THE LAFAYETTE ESCADRILLE

nique feature of this newest of l'Escadrille Lafayette histories is the conclusion in the Appendix of a ""Philosophy and Tactics of Aerial Combat, 1917."" Anyone in immediate need of evading a Fokker E-III or perhaps a brace of Messerchmitts coming down at hem out of the sun might well turn to the heading ""Breaking off Combat."" (""Breaking off the fight requires a delicacy of touch...executing the most acrobatic maneuvers possible: spirals, wing-slips and falling-leafs."") When Germany declared war on France in 1914, many Americans in Paris rushed to join up with the French. They discovered that to save their citizenship, they could enlist only in the Foreign Legion, which many did. They found themselves neck-deep in the nnui of the day-labor of soldiering. The first American to fly against the Germans was William Thaw, who transferred to the flying service from the infantry. He was also one of the first wounded in the new l'Escadrille Americaine. As the glory of the group captured the world's eye, it also embarrassed America's relations with Germany, and so the name was changed. The derring-do, the wins and losses are each and every one here and documented, with all the celebrated pilots present and accounted for.