The U.S. 96th Aero Squadron at the First Air Depot in Colombey-les-Belles, France during World War 1. Chief of Air Service, American Expeditionary Forbce, Brigadier General Benjamin D. Foulois and other officers look over De Havilland DH-4 biplane bombers parked at the air base. Their tails are painted in the French scheme, with blue-white-red vertical stripes. Brigadier General Foulois gets into the cockpit of one of the aircraft. He poses for the camera, beside an airplane, smoking his pipe. He and his staff stroll across the grassy field past parked airplanes.
Activities of U.S. 96th Aero Squadron at the First Air Depot in Colombey-les-Belles, France during World War I. U.S. soldiers check out and fire a double Lewis machine gun on a test bench before mounting it into an aircraft.
U.S. Fliers of the 96th Aero Squadron, pose with support personnel and some French counterparts, at the First Air Depot in Colombey-les-Belles, France during World War 1. Camera pans across the group posing in front of a line of parked De Havilland DH-4 bombers. They wave and throw their hats into the air.
U.S. 96th Aero Squadron at First Air Depot in Colombey-les-Belles, France during World War I. A De Havilland DH-4 bomber taxis on the airfield. A DH-4 seen in flight overhead, maneuvering to land. Next, it is seen parked on the grassy field. The pilot and gunner are both standing in their respective cockpits, facing each other and conversing, while the engine still runs intermittently as it shuts down. Scene shifts to Air Service personnel heading across the grass toward a completely inverted Salmson 2A2 reconnaissance airplane in the distance. Closeup of an American Sergeant, under the inverted airplane, examining the gunner's cockpit and area around it. The airframe seems to be relatively undamaged. It appears as it the aircraft nosed-over on landing. Another view shows a large group of curious American airmen standing around the aircraft. French roundels can be seen painted on the bottom of its lower wing. A motorcycle stands in the foreground.
A French Breguet 14 biplane bomber taxis around to the left and lines up with other aircraft parked at the Colombey-les-Belles Airdrome in France during World War 1 . (Blue-white-red vertical paint stripes on their tails identify these as French aircraft.) Several Breguet 14 biplane bombers take off, one after the other, from the field. A motorcycle with sidecar and a loaded truck drive beneath planes taking off. A change of scene shows a gunner still in the rear cockpit of a De Havilland DH-4 bomber that has just nosed over. Its propeller is buried in the ground. Tricolor roundels on its wings (blue-white-red, from center outward) identify this as a French airplane. A number of pilots and mechanics gather around as the gunner begins climbing down from his cockpit.
U.S. Air Service officers observe test firing of Vickers machine gun on a Brequet 14 airplane, at the First Air Depot in France, during World War 1. Colonel T. D. Milling, Commanding Officer, First Brigade, First Army Corps; Captain G. C. Thomas Jr.,96th Aero Squadron; First Lieutenant V. F. Ludden, 96th Aero Squadron, and Pilot, 1st Lieutenant C. G. Sellers (in the cockpit) examining a Vickers machine gun mounted on the side of a Breguet 14 airplane, named "Photo." Lieutenant Sellers fires the machine gun from the cockpit. View of the machine gun firing with expended cartridges being ejected. (The gun is designed to synchronize and fire through the turning propeller when the engine is running. But that is not demonstrated here.)
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