Indiana Jones and the Attack of the Hawkmen

Douglas R. Jones (djones@iex.com)
Tue, 10 Oct 1995 09:16:26 -0500

This is a running thread for those who are not on this list. I post it here
since I was pretty sure that the Lafayette Escadrille flew SPAD XIII's
toward the end of the war. Or only after they were "incorporated" into the
US Air Corps did they get SPADs?

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>Date: 10 Oct 95 00:03:34 EDT
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>From: "Norton T. Downs" <102621.507@compuserve.com>
>To: <wwi-l@ukanaix.cc.ukans.edu>
>Subject: Indiana Jones and the Attack of the Hawkmen
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> Lucas did capture a number of points concerning the Lafayette Escadrille
>quite accurately. Its correct title was 124 Squadron, as in the movie.
>Actually,
>since it was equipped with Nieuport pursuit aircraft throughout its operational
>career it was named by the French N. 124. The squadron mascot was a
>lion cub named Whiskey, which Lufberry and two other members had bought
>in Paris. Lufberry, by the way, was an American of French extraction. He and
>Nungesser became very good friends; perhaps Lucas can be faulted for
>not portraying Lufberry's tendency to party very vigorously when not in the
air.
>Nungesser really was as crash-prone as the show suggests. It is, however,
>unlikely that the squadron would have carried a single Sopwith two-seater
>on the strength. There were squadrons dedicated to reconnaissance and
>bombing whose aircraft were escorted by members of the fighter squadrons.
>I can;t prove it, but I suspect that the crews of two-seaters typically had a
>combat life expectancy of more than eight days. Perhaps a month is more
>like it.
> 124 Squadron was incorporated into the U.S. Air Corps as the 103rd
>Pursuit Squadron on 18 February, 1918.
> Tom Downs
>
>
>
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