Emergent Air Power and the Rise of the "Flying Ace"

U.S. pilots in action during WWI. Captain "Eddie" Rickenbacker, known as the U.S. "Ace of Aces", conducts a bombing run over German lines.

The diary of American flying ace Zenos Ramsey Miller

When the United States entered World War I in April of 1917, planes were still little more than metal buckets with wings, and the various airborne divisions had little in the way of a cohesive strategy. Prior experiments had been done with aerial bombing runs, but those had yielded mixed results¹. As mentioned previously, those who believed in the potential of air power were few and far between, with many military leaders dismissing airplanes as a costly and dangerous fad. In fact, by the time the U.S. entered the war, it ranked seventh in air power, behind England, France, Germany, and Russia. However, there were advocates within the U.S. military, such as Captain Paul Beck and General William Mitchell, who firmly believed in the combat potential of air power².

Under the direction of Gen. Mitchell, Capt. Beck, and Rep. James Hay — a long time advocate of air power — the United States slowly began to construct and train an effective Air Service. Certainly, the United States had a great deal of ground to cover; at the onset of the war, France and Germany both possessed some 100+ airplanes apiece, and the arms gap was only growing³. 

Shortly after America's declaration of war against Germany, Congress passed an appropriation of $640 million to develop the country's military aviation capabilities. From there, progress on U.S. air power advanced rapidly. In 1917 AEF Commander John Pershing established an Air Service, seperate from the Signal Corps. Around the same time, Gen. Mitchell was touring France, learning about air combat strategy, and bringing order and discipline to the Aviation Section⁴. 

One of the biggest hurdles faced by American military leaders when developing an air force was the training of pilots. The U.S. lacked the capacity to train pilots en-masse, so American soldiers were often sent to train at aerodromes in France and England. These pilots often recieved only a few weeks of training, generally only spending a handful of hours in the sky before being sent out on combat missions. Often, this training was conducted by "flying aces" — individuals with at least five confirmed airborne kills⁵. Such individuals include Captain Eddie Rickenbacker and Zenos Miller of the Entente, and Manfred von Richthofen, the infamous Red Baron of the Central Powers. 

The image of the flying ace is something that the American government used extensively in news reels and propaganda. Certainly, it was a striking image — a lone pilot taking to the skies in a flying machine to fight for freedom and democracy against the numberless German horde — it evoked traditional American values of rugged individualism, ingenuity, and resilience⁶. As seen in the news reel above, the aerial heroics of Eddie Rickenbacker, "ace of aces", are on full display, showing him and the 94th Aero Squadron bombing the German countryside. 

However, as is often the case, the reality of war was a far cry from the thrilling dime novel heroics shown on film. Pilots were often shot down and captured, or their planes experienced mechanical failures, or they simply got lost and couldn't find their way home. Zenos Miller was one such pilot, who was shot down and captured by German soldiers as a prisoner of war.