firstaerosquadron

Trier-Euren

1st Lt. John Francisco Richards II (b. July 31, 1896 - d. September 26, 1918) See: KC pilot’s diary is a window on World War I air battle over France by Darryl W. Levings The Kansas City Star - Star Magazine February 6, 2016 Their machines were made of wood, wire and doped fabric, powered by appallingly unreliable engines. With no parachutes, the young pilots would debate philosophically whether it was better to jump from 2,000 feet or stay in their burning cockpits to the end. Among them was a son of Kansas City — 1st Lt. John Francisco Richards II — who, on the afternoon of Sept. 26, 1918, was at the stick of a patched-up, nose-heavy French Salmson 2A2 biplane. That was the opening day of the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, a battle that led to the Armistice 47 days later. The mission of Richards and his observer in the second seat was to spot German guns in the Varennes area and direct U.S. artillery fire on them. Richards and 2nd Lt. Austin Hanscom did not return to their muddy airdrome near Remicourt that day and were initally listed as missing. Crews searched hospitals and flew over the exploding forested terrain to find them, even dropping notes to the enemy inquiring about the fate of a friend called “Dickie.” It wasn’t clear until about a month later that Richards had stayed with his machine all the way down. “Most interesting, heroic and pathetic” had been the 22-year-old officer’s journal observation about the grave-strewn and shattered French countryside. The words fit his own story well. For much of his life, Richards kept this daily accounting. “Writing seems to have been one of his greatest pleasures, no matter what the conditions were as to time or place,” said his father, George Richards, in the foreword of “War Diary and Letters of John F. Richards,” published in 1925. Richards loved flying. “It is the most wonderful sensation and I can see that I shall never give it up. Sixty miles an hour up there is like about fifteen on the ground,” he exulted in a diary entry. Now, amid the 100th anniversary of the Great War, this young officer’s forgotten story reopens a window on the air war over France. Though it was a world away from the terrible trenches, death was just as imminent. To repeat all the entries would, well, take a book. This story picks among the pieces to put together a sense of this convivial and purposeful young man. . . . *** SEE COMPLETE STORY LINKED AT TITLE *** See also: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Francisco_Richards_II

Souilly, Osches road, looking north-west. Same as www.flickr.com/photos/sdasmarchives/13471674303/in/album-...