Issoudun - 3rd AIC - 90th Anniversary - June 28, 2009

[USAWWI]

3rd AIC Issoudun to be Honored

Please attend our special event at Issoudun on June 28, 2009. Issoudun will hold a very special World War I commemoration of the friendship and bonds between the United States and France. Our event marks the 90th Anniversary of the closing of the 3rd Aviation Instruction Center of the United States at Issoudun, France.

During World War I, the 3rd Aviation Instruction Center was the largest overseas American air base. It was the primary location for training all American fighter pilots and also many of the pilots of the other areas of combat aviation. All front line fighter pilots including Eddie Rickenbacker, Frank Luke and Quentin Roosevelt trained here. Issoudun’s importance to American combat aviation cannot be underestimated.

By the time of the Armistice, 766 pursuit pilots had completed their training at Issoudun, of whom 139 were retained at Issoudun as testers, staff pilots and instructors. The remaining 627 were sent to the Zone of Advance. The school’s first graduate was Eddie Rickenbacker. Hamilton Coolidge, who would go on to shoot down eight German planes was the fifth graduate and Quentin Roosevelt was seventh. 171 Americans died here in training accidents.

Our June 28, 2009 date corresponds to the departure of the American Expeditionary Force after the signing of the Treaty of Versailles of 1919 in which U.S. President Woodrow Wilson and French President Georges Clemenceau exerted such a tremendous influence.

We intend to use our ceremony entitled “The American Presence 1917-1919” with the goal of shining a light on a forgotten page of the history of our two countries. On this occasion at the Volvault Monument honoring the American dead of Issoudun we will unveil plaques in French and in English reading:

"At this site was situated the temporary American cemetery for the 3rd Aviation Instruction Center of the United States (1917-1919). This center, composed of 7 camps, 11 landing fields and 2 field hospitals, covered a surface of 1,300 hectares near Issoudun, and was the largest air base at the time.

7,500 people were stationed here and the elite of the American pilots such as (Eddie Rickenbacker, Quentin Roosevelt, Frank Luke, Raoul Lufbery, James Meissner, Reed Chambers, Douglas Campbell, etc.) were trained here under the successive commands of General Carl "Tooey" Spaatz, Colonels Walter G. Kilner, and Hiram Bingham.

On the bronze plaques of this monument, 171 names recall the sacrifice of the children of the United States in the service of their nation in the first global conflict, which perpetuated the friendship between the United States and France."

This Franco-American event will serve as an occasion to remember our American friends and the historic alliance which has united France and the United States since their foundation with the same ideas regarding liberty and progress. I submit to you that this alliance remains lively and strong.

The event of June 28, 2009 will be framed within this context and will permit us to further the long history of our mutual friendship.

The French Air Force will participate in our commemoration with the presence of a 40 person military band and a 30 person honor guard.

We would be very honored if you would attend our commemoration ceremony.

Bernard Gagnepain

Please e-mail info@usaww1.com (Narayan Sengupta / Mike O'Neal) for more information.

[SCMc]

the elite of the American pilots such as ( Eddie Rickenbacker, Quentin Roosevelt, Frank Luke, Raoul Lufbery, James Meissner, Reed Chambers, Douglas Campbell, etc.) were trained here under the successive commands of General Carl "Tooey" Spaatz, Colonels Walter G. Kilner, and Hiram Bingham.

I wish you well with the remembrance. It is good for our counties to remember the aid we have offered each other in the past.

If possible, you might want make a change to the plaque: Raoul Lufbery was a veteran combat pilot for some time before the U.S. entered the war. I doubt that he would have received training at Issoudun under the Americans.

Steve

[USAWWI]

Hi Steve,
Indeed you are right. Lufbery had a desk job at Issoudun as the 94th was forming up, but he was not trained there. I'll let Bernard know though I think he has already had the plaques ordered.
Narayan

[USAWWI]

Hi Everyone,
Just in case anyone is interested, I have posted photos of the June 28, 2009 90th Anniversary event at Issoudun.
Narayan

[USAWWI]

My pleasure and thank you for your kind words. By the way, Bernard's book "Les Americains a Issoudun" is a wonderful read with a tremendous number of photos of the base.
Narayan

United States Air Service - USAS - WWI American Aviation