[1] The squadron was first organized as "Company A", Remount Station, Fort Sam Houston, Texas, on 13 May 1917, about a month after the declaration of war by President Woodrow Wilson.

Unit members came from thirty-five states, Puerto Rico, Canada, and Mexico, and they were among the first to arrive at the new Kelly Field.

[5] On 2 August, the squadron was ordered to Toronto, Ontario, Canada for training under the British Royal Flying Corps (RFC).

Then, the squadron was divided into detachments and went on to other camps in the area for training in rigging and fitting and all the trades involved in maintaining airplanes.

New orders were received and the 17th was transferred to Camp Taliaferro, near Fort Worth, Texas on 12 October, for additional RFC training, although an advance party of twenty men had left for the same destination on 24 September.

[5] Upon arrival in Garden City, it found New York in the grip of a coal shortage and a severe cold streak of weather.

The squadron was finally allowed to embark on 9 January at New York Haber pier 54 on the RMS Carmania, a former Cunard ocean liner that had been impressed as a troop ship.

It was arranged that each flight, would be attached to a separate RFC fighting squadron for duty and final training, while the pilots would be sent to various flying schools in Great Britain.

[5] After a month of confusion and very uncomfortable living conditions at Romsey on 9 February 1918, the Ground Echelon of the squadron sailed from Southampton for Le Havre, Upper Normandy, France, with a shipload of mules and horses.

"B" Flight had moved to Bailleul Airdrome on the Somme, where it and 60 Squadron came under shell fire from the advancing German Army, although it suffered no casualties.

[5] At Guizancourt, "A" Flight had received enemy artillery fire, and along with 64 Squadron had moved to Champien Aerodrome, near Roye; the last man got away only an hour and a half before the Germans arrived.

[5] During the three months of the German offensive, the RAF experienced the busiest and most dangerous times it had ever known, and during this period, the men of the 17th Aero Squadron learned much more than the maintenance of aircraft.

This became invaluable when the 17th began operating as an American unit with the RAF and word came in the middle of the night to move in five hours, they were fully capable of the task.

[5] At Petite Synthe Airdrome the 17th received its official insignia, secret at the time, a white Dumbbell painted on each side of the fuselage aft of the cockpit.

Lt. Rodney D. Williams brought down its first enemy airplane not far from Ostend, Belgium about 09:45 on 20 July when the squadron encountered a formation of five German Fokker biplanes at approximately 21,000 feet.

That same day, the first casualty of the war was suffered by the squadron, when Lt. George Glenn was seen diving deeply south of Ostend after being attacked by a German Fokker D.VII.

The 17th took off before dawn and in conjunction with the RAF 5th Group squadrons, the bombers attacked the airfield from a low level, then proceeded to shoot at hangars and huts on the aerodrome.

They arrived the next day, and were settled in enough to send the first combat patrol over the lines on 21 August, shooting down four enemy aircraft.

The Chateau Thierry offensive was in full swing, with the squadron flying low bombing patrols, attacking gas balloons and infantry with their machine guns.

The squadron was called for a patrol about 16:30 with a mission to attack a lot of enemy on the lines and some friendly "low-straffers" in trouble on the Bapaume-Cambrai road.

The ground mechanics and crew managed to fill in the shell holes and operations by the squadron flew from dusk to dawn until 20 September.

Being locked up in a room, he managed to escape through a hole in the roof and made his way from Valenciennes to Belgium, where he obtained a suit of civilian clothing.

Somewhere in Brussels he became friends with a Belgian engineer who ran the electric plant from which the current for charging the frontier wire barrier was generated.

As the Battle for Cambrai progressed, the squadron's patrols would attack large formations of enemy Fokkers by ambushing them in the clouds, or bait them by trying to pull them over friendly territory.

However, it turned out they were 'bait' as shortly afterwards, a formation of sixteen Fokkers dived down on them without warning, while another flight of enemy aircraft waited for their best moment to pounce on the rest of the squadron.

[5] During the greater part of October, the squadron brought "great discomfort" to the enemy in many ways, and broke up the organization of his retreat towards the German frontier in spite of low clouds and a drizzling rain on many days.

He then read to all a letter from General Julian Byng, commander of the British Third Army expressing to the squadron his sincere appreciation for their excellent and hard work.

[5] On 12 December 1918 orders were received from First Army for the squadron to report to the 1st Air Depot, Colombey-les-Belles Airdrome to turn in all of its supplies and equipment and was relieved from duty with the AEF.

[14] Personnel at Colombey were subsequently assigned to the commanding general, services of supply, and ordered to report to the staging camp at Nantes, France on 15 January 1919.

US DSC: Distinguished Service Cross; British DFC: Distinguished Flying Cross; US Silver Star Citation: Silver Star Citation; KIA: Killed in Action; POW: Prisoner of War[16] This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency