Cover: Cunningham and a civilian instructor at the controls of a Burgess-Wright flyer, the machine in which the first marine aviators learned to fly. (Photograph from Cunningham Papers) MARINE FLYER IN FRANCE The Diary of Captain Alfred A. Cunningham November 1917-January 1918 Edited by Graham A. Cosmas HISTORY AND MUSEUMS DIVISION HEADQUARTERS, U.S. MARINE CORPS WASHINGTON D.C. 1974 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Washington, D.C., 20402 - $1.15 Stock Number 0855-00077 PCN 19000318400 FOREWORD This diary recounts the experiences and impressions of Captain Alfred Austell Cunningham, the first Marine aviator, during his tour of British and French aviation facilities in November and December 1917. The document reyeals much about the character and personality of a notable Marine and gives a view of wartime England and France as seen through his eyes. Dr. Graham A. Cosmas, the editor, joined the staff of the Division of History and Museums in December 1973 after teaching history at the University of Texas and the Univer- sity of Guam. He has a PhD in History from the University of Texas and has published several articles .on United States military history, as well as a book on the U. S. Army in the Spanish-American War. The Cunningham diary, is presented here by itself as a preview of a larger collection of Cunningham materials from World War I which will be edited by Dr. Cosmas and published next year by the History and Museums Division. EDWIN H. SIMMONS Brigadier General, U. S. Marine Corps (Ret.) Director of Marine Corps History and Museums Reviewed and Approved: 29 October 1974 iii PREFACE During November and December 1917, Captain Alfred A. Cunningham, the first Marine Corps aviator, travelling under orders from Major General Commandant George Barnett, toured the battlefronts and flying fields of France to observe Allied air operations and training. In 1917, Cunningham was the Marine Corps's de facto director of aviation. He had joined the Corps in 1909 and as a-first lieutenant stationed at the Philadelphia Navy Yard made his first experimental flights in a crude airplane which he rented at his own expense. In May 1912, the Marine Corps sent Cunningham to Annapolis for Navy pilot training. He soloed early in August of that same year and on 5 March 1913 was designated a naval aviator. During the next four years, as Marine aviation slowly grew, Cunningham, joined by a few other far-sighted Marines, continually worked and argued to promote its interests. On 26 February 1917, Cunningham received orders to organize at the Philadelphia Navy Yard the Marines' first tactical aviation unit, called initially the Marine Corps Aeronautic Company. At this time, Marine aviation muster rolls carried the names of seven aviators and 43-ground personnel. With the declaration of war against Germany in April 1917, Marine aviation, with Aeronautic Company as its nu- cleus, joined the rest of the Corps in rapid expansion. Cunningham began looking for a way to get his force of men and machines into front-line combat. To this end, he made his trip to France. He brought back from his tour a pro- posal for the creation of a Northern Bombing Group composed of squadrons of Navy and marine land planes with the mission of attacking German U-boat bases on the Belgian coast. This plan won the backing of the General Board of the Navy, and on 11 March 1918 Cunningham received instructions to organize the First Marine Aviation Force -- the first Marine. air organization ever to fly in combat. During his tour of the war front in 1917, Captain Cunningham kept this diary, which was acquired by the Manu- script Collection of the Marine Corps Museum in November 1973 as part of a gift of Cunningham materials made by Mrs. Alexander H. Jefferies, sister-in-law of the late Mrs. Alfred A. Cunningham. The original of the diary is now located in the Alfred A. Cunningham Papers (PC 459) in the Marine Corps Museum Collections Unit, Building 198, Washington Navy Yard. v The diary, kept in tiny, neat handwriting in a small pocket notebook, begins on 3 November 1917 with Cunningham's sailing from New York on board the S. S. St . Paul . After a description of a rough winter passage through the North Atlantic U-boat zone, the entries record the confusion, in- conveniences, and hardships of wartime London and Paris and contain repeated expressions of homesickness, along with sometimes acid comment on the French people and culture. Beginning with the entry of 23 November, Cunningham records- his visits to the French flying schools south of Paris at Tours, Avord, Pau, and Cazaux. Here he conferred with French aviators and flew in aircraft of many types. He was impressed with the skill of many of the Allied pilots he met but sometimes appalled by their recklessness and by the accident rate among the student fliers. Throughout these passages, also, Cunningham expresses straight-laced moral indignation at the fondness of many off-duty American officers for liquor and women. After another stop in Paris, the diary then follows Cunningham to a visit to the AEF Headquarters at Chaumont on 12 December, then to the Marine billets near Bourmont and Damblain and to front-line French airbases near Soissons. In these visits, he encounters American fliers of the legen- dary Lafayette Escadrille. The entries for 18-22 December, the most dramatic of the diary, tell of Cunningham's parti- cipation in combat missions with French pilots and a brief but vivid experience of trench warfare and artillery bom- bardment. The final section of the diary recounts visits to British bomber fields and seaplane bases in northern France and Belgium and a tour of the RNAF and RFC aerial gunnery schools at Eastchurch and Hythe, England. The last entries leave Cunningham on board S. S. St . Louis at sea on the voyage home. The diary is transcribed exactly as Cunningham wrote it, retaining his errors and idiosyncracies of spelling and punctuation. The original diary was checked and prepared for reproduction by Mr. Charles A. Wood, Curator, Collec- tions Unit, Marine Corps Museums. It was typed in its original draft by Mrs. Joyce Blackman, and edited and pre- pared for printing by Dr. Graham A. Cosmas. The photographs with which the diary is illustrated are from a scrapbook assembled by Cunningham during his tour of France which is now part of the Cunningham Papers. vi Mr. Rowland P. Gill, Curator of Photographs, Collections Unit, Marine Corps Museums, assisted in captioning these pictures, many of which may be published here for the first time. GRAHAM A. COSMAS vii CAPTAIN ALFRED A. CUNNINGHAM DIARY, NOVEMBER 1917 TO JANUARY 1918 Saturday, November 3, 1917 New York and S.S. "St. Paul" Got up 6:30 a.m. after only 2:45 sleep. Went to paymasters for mileage checks. Saw Mrs. Whiting and received box from her to take to Ken Whiting in Paris. Got money changed and went on Board the St. Paul at 11:30 a.m. We sailed at 12:30 with only 47 first class passengers and apparently not many 2nd class. I have seen three women and a small boy. Had my last glimpse of Long Island about 3 p.m. Suppose there are a great many experiences in store for me before I see it again. I have stateroom 29 all to myself and think I am lucky to be on the Promenade Deck. Weather bad and ship cold and uncomfortable. Sunday, November 4, 1917 Had late breakfast. Steward woke me and stated my bath was ready. Found a tub of sea water and a small tub of fresh water for getting rid of the salt water. This is to be the regular morning routine. Find we have on board Admiral Niblack; The Lord Chief Justice of England and Lord Northcliffe. Have also been told that we have $50,000,000 in bullion on the ship. We should be well convoyed with all this rank and wealth on board. We are not convoyed now and have not seen any kind of craft all day. Either the ocean is deserted or we are out of the regular track. The weather is beastly, blowing a gale, cold and rains and snows alternately. I have not been warm since I came on board except when in bed. Suppose they are training us for England conditions. I hope the submarines wait for warmer weather before trying to torpedo us. We are not worrying about torpedoes yet. Will save that for the war zone. Monday, November 5, 1917 At sea, S.S. "St. Paul" Last night the wind rose to a full gale and seas began breaking over the forecastle. 12 bags of powder for the guns were washed overboard. Several men just escaped the same fate trying to rescue the balance of it. The gale was worst this morning but it has been almost the same all day and tonight green water is racing down the Promenade Deck. They say. the barometer is going down, which probably means 1