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Lafayette (City and county-seat)

a city and county-seat of Tippecanoe co., Ind., on the Wabash river, and the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis, the Lake Erie and Western, and other railroads; 64 miles N. W. of Indianapolis. It is the farming and manufacturing trade center for the surrounding country; has boot and shoe factories, car works, flour and woolen mills, marble works, etc.; and is the seat of Purdue University, and the State Agricultural College. The city contains a high school, public library, several National banks; has electric light and street railroad plants, and waterworks. In the public square is an artesian well of sulphur. Pop. (1910) 20,081; (1920) 22,486. a LAFAYETTE ESCADRILLE, squadron of American aviators fighting with the French in the World War.

It went back long before the period of the United States' entry into the war and was of gradual growth. By the fall of 1915 there were six Americans serving as full-fledged pilots in the French army, and in the summer of 1916 the list numbered fifteen or more, with twice as many again training for their pilots' licenses in the military aviation schools.

The pioneer was William Thaw of Pittsburgh, who was the first American to hold a commission in the French Flying Corps. Lieutenant Thaw had enlisted in the Foreign Legion in August, 1914.

Later Sergeants Norman Prince of Boston and Elliott Cowdin of New York nes i 916, a and au ericans Before ed fact en ma- Mili- Chind in t pic T French bo LAFAYETTE were the first to enter the French aviation service, coming directly from the United States. As soon as it was seen that American ambulance workers in France showed a disposition to join the combatant forces a special channel was created for the reception of applications and so the Escadrille began to assume dimension. The Americans were at first distributed, but the idea of forming an all-American unit soon began to take shape. Early in 1916 there were enough pilots already brevetted in conjunction with the élèves or pupils in the training schools to man the dozen airplanes in one escadrille. In February, 1916, a captain was assigned to command an American escadrille, and the Americans were placed under his orders. Before the escadrille became an established fact Cowdin brought down one German machine and won the first Médaille Militaire. in In July, 1917, there were about 100 Americans in the Army Aviation School at the camp of Avord, near Bourges, and these continued to be augmented.

By that time General Pershing and his staff were in France, and one hundred hydroplanes had been landed to strengthen the sea patrol against submarines. The Lafayette Escadrille was inder the general inspection of Lieut.- Col. Girod, and Capt. Gallet was "Chief of Pilotage." Americans living France had taken much interest in the formation of the escadrille, conspicuous among them being W. K. Vanderbilt, who was awarded the French decoration of the Red Rosette in acknowledgment.

In course of time, as the aerial forces of the United States got into shape, the American aviators in the French service were absorbed by them and the experience they had gained in warfare proved of great help to aviators in the United States service.