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By
Andrew V. Pestano
A deadly raid on a small town
in New Mexico a century ago provoked the United
States into a cross-border manhunt for a Mexican
desperado -- a pursuit which led to the first
U.S. military air-combat operation.
During a time of war and
revolution for Mexico, the First Aero Squadron
was deployed in 1916 as part of a larger mission
under former President Woodrow Wilson to hunt
down Mexican revolutionary Gen. Francisco "Pancho"
Villa -- considered a fugitive by the United
States who was wanted dead or alive.
The hunt for the man who came to be known by his
nickname, Pancho Villa, gave the U.S. military
the opportunity to make use of a new technology,
something it had been testing for years.
The First Aero Squadron, also known as the First
Reconnaissance Squadron, was formed in 1913
under former President William Taft shortly
before his term ended. Flight lessons were
nearly nonexistent at the time and pilot
fatalities were high.
The squadron would eventually be made up of two
companies and eight Curtiss JN-3 biplanes. The
Curtiss Aeroplane Company, the largest airplane
producer in the United States at the time, won
the contract from the U.S. Department of War, a
predecessor to the Department of Defense. For
easier transport, engineers could break down and
rebuild each plane in less than two hours -- a
task the First Aero Squadron would later handle
itself.
Initially, the First Aero Squadron, the only
flight crew in the U.S. military, was seen as a
vital tool for reconnaissance and delivering
messages. The idea of using U.S. aircraft for
war purposes was new, but perhaps the first
flying experience for former President Theodore
Roosevelt cemented the concept.
When Roosevelt rode an airplane for the first
time in 1910, he praised the pilot, Archibald
Hoxsey, and the experience -- although Teddy
hazardously leaned over a side of the precarious
plane and waved at a crowd below.
Hoxsey told United Press International, then
called United Press, that although communicating
with the president was difficult aboard the
plane, he picked up on a couple of words Teddy
shouted.
"I didn't look at Roosevelt until I felt the
machine wiggle. He was waving at the crowd. We
were up about 150 feet. 'Be careful not to pull
any of those strings,' I warned him. He was
sitting directly underneath the valve cord of
the engine and the engine would have stopped had
he touched it," Hoxsey said.
"'Nothing doing,' he shouted back, showing his
teeth," Hoxsey added. "The propeller made so
much noise we had to shout. I heard him say
'war,' 'army,' 'aeroplane' and 'bomb,' but the
noise was so great I could not hear the rest. I
was very careful. I said to myself, 'If anything
happens to him I'll never be able to square
myself with the American people.' I was mighty
glad when we landed. I never felt a greater
responsibility in my life."
Like Roosevelt's experience in 1910, the risk of
flight six years later was still considerable,
but that did not stop the Wright brothers nor
would it stop the First Aero Squadron.
Tensions were high between the United States and
Mexico in the early 20th century amid the
10-year Mexican Revolution and World War I. The
strained affairs and the unpredictable
revolution led the Taft Administration to
mobilize the military to prepare a defense
against Mexico.
On March 9, 1916, Pancho Villa led an invasion
with hundreds of his revolutionary guerrilla
members on the town of Columbus, N.M., where
about 18 Americans -- mostly civilians -- where
killed. About 70 of Pancho Villa's men were
killed by U.S. forces and he escaped back to
Mexico.
"The Mexicans advanced under cover of darkness,
and set fire to the depot and neighboring
buildings," said an article written by a
reporter from United Press. "Troops armed with
rifles and machine guns repulsed the bandits
after two hours of fighting. The Thirteenth
cavalry then pursued the bandits until they were
driven over the border."
Pancho Villa was a key figure during the long
and complex Mexican Revolution. He fought
against the forces of Venustiano Carranza, who
became president shortly after formally seizing
control of most of Mexico when he defeated
Pancho Villa at the 1915 Battle of Celaya.
Pancho Villa and Carranza were allies when they
fought together in a revolution to oust
Victoriano Huerta from the presidency, but once
Huerta was removed the men turned against one
another over control of Mexico.
After Pancho Villa's devastating defeat at
Celaya at the hands of Carranza's top general
Álvaro Obregón, U.S. President Wilson formally
recognized the government of Carranza -- an act
which embittered Pancho Villa, who felt betrayed
and who was now seen as an enemy of both Mexico
and the United States.
Pancho Villa, who previously had satisfactory
relations with the United States, may have
launched the New Mexico assault as both a
strategic and retaliatory attack, after the U.S.
government began supporting Carranza's troops
logistically. He may also have hoped the attack
would launch a border war between the United
States and Mexico to destabilize Carranza's
regime. Another theory suggests Pancho Villa
launched the attack under orders from Carranza
because the Mexican leader believed the United
States perceived his Constitutionalist faction
as a threat.
Wilson responded to the New Mexico attack by
creating the Punitive Expedition, a U.S.
military manhunt for Pancho Villa that lasted
nearly a year.
The First Aero Squadron suddenly faced its first
combat test.
Under the command of Brig. Gen. John Pershing,
the Punitive Expedition crossed the border into
Mexico six days after Pancho Villa's raid, with
Carranza's reluctant approval.
Capt. Benjamin Foulois and Lt. Joseph E.
Carberry picked up on April 27, 1916, by a
Mexican citizen after their Curtiss JN-3
airplane had fallen 1,500 feet during the
Punitive Expedition. File Photo by Library of
Congress/UPI
To help with the hunt, on March 19, 1916, the
First Aero Squadron -- equipped with the eight
planes made of wood, wire and fabric -- headed
south into Mexican territory. One plane returned
almost immediately after experiencing engine
problems.
The pilots were responsible for running
reconnaissance flights, delivering messages and
conducting land surveillance. They also spent a
lot of time repairing their planes.
During that first mission, the First Aero
Squadron was much-criticized because of frequent
crashes and their difficulty performing in the
harsh Mexican terrain. After a month of service,
only two of the original airplanes deployed
remained in service. The airplanes could not
climb over much of the mountainous terrain, nor
could they stand against the winds that pushed
against them.
In defense of his men, First Aero Squadron Capt.
E.B. Foulois on March 30, 1916, told United
Press reporter H.D. Jacobs that his pilots'
experiences in such harsh conditions "makes them
the superior of any aerial force in the world."
"Our aviators are daily encountering conditions
no airmen ever before have faced," Foulois said.
"The Sierra Madres over which our planes must
fly, create shifting winds and dangerous air
pockets. The altitude of nearly a mile above sea
level gives the machine only about another mile
leeway as their maximum altitude is two miles.
Despite this and the added handicap of very
rough country for landing, the squadron of eight
airplanes has gone through the campaign so far
without any real serious mishap."
The Punitive Expedition did not succeed in
capturing or killing Pancho Villa, who was
assassinated in 1923 -- possibly under orders by
Obregón -- but the yearlong advance by the
Americans wasn't considered unwelcome by at
least some Mexicans.
UPI articles from the time showed Mexican
natives supported the U.S. military effort to
rid of their land from the threat of Pancho
Villa, who is a controversial figure in Mexico
to this day -- both revered and rejected.
"The native Mexicans are staking everything on
the success of the expedition," one article
said. "If the bandits are not thoroughly wiped
out, Mexican farmers fear they will return and
murder everyone who sold produce to the American
soldiers. Villa is reported to have killed
Mexicans for merely adopting American ideas and
working for American ranchmen."
Although the First Aero Squadron's excursion was
blighted with difficulty -- and the expedition
itself was unsuccessful -- it is considered to
have been a worthwhile experience for the U.S.
military. The squadron experimented with bombs
and machineguns, which was quickly becoming a
standard across the ocean Atlantic in Europe
during the first World War.
"The Punitive Expedition turned out to be a
critical training ground for aviators and
aviation in combat," a blog post about the
squadron by the U.S. Army said. "Pershing was
frustrated with their problems, but realized it
was primarily a situation of old, underpowered
equipment."
The squadron put what it learned in Mexico to
use in the air above Europe during the Great War
and planted a seed for what would eventually
become an entire branch of the military, the
U.S. Air Force.
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