American pilots engage in first dogfight over the western front
Six days after being assigned for the first time to the western front two American pilots from the U.S.First Aero Squadron engage in Americas first aerial dogfight with enemy aircraft.In a battle fought almost directly over the Allied Squadron Aerodome at Toul France U.S.
fliers Douglas Campbell and Alan Winslow succeeded in shooting down two German two-seaters.By the end of May Campbell had shot down five enemy aircraft making him the first American to qualify as a flying ace in World War I.The First Aero Squadron organized in 1914 after the outbreak of World War I undertook its first combat mission on March 19 1917 in support of the 7000 U.S.troops that invaded Mexico to capture Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa.
Despite numerous mechanical and navigational problems the American fliers flew hundreds of scouting missions for U.S.Brigadier General John J.Pershing and gained important experience that would later be used over the battlefields of Europe in World War I.
