Here’s one that caught me unawares. Pancho Villa, that legendary Mexican revolutionary, did indeed have his own air force.
In March 1915, Villa's brother Hipolito arranged with Jack Berger, an entrepreneur who operated a traveling flying show, to supply Villa with planes and pilots. Berger was unpopular with the Wright aviators because he was stingy with paychecks. When he showed up in Dayton nobody believed him until he purchased two airplanes from the Wright Factory.
With two pilots and a mechanic, Berger shipped the airplanes to El Paso and across the Rio to Juarez. They assembled the smaller Wright Model B in Juarez, but before it could get off the ground a strong gust of wind blew it to pieces, injuring its pilot. Back to the factory!
The larger airplane, a Model HS, was hauled by train to Villa’s headquarters in Monterrey. The train was painted a vivid green, and the name on the side of the cars read “Aviation Division of the North.”
The remaining pilot, Howard Rinehart, made several test flights for Villa, who always came to watch but never went up. He did send an officer along, in case Rinehart decided to defect to Carranza.
The pilot wouldn’t fly in the fog, a decision Villa didn’t understand. He could ride his horse in the fog, why couldn’t the airplane fly in it?
Rinehart’s first mission was to carry orders to a regiment 50 miles to the south. On landing, he came under murderous fire from Villa’s own troops.
The final mission for Rinehart was a message to troops in Matamoros. Rinehart hadn’t been paid (Berger was up to his old tricks) and furthermore, his airplane was a target for potshots wherever he flew. On landing near Matamoros, one of his wheels was damaged. Rinehart said he needed to take the wheel across the Rio to Brownville for repairs. Once across the river, he discarded it and took the train back to Ohio.
I’m getting this information from Orville’s Aviators by John Carver Edwards (e-book version). To my surprise, none of it appears in the 983-page biography, The Life & Times of Panco Villa by Friedrich Katz. Guess it wasn’t that important.
March 2nd, Happy Birthday to Texas! And to Sam Houston as well!
Dac Crossley
March 2, 2011
“I tend to live in the past because most of my life is there.” – Herb Caen
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Posted by: hotels in meissen guenstig reservieren | June 18, 2012 at 06:36 PM
Thanks for the bit of education today!
Posted by: shirley white | March 02, 2011 at 09:48 PM
It surprised me, too. My copy of the Edwards book was purchased as the Kindle version.
Posted by: Dac Crossley | March 02, 2011 at 06:30 PM
Interesting. Hadn't heard of this before. Thanks for listing the name of the Edwards book, too.
Posted by: J. R. Lindermuth | March 02, 2011 at 06:16 PM
Glad to hear it. I wish the newspaper would run an online version of the actual front page - they have a nice web site but I'd like to see what they are actually printing --
Dac
Posted by: Dac Crossley | March 02, 2011 at 04:04 PM
Not about Pancho Villa but about the the celebration going on at the Alamo, etc. marking the 175 years since its fall to Mexicans == The San Antonio Express News has been carrying daily examples of possible dispatches starting with Feb. 24, 1836: Bowie Stricken/Gives Up Command. They are in the form of a three=column wrap around the main page on paper tinted to look old. Other articles, pictures, etc. appear throughout the papers. These apparently will run through March 6th.
Posted by: Marj. F. | March 02, 2011 at 03:55 PM