Us Official Photographs

Lt Wainwright at Lafayette Escadrille Memorial

2d Lt. John W. Wainwright, 20 year old U.S. 9th Air Force pilot credited with the destruction of six ME-109s in one encounter, visits the Lafayette Escadrille Memorial just outside Paris, France. With the American Lt, is Capt Pierre Cheret, a French pilot during World War I, now serving as a liaison officer. The escadrille was composed of American volunteers who joined the French Air Force before America entered the last war. The bodies of 49 members of the Escadrille are interred in the crypt of the monument. Capt Cheret, active in the F.F.I., flew in the first daylight bombing squadron during the last war. His commanding officer at that time became commander in chief of the French Air Force in 1939. Lt. Wainwright, of Marshall, Texas, flies a Republic P-47 Thunderbolt Fighter-Bomber in the 19th Tactical Air Command.