PHOTO ARTICLE: Aviators from New England

Some of America's first flyboys

I shamefully bought a two-volume set of photographs and biographies of New England men who flew in the First World War. Originally, in December 1918 an exhibition was held showing portraits of some of these aviators. People were so keen on this idea that it was decided to turn the display into a book. A committee went looking for additional men who qualified and they started publishing the results in 1919. Some 500 men appear, men who died and more who survived, and I thought I would use some of them as a window into the American experience of flying during the war. Each one has been picked because he shows a different aspect of this, and Giles, this one is for you.

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Frazier Curtis - Lafayette Escadrille

Born in 1876 in Boston, Frazier Curtis was a graduate of Harvard. Sailing on White Star’s Arabic, he is widely claimed as the first American to travel to Europe and volunteer to fly with the Royal Flying Corps. He was rejected as too old at nearly 40, and because he was not British, so he returned home. Having tried again, he went to Paris with Norman Prince, another Massachusetts flier, and organised a new unit, the famous American Escadrille. This would prove to be a monumental legacy. (It was later renamed the Lafayette Escadrille).