Welcome to the History Unplugged Podcast.

The unscripted show that celebrates unsung heroes,

Mythbust's historical lies, and rediscover the forgotten stories that changed our world.

I'm your host, Scott Rank.

Hi everyone, welcome back to our series.

Ron Evy with Death, where we look at the Americans who join the World War I effort

French foreign Legion before America formally enters the war.

In the last episode we looked at the Battle of Verdun, perhaps the most grizzly combat in all of World War I.

In this episode we're going to see as Americans take to the air, and the American squadron forms an earnest.

Is David King, Bob Scanlon, Frida Nan, Captainville, William Duggan, and the other Americans in the 170th fought for their lives on the ground at Verdun.

A desperate struggle was taking place in the skies above them.

The French High Command was determined to overturn the overwhelming air superiority enjoyed by the Germans at the onset of the battle.

An air superiority was a concept that military strategists were really having to deal with for the first time in warfare.

The orders went out to clear the skies of Germans, and the small experimental squadron of American pilots,

led by Frenchman George Thanalt and Alfred de la Gdammu, would take part in the struggle.

Flying a biplane known as the Bebe for its immediate size,

the American unit became something of a cross between a legitimate pursuit squadron and a flying publicity stunt.

The members of the squadron, and 124 of the Serves Aranatique, burst assembled in April 1916 at an aerodome outside of Luxuil Leban.

The village was located in west of the Vouge in South of Verdun in a quiet sector far removed from the front lines.

Officially they were assigned to this locale as fighter escorts for a nearby bomber base, but that was more on paper than reality.

It was believed that this interlude would allow the squadron to learn how to function as a unit,

unless not embarrass themselves or their supporters once they entered combat over Verdun.

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