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| Lietenants. Baucom, Erwin, and Easterbrook, First Aero Squadron |
In my research on World War I aviation over the decades, my priority has been to better understand the role of aerial reconnaissance and how it shaped the battles that forever marked a war remembered as one of the most traumatic and costly in all history. The prevailing aviation history of the era has focused mainly on aerial combat rather than reconnaissance, a focus that has appealed to the majority of readers and made legends out of the outstanding aces: Richthofen, Ball, Guynemer, Voss, and Rickenbacker, to name a few.
What makes this work so interesting is that Roesler takes this prevailing theme of aviation’s relevance for air superiority and yet retains the photographic reconnaissance mentioned in the reports. This better illustrates the aviators’ sorties those last months of 1918 when the American Expeditionary Force played a significant role. It goes without saying that the three aviators, Erwin, Easterbrook, and Baucom, were exemplary in their bravery and commitment to the missions they flew. Of the three Erwin was the most spectacular, flying the best aerial reconnaissance airplane of the war, the Salmson 2A2, in a manner that out-dueled the Luftstreitkräfte adversaries and helped him acquire a very impressive nine “kills” in the short time he flew combat.
The history told here is relevant for the aviation enthusiast of the era. Reports of sorties culled from the First Aero Squadron histories tell a detailed story of those last months. It was especially interesting to learn Byrne Baucom was a newspaper reporter prior to the war and had extensive writing experience of events covered. His “reporting” of the missions flown was extremely detailed and puts the reader on the edge of the seat.
What is lacking in A Pair of Aces and a Trey is information on what these aviators were required to accomplish on an aerial reconnaissance sortie. It was one of the most demanding assignments of any military function in the entire war. The pilot had to be able to fly a variety of dangerous mission profiles to acquire information close to the battle ground, which included flying straight and level so that the observer could acquire the necessary overlap of aerial photographs for stereo coverage. Mission accomplishment was laid on the aerial observer knowing in detail the area to be covered and the mission parameters, as well as successfully operating a variety of aerial cameras to acquire photographs. These would be used by commanders of the battle, battle hardened veterans of campaigns being fought. Also, intelligence operations needed to know what the adversaries’ intention was.
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| Pilot Erwin and Observer Easterbrook in Their Salmson 2A2 |
Roesler lists various missions from the reports but does not explain what they entailed. However my own extensive research over the past years, plus Casemate’s Eyes All Over the Sky by Jim Streckfuss, have addressed what aerial reconnaissance from a unit such as the First Aero Squadron was required to accomplish.
Absent in this volume is the remarkable story of the First Aero Squadron, America’s first combat ready aviation unit—one that was responsible for accomplishing aerial reconnaissance. First Aero Squadron became the U.S. Air Forces’ 1st Reconnaissance Squadron. First Aero Squadron’s subsequent historic legacy over the past century included some of the most famous airplanes of all time such as the U-2 and SR-71.
Today, 1st Reconnaissance Squadron manages global reconnaissance missions with the U-2S Dragon Lady and the RQ-4 Global Hawk drones. Yet amazing stories still abound of the First Aero Squadron’s first operational mission which included Captain Arthur Coyle, America’s first aviator from the National Guard. Coyle flew the first combat sortie recognized for bravery by the French and as this book tells, commanded the squadron when Erwin, Easterbrook and Baucom were members.
Roesler concludes with the flying exploits of Erwin in the years after the war. Sadly, both Erwin and Baucom were victims of aviation. Erwin died trying to achieve everlasting history with a successful flight from the U.S. mainland to Hawaii. Baucom’s DH-4 crashed into a power line when the motor quit. Of the three, Easterbrook remained in the Army Air Corps and was promoted to brigadier general, serving in World War II in the capacity of organizing and maintaining aviation training in the western United States.
Terrence J. Finnegan
Excellent review. Goof work. -RG Head
ReplyDeleteHighly recommend reading, "First Over the Front" by Stan Walsh.
ReplyDeleteThe exploits of Col. Wm. G. Schauffler, Jr. Who trained and flew with General Billy Mitchell.
I appreciate your overall review comments, although some are simply taken out of context, which I will herein respond to individually. The first sentence below the photograph is absolutely false. I did not "list various missions from the reports . . .." I listed each and every mission that Erwin, Baucom, and Easterbrook flew during their time in the 1st Aero Squadron during WWI. I also explained in great detail what the First Army, and sometimes I Corps, as well as the individual American divisions that the 1st Aero Squadron was assigned to support, was trying to achieve, particularly during the St. Mihiel operations and the Meuse-Argonne offensive operations. This is also aptly illustrated on the six accompanying campaign maps. During these last two campaigns, the chapter text details to what division(s) of the First Army that the 1st Aero Squadron was assigned to support, while most individual missions describe what they were sent out to accomplish, what they encountered, and how their missions affected the battlefield results on the ground. I don't think I could have possibly explained in greater detail what those missions entailed. I encourage you to take a look at my seven pages of Bibliography reference sources. It is enlightening to know that you have extensive research over past years, and I highly support purchase of other Casemate titles. However, I think it is inappropriate to insinuate that "Eyes All Over the Sky" by Jim Streckfuss, without a supporting basis, is a better book. You also said, "Absent in this volume is the remarkable story of the First Aero Squadron . . .." If you read the Preface and Introduction, you would understand this. This is meant to be a biography, not the history of the 1st Aero Squadron. In fact, as explained in the endnotes, the early history of the 1st Aero Squadron was not compiled in Gorrell's History, e.g., Coyle's early mission summaries and all those mission reports prior to July 1918 are unavailable. Moreover, I was limited in the word count that I could utilize for this book. Yes, I would love to write and have published a book on the WWI history of the 1st Aero Squadron, the problem being the squadron records themselves. In summary though, I personally think that book reviews, and subsequent comments, should be limited to the books themselves, and not simply provide a format for competing titles. Criticism is fine, as long as it is accurate. That entails actually reading the book in its entirety, if you are providing negative comments or veiled insults, which this review seems to include, and not comparing it to something that you personally like better or have competing interests in.
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