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Robert Rockwell served with both the ambulance service and with the Foreign Legion before joining the Lafayette Escadrille. Following the War, he served in the American Air Force until 1946. |
 A typical Nieuport 17 flown by the Lafayette Escadrille at Luxeuil. |
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 The wreckage of Kiffin Rockwell’s Nieuport 17 near Rodern. Rockwell was officially credited with two victories but unofficially had more. |
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 The wreckage of Norman Prince’s Nieuport after it crashed when it hit a power line while landing at dusk. Prince was seriously injured in the crash and died a few days later. |
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 Squadron members after the funeral services for Norman Prince. Front row L-R: Hall, Lt. deLaage, Capitaine Thenault, W. Thaw, Father Armonier, C. Johnson. Back row L-R: L. Rumsey, R. Pavelka, E. Marshall, D. Masson, D. Hill, R. Rockwell. “Fram” Capitaine Thenault’s pet shepherd and one of the squadron’s mascots in the front. |
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In September, the squadron returned to its first duty station at Luxeuil where it resumed flying escort for the British and French bombers.
Before returning to Luxeuil from Bar-le-Duc, some of the pilots stopped over in Paris. While there, they purchased a lion cub for 500 francs and named it “Whiskey.” For the next year, Whiskey and companion cub “Soda,” which was bought later, would be the squadron’s familiar and often photographed mascots.
Robert Rockwell joined the squadron in Paris; he was a distant relative to Kiffin Rockwell.
On 23 September, Sergent Kiffin Rockwell attacked an Albatros observation plane, and he was shot by the rear gunner and crashed near the French lines at Rodern. He was buried two days later at Luxeuil in a funeral described as being “worthy of a general.”
On 12 October, planes from the squadron were assigned escort duty with a bombing raid on the Mauser arms plant in Oberndorf. On the return after scoring his fourth confirmed kill, Norman Prince crash landed in the darkness. He was rushed to a hospital, but died of injuries.
On the same mission, Lufbery scored his fifth victory, a Rolland C-II, and became the squadron’s first ace.
Adjutant Norman Prince, one of the founders of
the Lafayette Escadrille. A lawyer and certified pilot before the War,
Prince served with the French Air Service before the American squadron
was established.