Remembering a Veteran: Lt. Dana Coates, 11th Aero Squadron, USAS

 

Cadet Pilot Dana Coates with Sopwith F1 Camel

By Gareth Morgan, Western Front Association

Dana Edmond Coates was born in Lodgepole, Nebraska, in 1894, the third of ten children. He was descended from one Charles Coates, a British soldier sent to America during the Seven Years War (1756–1763—although hostilities started two years earlier in North America) who settled in the country after hostilities ended. Charles's descendants fought in the American War of Independence and in the Civil War. His mother was born in true pioneer style in a "soddy" (a house made of earth sod) in Nebraska. At the time of Dana's birth, the Coates family ran the train depot and the telegraph station in Lodgepole. The family later moved to Denver, Colorado, where his father ran a telegraph school, and two of his sisters were noted as being exceptional in their mastery of the telegraph. 

Dana served in the Colorado National Guard Signal Corps and saw service on the Mexican border during the U.S. Army's 1916 campaign against the revolutionary Pancho Villa. We can only wonder if he saw the Curtiss JN-3 aeroplanes flown by the U.S. Army during the campaign and decided then that aviation was the way that he'd like to wage war.

Following the U.S. entry into the Great War in April 1917, Dana enlisted in the army on 15 August 1917 and volunteered for the air service, then a branch of his old regiment, the Signal Corps. James Sloan, in his book Wings of Honor, lists Dana Coates as a member of the second group of 204 American cadets sent to England in August and September of 1917, known as the Oxford Group. They were selected from the group of graduates from the Schools of Military Aeronautics at Princeton, the Universities of Illinois, Texas, and California. These cadets were originally informed they would be sent to Italy. An undated newspaper article (probably in the Denver Post) announced that "1st Lieutenant Coates has been sent to Italy to serve with the American squadron of aviators."

Photos From the Coates Family Collection

After transport across the Atlantic Ocean, and arrival in England, Cadet Coates and his traveling companions were informed that they would be sent to Oxford, along with other potential pilots from the US. Army, to commence flying training with the British RFC. His flying clothing was issued on 15 November 1917 at No 44 Training Squadron at Waddington, Lincolnshire, where he may have undergone some basic flying training. He then attended the School of Military Aeronautics at Oxford University, with Squad 20, Course No. 6, and was billeted in Exeter and King's Colleges. 

During his time at Exeter College he was invited out for afternoon tea by Sir William and Lady Osler, the Canadian-born Regius Professor of Medicine at Oxford (Sir William was a descendant of American War of Independence hero Paul Revere and died during the influenza pandemic of 1919; his son, Lt Revere Osler, was killed in action while serving with the 16th Canadian Infantry Battalion in October 1916). . . 

After ground training at Oxford, Dana moved back to Waddington for flying training at No. 47 Training Sqn about February 1918. It appears that he had flown his first solo prior to this date, but, unfortunately, his logbook has suffered some damage and the first two pages are no longer legible.

In September 1918, 1Lt Coates was posted to the 11th Aero Squadron USAS, in France. The squadron was originally formed at San Antonio, Texas, in May 1917 and transported to the UK from New York in December. After being split up for training at various locations in the UK it was reunited at Waddington (where Dana Coates trained) in late July. After a period at Waddington, the unit moved to Delouse in France on 26 August to be equipped with the U.S.-built DH-4 (the Airco DH-4, a two-seat light bomber) and to serve as a bombing squadron on the Lorraine-St Mihiel-Meuse-Argonne sector of the Western Front. Commanded by 1Lt Charles L Heater, it moved to Amanty aerodrome on 6 September and then to Maulan on 24 September. Maulan was also the home of the two other units in the First Day Bombardment Group, the 20th and 96th Aero Squadrons. Later they were joined by the 166th Aero Squadron, also a DH-4 unit. It was at Maulan that the 11th Aero Squadron adopted the cartoon character Mr. Jiggs (from the George McManus comic strip "Bringing Up Father") as its symbol, and commenced painting the little man on its aeroplanes.

The Aircrews and DH-4s of the 11th Aero Squadron

1Lt Coates had his first flight in a DH-4 at Amanty,  in AS 23292 (which he described as a "Liberty DH 4") on 24 September. He next flew AS 32808 to Maulan. After a navigation exercise to Ligny, Bar-le-Duc and St Dizier on 25 September, Dana flew his first combat mission on 26 September when, with 2Lt Lauren R. Thrall, from Bone Gap, Illinois, as observer, he flew DH-4 AS 33043 in a six-aeroplane bombing raid on Etain, flying at 12,000 feet. The raid was assessed as being very successful, and all the U.S. aircraft returned to Maulan. Coates didn't take part in a successful six-aeroplane raid on Grandpré, on the extreme left of the American sector of the front, on 29 September. 

On 1 October, the 11th and 20th Aero Sqns experimented with a large combined formation, with each unit forming one arm of a "V"; the 11th formed the left arm and the 20th the right arm. 1Lt Coates was flying DH-4 AS 32950, with Lt Jones as observer, when he suffered engine trouble after 15 minutes and had to return to Maulan. The rest of the unwieldy formation broke up shortly after and the raid was abandoned. The 11th Aero Sqn experienced many problems with the Liberty engines of its DH-4s, and it was very common for aircraft to turn back early from operations.

Coates's next effective combat mission was a bombing raid on St Juvin on 2 October when, with 2Lt Thrall as observer, he flew DH-4 AS 32605. The bombing was assessed as successful, and all the squadron aircraft returned to Maulan. Coates. Thrall had an active October, completing several successful missions, but sometimes being forces to abort due to problems with the aircraft or its fickle Liberty engine. 

On 4 November, 12 aircraft led by 1Lt Walter A Stahl took off to bomb Cheveney le Château from 12,000 feet, including Coates and Thrall in AS 32905, who were at the rear of the unit's formation. Three aircraft were forced to turn back before the formation reached the lines. Back at Maulan, 1Lt Cyrus J Gatton, from Bozeman, Montana, a flight commander and veteran of 12 missions with the French and 13 with the USAS, and 2Lt G E Bures, a four-mission veteran from Cicero, Illinois, both of whom had just returned to the squadron from leave, volunteered to reinforce the raiders. Five minutes after the departure of the main formation, they took off from Maulan in another DH-4 and endeavored to catch up with the formation, only to be shot down when in sight of the main body, probably by flak. Both airmen were killed.

After bombing, the formation was attacked by about 20 Fokker D VIIs from Jagdgeschwader 1's Jasta 11, one of which was flown by Lt. Friedrich Noltenius, an ace then credited with 20 victories. Noltenius concentrated on Coates's AS 32905, and hit the fuel tank, setting the aeroplane on fire. It was Noltenius's 21st, and last, victory of the war. Coates sideslipped in an effort to reduce the effect of the flames while Thrall continued to fire at the Fokkers, one of whom was reported to be shot down, though German records don't show a corresponding fighter loss, so it is likely that the pilot survived the encounter. The DH-4 crashed near the town of Stenay and both men were killed. They were buried by French civilians. Although the DH-4 was nicknamed "The Flaming Coffin," only eight of the 33 USAS DH-4s lost to enemy action were shot down in flames.

A raid on Mouzon by the 11th Aero Sqn on 5 November was abandoned due to adverse weather; it was the squadron's last operation of the war. If 1Lt Coates had survived the raid on 4 November, he would almost certainly have survived the war. 

1Lt Dana Coates now rests in Plot F Row 3, Grave 31, Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery, Romagne, France. He was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart, the WWI Victory Medal with battle clasp for Meuse-Argonne, and the WWI Bronze Victory Button. [Presumably Lt. Thrall received similar decorations, but we have been unable to confirm this detail, or determine his final resting location.]

Source: Abridged from Gareth Morgan's article "From Lodgepole to Stenay: First Lieutenant Dana E Coates, 11th Aero Squadron, USAS" at the Western Front Association's Online WWI Articles.  The full article with extensive details on Lt. Coates training and combat missions can be found HERE.