Riddled with Shrapnel'Local boy' Willis Bradley Haviland was the sixteenth American to volunteer for the Lafayette Escadrille, after having served in the U.S. Navy from 1907-1911 and American Ambulance Corp in France in 1915. Flying primarily reconnaissance planes, he is credited with two confirmed 'kills'. Though both Haviland and his flying partner, Ronald Wood Hoskier lived to tell today's tale, Hoskier's luck would soon run out and he would be dead one month later. Details on his final flight:
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Hoskier, who often claimed that a two-seater could do more damage in a dogfight that a single-seater... asked to pilot a Morane Saultier 3 (sic) on its final sortie in April 1917 on the French-German line near St. Quentin, France. Hoskier flew in the rear of a small formation and became separated from other fliers, who had faster planes. When he emerged from a cloud, he spied an enemy’s Albatros D III below him. He dived on it and was attacked in return. It was an ambush. Ronald Hoskier fought for 15 minutes, while his co-pilot manned the rear Lewis guns. When his ammunition was gone, Hoskier was struck in the head. His airplane’s wings folded and the Morane struck the earth just inside French lines, near St. Quentin. Hoskier was buried two days later, on April 23, near Genet at Ham. On May 1, he was posthumously awarded the Croix de Guerre. The New York Times described him as “one of the best of the American flying corps... [who] had distinguished himself for daring and brilliancy of operation.”"
(from the Evening Times-Republican, 13 March 1917):
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(portrait of Haviland via wikipedia; image of Hoskier's grave via patch.com)
After the war Haviland became the first U.S. aviator to fly a plane off a battleship:
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Haviland's idea, which he had proposed to Captain Nathan C. Twining on the USS Texas (BB-35), was to build a 40-foot-long (12 m), 12-foot-wide (3.7 m) runway of timbers lashed together on the Number 2 guns of the battleship's forward deck. His Sopwith Camel biplane would then be winched down on the runway and its wheels held by a bridle to be released at Haviland's command, after the plane's propeller had sufficient speed for takeoff. "Haviland climbed into the cockpit and revved and raced the plane's motor until it seemed to the nearby sailors that the prop blast and vibration would tear the fuselage apart. Haviland signaled for the cables to be released. The straining aircraft roared down the runway, dropped precipitously toward the sea, then climbed into the sky." (via wikipedia)
