Martin Antonenko
A Fixture
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2008
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The first aerial victory by a US pilot in World War I!
On February 5, 1918, Lieutenant of the United States' 1st Aero Squadron, Stephen W. Thompson ...
... who is stationed at the airfield in Amanty (France) paid a visit to the comrades of a French bomber squadron, which has its airfield very close in Neufchâteau ...:
Thompson has a lot of free time these days!
He has just been relocated to Europe and his "Curtiss JN-4 Jenny" machine is not yet ready to fly ...:
The French aviators hospitably welcome the American as a new ally ...
... and even invite him to be a bombardier in one of their planes, a "Salmson 4" ...
... to fly with you, as they are about to bomb the Burbach steelworks at Saarbrücken ...:
Thompson says yes and will fly the attack!
After the squadron passed Saarbrücken without incident and unlatched its bombs, the French were attacked on the way back by several German single-seaters of the type "Albatros D III".
Thompson's role is now to operate the double-barreled defence machine gun that is attached behind the rear seat of the "Salmson" bomber ...:
And he actually manages to shoot down one of the German planes!
This makes Lieutenant Thompson the first regular US military aviator to have a confirmed downing of an enemy aircraft in World War I!
The French give him the "Croix de Guerre" with a palm branch ...:
If you look closely, Thompson is the first US military man to shoot down a German plane, but not the first American!
The pilot Kiffin Yates Rockwell succeeded in doing this as early on May 18, 1916 over Alsace. Rockwell flew as a volunteer (and in French uniform!) in the French combat unit "LaFayette Escadrille" ...:
But Rockwell had been dead for almost two years when Thompson came to France: On September 23, 1916, Rockwell was shot through the chest by an explosive bullet in a fight with a German two-man reconnaissance aircraft over Verdun and killed immediately.
His plane crashed between the first and second lines of the French trenches.
Thompson, on the other hand, will survive the war and have a long life: he dies on my 19th birthday on October 9, 1977.
On February 5, 1918, Lieutenant of the United States' 1st Aero Squadron, Stephen W. Thompson ...
... who is stationed at the airfield in Amanty (France) paid a visit to the comrades of a French bomber squadron, which has its airfield very close in Neufchâteau ...:
Thompson has a lot of free time these days!
He has just been relocated to Europe and his "Curtiss JN-4 Jenny" machine is not yet ready to fly ...:
The French aviators hospitably welcome the American as a new ally ...
... and even invite him to be a bombardier in one of their planes, a "Salmson 4" ...
... to fly with you, as they are about to bomb the Burbach steelworks at Saarbrücken ...:
Thompson says yes and will fly the attack!
After the squadron passed Saarbrücken without incident and unlatched its bombs, the French were attacked on the way back by several German single-seaters of the type "Albatros D III".
Thompson's role is now to operate the double-barreled defence machine gun that is attached behind the rear seat of the "Salmson" bomber ...:
And he actually manages to shoot down one of the German planes!
This makes Lieutenant Thompson the first regular US military aviator to have a confirmed downing of an enemy aircraft in World War I!
The French give him the "Croix de Guerre" with a palm branch ...:
If you look closely, Thompson is the first US military man to shoot down a German plane, but not the first American!
The pilot Kiffin Yates Rockwell succeeded in doing this as early on May 18, 1916 over Alsace. Rockwell flew as a volunteer (and in French uniform!) in the French combat unit "LaFayette Escadrille" ...:
But Rockwell had been dead for almost two years when Thompson came to France: On September 23, 1916, Rockwell was shot through the chest by an explosive bullet in a fight with a German two-man reconnaissance aircraft over Verdun and killed immediately.
His plane crashed between the first and second lines of the French trenches.
Thompson, on the other hand, will survive the war and have a long life: he dies on my 19th birthday on October 9, 1977.