Francisco "Pancho" Villa was initially a bandit, who became a general in the Mexican Revolution. He was a key figure in the revolutionary violence that forced out President Porfirio Díaz and brought Francisco I. Madero to power in 1911. When Madero was ousted by a rightwing coup led by General Victoriano Huerta in February 1913, he led anti-Huerta forces in the Constitutionalist Army 1913-14. The commander of the coalition was civilian governor of Coahuila Venustiano Carranza. After the defeat and exile of Huerta in July 1914, Villa broke with Carranza. Villa dominated the meeting of revolutionary generals that excluded Carranza and helped create a coalition government that was weak and ineffective. Emiliano Zapata and Villa became formal allies in this period, but it was in only in principle. Like Zapata, Villa was strongly in favor of land reform, but his plans were not implemented when he had power. At the height of his power and popularity in late 1914 and early 1915, the U.S. considered recognizing him as Mexico's legitimate authority. Civil war broke out when Carranza challenged Villa. Villa was decisively defeated by Constitutionalist General Alvaro Obregón in summer 1915, and the U.S. aided Carranza directly against Villa in the Second Battle of Agua Prieta in November 1915. Much of Villa's army left after Villa's defeat on the battlefield and his lack of resources to buy arms and pay soldiers' salaries. Angered at the U.S. aid to Carranza, Villa conducted a raid on the border town of Columbus, New Mexico to goad the U.S. to invade Mexico in 1916-17. Despite a major contingent of soldiers and the latest military technology, the U.S. failed to capture Villa. When President Carranza was ousted from power in 1920, Villa negotiated an amnesty with interim President Adolfo de la Huerta and was given a landed estate, on the condition he retire from politics. He was assassinated in 1923. Although his faction did not prevail in the Revolution, he is one of its most charismatic and prominent figures.
The Curtiss JN "Jenny" was a series of biplanes built by the Curtiss Aeroplane Company of Hammondsport, New York, later the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company. Although the Curtiss JN series was originally produced as a training aircraft for the US Army, the "Jenny" continued after World War I as a civil aircraft, as it became the "backbone of American postwar [civil] aviation".
The Pancho Villa Expedition—now known officially in the United States as the Mexican Expedition, but originally referred to as the "Punitive Expedition, U.S. Army"—was a military operation conducted by the United States Army against the paramilitary forces of Mexican revolutionary Francisco "Pancho" Villa from March 14, 1916, to February 7, 1917, during the Mexican Revolution of 1910–1920.
Roosevelt Field is a former airport, located 2.3 miles (3.7 km) east-southeast of Mineola, Long Island, New York. Originally called the Hempstead Plains Aerodrome, or sometimes Hempstead Plains field or the Garden City Aerodrome, it was a training field for the Air Service, United States Army during World War I.
Fort Sill is a United States Army post north of Lawton, Oklahoma, about 85 miles southwest of Oklahoma City. It covers almost 94,000 acres (38,000 ha).
Brown Field Municipal Airport is in the Otay Mesa neighborhood of San Diego, California, United States, 13 miles (21 km) southeast of Downtown San Diego and named in honor of Commander Melville S. Brown, USN, who was killed in an airplane crash in 1936. Its main runway is 7,972 feet (2,430 m) long. Its FAA/IATA airport code is SDM. Formerly Naval Auxiliary Air Station Brown Field, it is now a civilian reliever airport and a port of entry from Mexico. It is sometimes staffed by the U.S. Customs Service, but only upon request of incoming pilots to the Federal Aviation Administration.
The Aviation Section, Signal Corps, was the aerial warfare service of the United States from 1914 to 1918, and a direct statutory ancestor of the United States Air Force. It absorbed and replaced the Aeronautical Division, Signal Corps, and conducted the activities of Army aviation until its statutory responsibilities were suspended by President Woodrow Wilson in 1918. The Aviation Section organized the first squadrons of the aviation arm and conducted the first military operations by United States aviation on foreign soil.
The 1st Reconnaissance Squadron is a United States Air Force squadron, assigned to the 9th Operations Group, Beale Air Force Base, California.
Dodd Army Airfield was an airfield located within the current boundaries of Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas. Dodd Field includes the area bounded on the north by Rittiman Road, on the west by Harry Wurzbach Memorial Highway, on the south by Winans Road and on the east by the Fort Sam Houston Reservation boundary.
The Village of Columbus and Camp Furlong is a National Historic Landmark District commemorating the 1916 raid by Pancho Villa on the town of Columbus, New Mexico, and the American military response to that raid, the "Punitive Expedition" led by General John J. Pershing. The raid and its response, set during World War I, the Mexican Revolution, and an accompanying low-level Border War, played a significant role in diplomacy and military preparedness for eventual American entry in the World War. The district encompasses buildings which survived the raid, and military facilities used in the American response. The landmark designation was made in 1975.
The 6th Weapons Squadron is an active United States Air Force unit. It is assigned to the USAF Weapons School, based at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada. It was previously assigned to the Seventh Air Force, being inactivated at Yokota Airfield, Japan on 20 February 1947.
The 3rd Flying Training Squadron is part of the 71st Operations Group under the 71st Flying Training Wing. It operates the T-1A Jayhawk aircraft conducting advanced phase tanker/transport flight training.
The Battle of Columbus, March 9, 1916, began as a raid conducted by Pancho Villa's Division of the North on the small United States border town of Columbus, New Mexico, located 3 miles (4.8 km) north of the border with Mexico. The raid escalated into a full-scale battle between Villistas and the United States Army.
Langley Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base located in Hampton, Virginia, adjacent to Newport News. It was one of thirty-two Air Service training camps established after the entry of the United States into World War I in April 1917.
Eberts Field is a former military airfield, located 1.4 miles (2.3 km) northwest of Lonoke, Arkansas. The airfield was one of thirty-two Air Service training camps established in 1917 after the United States entry into World War I.
Henry Post Army Airfield is a military use airport located at Fort Sill in Comanche County, Oklahoma, United States. This military airport is owned by United States Army. Established as Post Field in 1917, it was one of thirty-two Air Service training camps established after the United States entry into World War I in April 1917.
The Second Battle of Nogales was a three-sided military engagement of the Mexican Revolution, fought in November 1915 at the border towns of Nogales, Sonora, and Nogales, Arizona. On the morning of November 26, rebel forces of Pancho Villa, who occupied Nogales, Sonora, began firing on United States Army soldiers in Nogales, Arizona. The Americans responded with counter fire for over two hours before a force of Carrancistas arrived to attack the Villistas. Later that day, the Constitutionalistas accidentally opened fire on American soldiers and another short skirmish was fought. The battle resulted in the deaths of several Mexicans and was the first significant engagement fought between Villistas and the United States military.
Gerstner Field is a former World War I military airfield, located 11.1 miles (17.9 km) southeast of Lake Charles, Louisiana. It operated as a training field for the Air Service, United States Army between 1917 until 1919. The airfield was one of thirty-two Air Service training camps established in 1917 after the United States entry into World War I.
Eagle Pass Municipal Airport is a former airport, located in Eagle Pass, Texas. Airport operations ended around 1998, being transferred to the Maverick County Memorial International Airport. Today the former airport is a commercial site.
With the end of World War I in 1918, the Air Service, United States Army was largely demobilized. During the demobilization period of 1919, the Regular Army and its air arm answered a call to defend the southern border against raids from Mexico, and to halt smuggling of illegal aliens and narcotics into the United States and weapons from the United States into Mexico.
