Who Was First?
SUMMARIZING AND CLEARING UP THE CONFUSION…MAYBE
Paul Baer has been correctly credited with some major accomplishments, but this rests on some very narrow definitions, so claims made in his name should be worded carefully. Was he truly "America’s First Combat Ace”?
Yes, Baer was the first American pilot in a U.S. Air Service squadron to gain five victories. However, the deeds of Raoul Lufbery in Escadrille
124 (Lafayette Escadrille) should not be forgotten. Admittedly, Lufbery was flying in a French squadron and in a French uniform, but he was an American. Lufbery scored his fifth victory (out of an eventual 16) on October 12, 1916.
As far as the first American to shoot down an enemy plane in combat, that distinction is generally given to Kiffin Rockwell of the Lafayette, who downed an LVG two-seater on May 18, 1916. Rockwell was in the French Army and flying in a technically French squadron—but he was an American.
Then there's Frederick Libby, an American in the Royal Flying Corps (RFC). A cowboy from Colorado, he joined the Canadian Army and arrived in France in 1915. After service in the trenches, he transferred to the RFC and flew as an observer/gunner in F.E.2b pushers in No. 23 Squadron, and then in
No. 11 Squadron. As a gunner, he downed his first aircraft on July 15, 1916. He earned his fifth victory on August 25, 1916, thus becoming by some definitions the first American to score five aerial victories in the war (even though he was in a British squadron and in British uniform). He then trained as a pilot and returned, flying Sopwith 1-1/2 Strutters and DH4s, adding to his score as a pilot and surviving with a total of 14 victories.
The first American in the U.S. military service to shoot down an enemy plane is generally considered to have been 1st Lt. Stephen Thompson, serving as a U.S. airman temporarily attached to French Escadrille Br.123 of Groupe de Bombardment 5, as a gunner on a Breguet 14B2 bomber. He was technically on the strength of the U.S. 12th Aero (observation) Squadron, but was on detached duty in the French Escadrille to gain experience. Stephen Thompson was credited with shooting down an Albatros on February 5, 1918—preceding Baer’s first credit for an Albatros scout by three months.
So, Baer was the first American airman serving in an all-American squadron to gain five victories, as recognized in a 1966 letter written by Maj. Royal D. Frey, highly decorated WW II Fighter Pilot, and later, chief of the research division of the Air Force Museum Foundation.
the paper cargo in the wagon, he would stand a good chance. The officer received the end of the German’s bayonet in his jaw. A few minutes later he had begun his 14 days in a cell.
“On the next escape an English infantry captain, a South African flier, and I agreed to go together. We secreted ourselves in a building. Then by opening a window, it was possible to step out on top the sentry-box and cut away the barbed wire. I here got separated from my companions and continued down until I got into a stone quarry. It was very dark. I climbed up the side of the quarry and made my way into a potato field and lied down to rest for a few minutes. I was still within two blocks of our camp.
“I had given up all hope of finding my companions and was quite surprised to hear someone whistle, and out stepped the two lost ones. We walked down the railroad for a few miles, several times dodging off to the side to prevent passing pedestrians from seeing us.
“We were now nearing a town of considerable size and were debating—go thru the town or around it? We remembered the Australians had succeeded in passing thru it without trouble, so we decided to do the same. We spent the rest of the night in the town jail. The following morning, we were escorted to another camp about 30 miles away.”
Baer remained a POW until the war ended on November 11, 1918. He returned home to a hero's welcome, but being a humble man, avoided further publicity. He remained in aviation, as an aeronautics inspector for the Commerce Department, and then worked to establish air mail service in South America. He joined a Chinese aviation firm, and died tragically in a takeoff accident in Shanghai in 1930. He was 36 years old.
Now It’s Settled
In 1945, newspaperman Clifford J. Milnor created the column, “Lines and Angles,” for the Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette. “Lines and Angles” served in part as a clearing house for human interest stories.
In a 1966 column under the headline,
“Now It’s Settled?” Milnor wrote: “Willian
[sic] T. White, 3710 S. Washington Road, likes to keep facts straight. On June 5 he saw a picture of four World War I aces in The Journal-Gazette which puzzled him. They were Charles D’Olive, Eddie Rickenbacker, Reed Chambers, and Douglas Campbell, described as the first ace. He wrote the Air Force Museum Foundation at Wright-Patterson AFB to inquire what happened to Paul Baer, Fort Wayne’s WW I ace. ‘Why wasn’t Baer named? I have been under the impression,’ wrote Bill, ‘that Baer, in whose honor our local field was named, was one of the three great aces and the first one”
Royal D. Frey was the chief of the research division of the Air Force Museum Foundation. He had served as a P-38 fighter pilot in Europe, scoring two victories before being shot down and taken prisoner. Frey immediately replied to White in a letter that he then shared with Milnor, for the record (available on microfilm at the Allen County Public Library, Fort
Wayne, Indiana): “You are absolutely correct in your belief that Lt. Paul Baer was the first member of the U.S. Air Service to become an ace in World War I by obtaining five confirmed aerial victories over enemy aircraft, he wrote. However, he was trained by the French and subsequently flew with the 103rd Aero Squadron. The 103rd was originally the Lafayette Escadrille and, as such, it was part of the French Air Service. On 18 February 1918, the squadron was transferred to the U.S. Air Service and became the 103rd Aero Squadron. However, it remained with the French Air
Service for several months, even though it was now a U.S squadron, and it flew combat on the French front. The 94th Aero Squadron began flying combat missions from Toul over the American front in April 1918. Unfortunately, few men in the Toul area knew of the 103rd and the fact it had been flying with the French for several months a hundred miles or so to the northwest, and Lt. Baer’s accomplishments went unnoticed by the war correspondents at Toul. Consequently, when Campbell got his fifth victory he was hailed by the press as the first U.S. ace. In summary, Baer was the first man in U.S. uniform to become an ace, although he was trained by the French and he got his first five victories over the French front. Campbell was the first man in U.S. uniform to become an ace on the American front; he was also the first pilot trained at flying schools operated by the U.S. Air Service to become an ace. Despite all these circumstances, you are still correct. Baer was definitely the first U.S. Air service pilot to become an ace in World War I!”
Milnor thought the Air Force had waffled, writing in his column, “Thus, the Air Force Museum Foundation firmly takes its straddle position. Paul Baer was the first American ace, but he shot the enemy planes down in the wrong places. Unfortunately for Baer, he met death in a plane mishap in China in the early 1930s. Had he lived, his legend probably would have grown with him.”
Baer’s effort to evade publicity created frustration among journalists, one of whom took a polite poke at him in his local paper, the Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette, writing: “A reporter for this paper disgustedly declared that of all the hard-boiled eggs he had ever tried to crack Baer was the hardest. While appreciating his modesty, it may be remarked that reticence can be carried to as great an extreme as unbridled loquacity.”
Author’s note: Lt. Paul Frank Baer logged 227 combat hours and received more than 20 awards and citations, including the Legion of Honor and Croix de Guerre—the highest award bestowed by France on noncitizens fighting with the French military. Baer was the first aviator to receive the U.S. Distinguished Service Cross—the second-highest U.S. military award, established by President Woodrow Wilson in April 1917.
This article is an excerpt from Hoosier Aviator Paul Baer: America's First Combat Ace (2017, Arcadia Publishing) by Tony Garel-Frantzen