By: HISTORY.com Editors

1918

American pilots engage in first dogfight over the western front

Published: March 03, 2010

Last Updated: May 27, 2025

Six days after being assigned for the first time to the western front, two American pilots from the U.S. First Aero Squadron engage in America’s first aerial dogfight with enemy aircraft. In a battle fought almost directly over the Allied Squadron Aerodome at Toul, France, U.S. fliers Douglas Campbell and Alan Winslow succeeded in shooting down two German two-seaters. By the end of May, Campbell had shot down five enemy aircraft, making him the first American to qualify as a “flying ace” in World War I.

The First Aero Squadron, organized in 1914 after the outbreak of World War I, undertook its first combat mission on March 19, 1917, in support of the 7,000 U.S. troops that invaded Mexico to capture Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa. Despite numerous mechanical and navigational problems, the American fliers flew hundreds of scouting missions for U.S. Brigadier General John J. Pershing and gained important experience that would later be used over the battlefields of Europe in World War I.

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Citation Information

Article title
American pilots engage in first dogfight over the western front
Website Name
History
Date Accessed
July 01, 2025
Publisher
A&E Television Networks
Last Updated
May 27, 2025
Original Published Date
March 03, 2010

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