8th Aero Squadron
HISTORY OF EIGHTH AERO SQUADRON (OBSERVATION)
Captain S. H. Wheeler was appointed Commanding Officer. Arthur S. Young 1st Sergeant.
Sheldon Wheeler - 1918
Officers A.E.F. 1918
Enlisted A.E.F. 1918
Returning from WWI, the squadron was demobilized on 5 May 1919 at
Mitchell Field, Long Island, New York. The squadron was then sent to Kelly
Field, Texas on May 25, 1919. One officer and the Squadron records were
transferred to Kelly Field, Texas. After reorganization at Kelly Field, Texas
on July 5, 1919 in which one officer and 150 men were assigned from Rockwell
Field, California. The Squadron was reorganized on a peacetime strength manning
of two flights and on July 16, 1919, Flight "A" left relocated to
McAllen, Texas, where they flew Mexican border patrol missions until June 1921.
(SITE NOTE: On June 1919 Captain George Kenney returned to the U.S. after
commanding the 91st Aero Sqdn in WWI and was reassigned to the 8th Aero
Squadron at McAllen, Texas. As a three-star he would direct the South Pacific
air war. He would rise to 4-star rank in 1945 and head the Strategic Air
Command in 1946.)
According to an Invader news article, "New personnel were drawn from
Rockwell Field, California, equipped with DH-4 aircraft and then divided into
two flights: one at Laredo Texas and the other at McAllen, Texas. These flights
were engaged in Border Patrol duty until they were re-assembled at Kelly Field
on June 30, 1921." (Source: Invader, news article, date unknown,
Jack Lewis.)
Border Patrol Duty The 8th Squadron remained in Texas from
June 1921 until March 1, 1935. The 8th conducted air operations patrolling of
the Mexican border from August 1918 - June 1921. According to the 3rd Wing History, "Revolution and
disorder had broken out in Mexico, resulting in border violations and the
killing of American citizens. The unrest prompted the stationing of forces in
southern Texas, including an aerial surveillance group. Four units with World
War I experience, the 8th, 12th, 13th (formerly the 104th), and 90th Aero
Observation Squadrons, were grouped to form the Army Surveillance Group. On 15
August 1919, the Army redesignated the group as the 1st Surveillance
Group."
The following is from History, 8th Bombardment Squadron (L), 3d Bombardment
Group (L) AAF, 31 May 1917 - 31 March 1944 (Compiled September 1945):
The personnel consisted of nine officers and 46 enlisted
men. The airfield had to be cleared by a construction squadron and by Aug 18,
had succeeded in clearing off enough cactus and mesquite for a safe landing
with a JND4 and in erecting seven tent hangars and several framed tent
structures. The first flight was made by this part of the Squadron on July 29,
and as fast as planes could be assembled, border patrol work started.
Squadron Headquarters end Flight "B" remained at Kelly Field until
August 13, 1919, when Flight "B" left for Laredo, Texas, and
Headquarters, consisting of two officers and 17 men, joined the flight at
McAllen.
' Flight "B" was equipped with six DH4's which had been assembled at
Kelly Field and were flown down to Laredo and the Flight was ready to operate.
Captain D.W. McNabb was Flight Commander. Captain J. W. Ramsey had succeeded
1st Lt. Vincent J. Meloy in command of Flight "A" at McAllen, Texas.
Work of building a permanent camp at both flight stations was started at once,
after their arrival at their respective stations. There was no money to buy
lumber or other building material. However, seven buildings were erected at
McAllen by playing the old army game with the Construction Quartermaster, and
about the same number was erected at Laredo.
In August, 1919, the Squadron had the first casualty since the return from
overseas, Lt. F. Robinson being killed, and his observer, 2nd Lt. U. L. Reddy,
seriously injured in an airplane crash near Laredo.
During the same month, while flying patrol along the river from Laredo to
Zapata, 2nd Lt. Fonda B. Johnson and his observer, Captain McNabb, were fired
upon by Mexican troops and forced to land after bullets had pierced the
radiator of the plane. Captain McNabb sustained a. slight bullet wound in the
head from the Mexican fire and was evacuated to the hospital.
Operations Split between McAllen and
Laredo Flight "A" continued operations at McAllen Airfield and Flight
"B" operated from Laredo Airfield. During March 1920, the new DH4B's,
ferried down to McAllen and Laredo by Kelly Field pilots, "were put through
the mill and it wasn't long before all pilots began to sing their praises. They
were specially good for observation and liaison purposes since the new
arrangements of cockpits put the pilot and observer close together."
In May 1920, Lt. Mile McCune made the first pararoute jump of any station on
the border and without any previous experience or training along this line. Lt.
Fonda B. Johnson made a record jump at the Laredo Airdrome. No jumps were made
at McAllen as the parachutes had been sent to San Antonio for changes in
construction.
On August 3, 1920, orders were received to send Lts. Stoner, Crocker, Hartman
and Walthal with enlisted men, via airplane,and Lt. Virgin and thirty-five
enlisted men by train, to Pope Field, Fayetteville, North Carolina, to operate
in connection with the Artillery Shoots being carried on at Camp Bragg. The
group designated was Flight "B" from Laredo. With so many officers at
Camp Bragg, it left only Lts. McCune, Glascock and McKiernan, with Captain
Kice, surgeon, to carryon the necessary duties at the Laredo Airdrome.
On May 15, 1921, Lt. Crocker from Laredo and Lts. Reynolds and Skanse from
McAllen, were ordered to join other officers proceeding to Langley Field via
train, to assist in the carrying out of project "B". Project
"B" was the official designation of the bombing test conducted off
the Virginia coast, in which obsolete battleships and captured German
battleships were bombed and sunk. A great amount of experience and training was
obtained from this expedition. Large planes were flown; latest bomb dropping
devices were used; bombs weighing from twenty-five to 2,000 pounds were
dropped; gas, smoke, phosphorus and armor piercing bombs used; wireless
telephone controls employed; flights one hundred miles to sea were made.
Sinking different type battleships, night flying and bombing, and using
parachute flares seventy-five miles out at sea were all in the program of
project "B".
Still flying the deHavilland DH-4, it was redesignated at the 8th Squadron
(Surveillance) in June 1921. The group initially flew daily border patrols
between Brownsville, Texas and Nogales, Arizona. They turned into weekly
patrols as unrest along the border subsided. Brigadier General Billy Mitchell,
a senior staff officer in the Army Air Service, felt that border patrols had
been a waste of time. He foresaw a better use for the 1st Surveillance Group as
an attack unit. Since the group had been flying low-level observation missions
and many of its pilots experienced combat during World War I, General Mitchell
believed it ideal for the new mission. The Army redesignated it as the 3rd
Attack Group on 2 July 1921.
Squadron Returns to Kelly Field On June 20, 1921, all
personnel and material was ordered from Laredo and McAllen to Kelly Field, Texas,
with the exception of three caretakers at each station. On arrival at Kelly
Field both flights were consolidated with Lt. Heloy commanding and Lt. Glascock
as Adjutant and Supply officer. Flight "B" elements which had been
deployed to Camp Bragg on September 26, 1921, were transferred in name only
from Camp Bragg to Kelly Field and the personnel consisting of 2 officers and
thirty enlisted men, were absorbed by the 22nd Squadron (observation).
During the month of July 1921 "many changes occurred due to the reduction
and reorganization of the Army. Fifty-five enlisted men were discharged and
seventy-five Air service men, part of a detachment of 200 men from March Field,
California, and twenty-two Signal Corps men, were attached to the
Squadron." The Squadron was seriously handicapped due to shortage of
personnel. By 1922, the total. strength of "fifty-two enlisted men; of
which ten were absent on various duties, twenty-two on extra and special duty,
with only twenty men for duty." Recruiting was slow, and only increased to
near authorized strength on December 31, 1922 with 119 men.
On September 15, 1921, the designation of the Group was changed from 1st
Surveillance Group to 3rd Group (Attack). The 3rd Attack Group returned to
Kelly Field in 1921 where it underwent an extended period of training
.
August 17, 1919 transferred to the 8th Aero Squadron and assigned to McAllen, Texas, on border patrol.