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by Michael E. Bigelow, INSCOM Command Historian
On 21 August 1918, Maj. Thomas S. Bowen gave up command of the Second Corps Aeronautical School to assume the G-3 position of the 1st Army’s Air Service. Bowen was the third commander of the school, which trained aerial observers for the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) in World War I.
The 34-year-old aviator was a classmate of George S. Patton at the United States Military Academy. Upon graduation in 1909, Bowen served several years as an infantry officer. In 1914, however, Bowen became a pilot for the Army’s fledgling air service. Two years later, he was one of the 1st Aero Squadron pilots who flew for Brig. Gen. John J. Pershing’s Punitive Expedition in Mexico. After the U.S. entered World War I, he was promoted to major in May 1917 and proceeded to France in August. After service with the British in early 1918, he assumed command of the Second Corps Aeronautical School at Chatillon on 29 May 1918.
About four months earlier, on 8 February, the AEF established the aeronautical school to train aerial observers. The school was located on the outskirts of the French town of Chatillon-sur-Seine, about thirty-five miles southwest of AEF General Headquarters at Chaumont. Within ten days, Maj. Joseph T. McNarney and his 89th Aero Squadron began work on the school’s physical layout. McNarney’s men oversaw the preparation of the field, three hangers, and barracks and mess halls for the students. The school also included a headquarters building, shop and armory buildings, and lecture hall.
In late April, Maj. Shepler W. Fitzgerald assumed school command and formulated the initial training program. To practice adjustment of artillery fire, a critical task for aerial observers, he coordinated with Lt. Col. Richard C. Burleson, commander of the Second Corps Artillery School at Montigny-sur-Aube, about fifteen miles northeast of Chatillon. Two French Army officers assisted the Americans. Lieutenants Etienne Blanc and Maurice Gateau instructed artillery adjustment and photography, respectively. Before the first student’s arrived, however, Major Bowen replaced Major Fitzgerald.
On 18 May, eleven student observers reported to the school. For the instruction, the 89th Aero Squadron’s pilots flew the students, weather permitting, on daily missions. Major Bowen and his crews kept a daily average of fourteen planes in the air. Every afternoon, Burleson’s artillerymen and
Bowen’s observers adjusted artillery fire. Initially, they adjusted fire for a single gun; later as ammunition became more plentiful, they trained with a gun platoon. The observers also practiced with the aerial cameras. To evaluate their results, 1st Lt. Edwin H. Fort’s photographic detachment developed and printed the photographs.
In addition, Bowen soon began training the aerial observers to properly liaison with infantry over a trench system. He arranged for an infantry detachment to be attached to the aeronautical school. The observers and the infantrymen held joint exercises twice a week. Later, Bowen’s student observers worked with divisions training within a forty-mile radius of Chatillon.
By midsummer, AEF’s demand for trained observers at the front led to Chatillon’s expansion. Major Bowen oversaw the enlargement, including facilities for 180 student officers, 48 pilots, and 57 aircraft. By the end of August, seventy-two aerial observers had completed the course and were ready to serve in the AEF’s offenses in September. After Bowen departed, the Second Corps Aeronautical School trained another 188 observers before the end of the war. It continued to operate into 1919.
| Date Taken: | 08.19.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 08.19.2022 19:12 |
| Story ID: | 427692 |
| Location: | FORT HUACHUCA, ARIZONA, US |
| Web Views: | 79 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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