The Lafayette Escadrille – A Squadron of American Volunteers Fighting for France, 1914-1918

This is the story of a handful of volunteers, spiritual heirs of the Marquis de Lafayette. The story of 38 men who joined the ranks of a Franco-American fighter squadron and who, between April 1916 and February 1918, ranging across the Western Front, were the protagonists of Dantean and heroic confrontations.

In 1916, France had already been holding back the Prussian steamroller for two years. The United States looked on from afar, firmly entrenched in fierce isolationism. But a handful of individuals were determined to come to the aid of their oldest ally, in the name of "the noblest of all causes" — civilisation — in the face of the invader's barbarity.

Enlisted in the Foreign Legion or at the wheel of ambulances on the front line, they formed a volunteer squadron, drawing on their flying skills or their extraordinary courage to pilot fragile biplanes through the glowing skies over Verdun and the Somme. Pitted against Germany's greatest aces, the thirty-eight aviators quickly proved their worth, from the Vosges to the North Sea, transforming the N 124 "Lafayette" into an elite unit, while their Nieuports and Spads, adorned with a Native American warrior's head, drew cheers from the "poilus". Their exploits were recounted in newspapers, their eccentricities reported with relish, their losses commemorated with full military honours.

It took a few brave young men to swing American public opinion. On 6 April 1917, the United States declared war on Germany.