<text id=00he0306><title>The Air Campaigns of 1918</title>
<history>US Air Force: Events History</history>
<article><hdr>The Air Campaigns of 1918</hdr><body>
<p>April, May and most of June 1918 were spent in quiet activity on the Toul sector: patrols, occasional combat and training. Other types of aircraft joined the pursuit units. Observation and bombing squadrons practiced their arts. And on 28 June, all four squadrons of the newly organized First Pursuit Group—27th, 94th, 95th and 147th—were ordered north to Touquin, in the Champagne country, to help establish control of the air over the looming battle at Château-Thierry. There they were joined by the First Corps Observation Group, with its veteran 1st Aero Squadron plus the 12th and 88th. The 1st and 2nd Balloon Companies also were deployed to the new sector. The pursuit and observation units together constituted the First Air Brigade, commanded by Colonel Mitchell.
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<p>Opposing them, and the other Allied air units in the area, the Germans had concentrated 46 of their available 78 fighter squadrons, including the three crack units known as 'Flying Circuses' because of their brightly painted aircraft.
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<p>Château-Thierry was the first of the three major battles in which American airmen were to play any significant part. The war had less than five months to run and the Germans were beginning to feel the pinch, but were still capable of mounting a major offensive.
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<p>One of these had been kicked off in March and had advanced inexorably on Paris. It was temporarily held at the Marne River, but the Germans were obviously massing forces for an attempted breakthrough near Château-Thierry, a small town about 50 miles (80 km) from Paris. The French were reinforced by the American First Army Corps, and with it went the First Air Brigade.
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<p>One of the reconnaissance pilots flying on the morning of 15 July when the German attack moved forward was Mitchell. He found five pontoon bridges that the Germans had thrown across the Marne the previous night, and which they were using to move troops to the battle. It is interesting to note that the bridges were not bombed; instead, ground forces were shifted to meet the oncoming German troops.
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<p>Mitchell had devised an overall plan for his force. He wanted to attack the German supply base at F_re-en-Tardenois with a strong day bombardment force and draw in the German pursuits to defend the area. His pursuits would then engage the German fighters and, with some luck and skill, kill enough of the enemy to reduce their quantitative superiority.
