moved to Souilly Aerodrome where it participated in the St . Mihiel offensive , serving primarily as the eyes of the artillery . Pilots flew reconnaissance , directed Allied artillery fire and pinpointed troop movements . The demand for artillery fire adjustments through aerial observation was constant in spite of difficulties encountered with air - to - ground communication . It was largely due to the photographs made by aerial reconnaissance that the Allied infantry knew where it was advancing . As the war progressed the demand for observation and reconnaissance by the 104th increased . During the Meuse - Argonne offensive , the 104th operated from Foucaucourt Aerodrome ( near Verdun ) . The squadron continued its previous operations and also engaged the enemy in aerial combat and attacked enemy machine - gun nests . It also dropped thousands of propaganda leaflets over German lines and thousands of newspapers to American soldiers . In the final days of the war the 104th operated from Parois Airdrome , with a flight deployed at Barricourt . The war ended on 11 November 1918 , and by the end of that month the 104th was at Belrain Aerodrome where it remained until it could return home . Finally , on 14 January 1919 , orders were received to proceed to the 1st Air Depot at Colombey - les - Belles Airdrome , where its airplanes and equipment would be turned in . From Colombey , the squadron proceeded to a staging camp at Libourne on 3 February where it remained until moving to the port of Bordeaux on 10 April . On 18 April , the squadron boarded the , and nine days later it disembarked in New York . The wholesale discharge of personnel soon depleted the l04th ' s strength . In May the squadron was down to one officer and one enlisted man and was classified as an administrative unit without personnel or equipment at Mitchel Field . New York . " For subsequent history see 13th Bomb Squadron "