Have a question? Need assistance? Use our online form to ask a librarian for help.
Chat with a librarian, Monday through Friday, 12-2 pm Eastern Time (except Federal Holidays).
Chronicling America is a searchable digital collection of historic newspaper pages through 1963 sponsored jointly by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress.
Follow ChronAm by subscribing to email alerts and RSS feeds.
Also, see the Directory of U.S. Newspapers in American Libraries, a searchable index to newspapers published in the United States since 1690, which helps researchers identify what titles exist for a specific place and time, and how to access them.
"Yankee Fliers Fool Enemy!," reads the July 25, 1916 issue of the New York Tribune. During the Great War, adroit and courageous American aviators who volunteered to join the French army were known as the Lafayette Escadrille flying squadron. Their brave and gallant efforts in battle (along with their "Yankee trick" of sneaking behind enemy lines), were often heralded in American newspapers. Read more about it!
The information in this guide focuses on primary source materials found in the digitized historic newspapers from the digital collection Chronicling America.
The timeline below highlights important dates related to this topic and a section of this guide provides some suggested search strategies for further research in the collection.
| April 20, 1916 | The Escadrille Americaine (n.124) is established in the French Service Aeronautique. |
|---|---|
| May 13, 1916 | The Escadrille Americaine conducts its first patrol. |
| April - December, 1917 | Deliberations are held to determine how American aviators in the Lafayette Escadrille will be transferred into the US military after the US enters the war on April 6, 1917. |
| June, 1917 | American aviator James Norman Hall publishes an account of his experiences in the Lafayette Escadrille entitled “High Adventure.” |
| October, 1918 | American aviator William Wellman publishes an account of his experiences entitled “Go Get ‘Em.” |
