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Catalog Number:
2000.080
Location:
4th Floor, 8.5
Description:
Artist Shows The Curtiss JN-3s of The 1st Aero In Flight Over Columbus (New Mexico). In March 1916, a Mexican revolutionary and/or bandit (depending on whom you ask) named Francisco 'Pancho' Villa crossed the border into the United States. He and his men attacked the town of Columbus, New Mexico, burning some buildings and killing several men. This attack enraged the United States, and President Wilson ordered General John J. Pershing to follow Villa and disperse his forces.
The 1st Aero Squadron was ordered from its Ft. Sam Houston base to assist the punitive expedtion. They travelled by train to Columbus and assembled the airplanes for the push into Mexico. The Curtiss JN-3 aircraft were not well-suited to flying in the heat, winds and mountains of northern Mexico, and a quarter of the squadron's aircraft were damaged or destroyed on the first flight from Columbus to Casas Grandes, about 90 miles south of the border.