Aircraft and the Mexican Revolution
By Richard Baber
This article was originally published in the SOTCW Journal but was too dry and technical to interest the wargames glossies.
The
success of the Wright brothers and other pioneers in the U.S. attracted considerable attention in Mexico.
In 1908, Alfredo Robles DomÃnguez published his Tratado de locomoción aérea
(Treatise of Aerial Locomotion). In 1909, the Sociedad Impulsora de la
Aviación, (Society for the Promotion of Aviation) was established in Mexico City. On January 8,
1910, Alberto Braniff successfully made Mexico's
first flight – all 500 meters of it, in a 60-horsepower Voisin biplane, taking
off from the Balbuena field in Mexico
City. Alberto Braniff was the son of industrialist and
railroad entrepreneur Thomas Braniff. Alberto was sent to study in France, which is where he learned to fly and
where he acquired a French built airplane which he subsequently brought back to
Mexico
when he returned. The family of Mexico's
pioneer aviator owned a home in Chapala,
Mexico was the first Latin American country to make use of aircraft in
warfare. A single aircraft flown by US mercenary pilot Captain Hector
Worden flew observation (there is some sources who claim he flew bombing
missions too) for Maderista revolutionaries as early as 1911.
A Bleriot XI monoplane was demonstrated to President Porfirio Diaz, shortly before
he was overthrown.
In
1911, Francisco I. Madero became Mexican President. He became a visionary
supporter of aviation. On November 30, 1911, President Madero took a short
historic flight in a Deperdussin airplane, thereby becoming the first Chief of
State in the World to have flown in an aircraft. He was inspired by having
witnessed, in March 1911, an international air show, the Moisant International
Aviators–with its impressive display of flying.
President Madero took
office at a time when the nation was in turmoil, right at the beginning of what
would later be known as the Mexican Revolution. Appreciating the potential
intelligence gathering role of aircraft, Madero decided to acquire some planes.
He sponsored five young Mexicans to travel to Long Island,
New York, to train as pilots at the Moisant International Aviators
School. The "Famous
Five" were Gustavo Salinas Camiña, Alberto Salinas Carranza, Horacio Ruiz
Gaviño and two brothers, Juan Pablo and Eduardo Aldasoro Suárez. Gustavo
Salinas Camiña (1893 - 1964), who received his first commercial license (number
172) from the Aero Club of America at Flushing Meadows, New York, in 1912, was soon to write his own
page in aviation history.
The five young pilots
completed their mission and returned to Mexico. Following a coup d'état in
1913, General Victoriano Huerta claimed power and Madero was assassinated.
Huerta planned to send a further 31 pilots to France for training, but these
plans were stalled by the outbreak of WW1.
The famous Five
The
official predecessor of the Air Force was the Army's Auxiliary Aerial
Militia Squadron (Escuadrilla Aérea de la Milicia Auxiliar del Ejército),
created during the Mexican Revolution in April 1913 by the Secretary of War and Navy General
Manuel Mondragón, who authorized pilots Miguel Lebrija and Juan Guillermo
Villasana to bomb targets on Campo de Balbuena, in Mexico City.
Madero’s supporters and
other groups (Pancho Villa in the North; Emilio Zapata in the south West and
General Venustiano Carranza in the North east, rebelled against Huerta and his
followers, starting the revolution all over again. Three of these Constitutionalist
armies had flights of aircraft –
Martin pusher biplane
Obregon`s “Division del
Noroesta” had two Glen Martin pusher bi-planes.
Villa’s “Division del
Norte” had five Wright “L” bi-planes
Pablo Gonzalez “Division del Este” had two Morane-Saulnier mono-planes
Most of
the pilots were mercenaries, mostly American, but some Europeans too.
The
various factions mostly used their aircraft for observation and reconnaissance;
but simple bomb racks were soon developed and aircraft were used in an
offensive role too.
Towards the end of July,
1913, the French aviator Didier Masson flying a Glen Martin pusher launched
several bombing raids against Federal gunboats off Guaymas; this incident was
reported both in the New York Times and in the logs of both the USS Pittsburg
and USS Glacier
In
April 1914, one of Obregón's gunships, the Tampico (which incidentally was one
of the ships attacked by Masson back in July 1913); was sailing off the coast
of Sinaloa, close to the port of Topolobampo (near Los Mochis), when it came
under attack from two Huertista warships: the Morelos and the Guerrero. Obregón
ordered Gustavo Salinas Camiña (later in the 1940s head of the Mexican
Airforce) to do something about it. On April 14, accompanied by his mechanic
Teodoro Madariaga, Salinas flew Sonora, his Glenn Martin
pusher biplane, overhead and began bombing the Guerrero. The Huertista warships
put out to sea, and the Tampico
survived to fight another day.
Gustavo Salinas Camiña with “Sonora”
On
February 5, 1915, the leader of the Constitutionalist Army, Venustiano Carranza, founded
the Arma de Aviación Militar (Military Aviation Arm), which
would become the current air force. Its first commander was Lt. Alberto Salinas
Carranza.
Carranza’s
government set about the establishment of an Air Arm as an integral part of the
new Constitutional Army. And although the war in Europe cut off external
sources of supply, both a flying school and central aviation workshop were set
up at Balbuena, near Mexico City
in November 1915 using all surviving aircraft.
With
surprising ingenuity the Talleres Nacionales de Construcciones Aeronauticas set
about the development and production from Scratch. In 1916 the TNCA Serie “A”
tandem two-seater bi-plane trainer, powered by the Mexican developed Azatl
air-cooled six cylinder radial engine, entered production, considering the
fractious nature of the country, an air-mail service was started in July 1917
using these aircraft.
A Beloit type mono-plane
Further
developments followed including: the TNCA Serie “B” trainer; the Serie “C”
lightweight single-seater fighter; the Serie “D”, “F” and “G” derived from
Beliot and Morane-Saulnier designs; ten examples of the locally designed Serie
“E” sesquiplane ( a biplane having one wing of less than half the area of
the other) and finally 15 examples of the Serie “H” two-seat parasol monoplane
bomber. By the end of the revolution in 1920, Arma Aerea de las Fuerzas
Constitcionales had approximately 50 locally built aircraft.
American aviator and engineer James Dean with some of the
aerial bombs he developed for use with the “Sonora”
Pershing’s Expedition into Mexico 1916
Following
Pancho Villa’s murderous raid on Columbus, New Mexico on March 9th, President Wilson ordered General
Pershing to pursue the bandits into Mexico proper. Pershing’s force was
mostly cavalry, for the fist time in US military history they had motorized
transport, a few new armoured cars and of course aero planes.
1st Aero squadron had been
formed within the Army Signal Corps under the command of 1st Lt. Thomas DeWitt
Milling. Eight aircraft were assigned and a small group of pilots,
mechanics, administration and logistics staff and others were brought on.
By December, the formal organizational chart had been defined, dividing the
squadron into two companies of four aircraft each, commanded by eight officers
and supported by 45 enlisted men. Initially, the 1st Company of the 1st
Aero Squadron had four Burgess Model H biplanes, while the 2nd Company had a
mixed collection of Curtiss aircraft — a Model D, Model E, Model G and a fourth
Model E that the 2nd Company assembled from spare parts that had been provided
to support the other aircraft!
By 1916, the squadron
had retired its Burgess and Curtiss planes and acquired newer, better
aircraft. The unit was now flying the new Curtiss JN-3 Jenny, with which
they had checked out just four months before after a disastrous attempt to
upgrade to the earlier Jenny model, the JN-2. Even the Curtiss JN-3 Jenny
was underpowered with just 90 hp and as a result had trouble climbing higher
than 10,000 feet. Nonetheless, it was a significant upgrade. Based
out of North Island
in California, the squadron had been doing
work along the Mexican border on a number of short and long term deployments to
Texas, Oklahoma
and New Mexico.
It was under-funded, inexperienced and ill-supplied and under the Army Signal
Corps, which considered aero-planes to be less interesting than signals, radios
and flags.Curtiss JN3 Jennie
Frankly
the aircraft was ill-suited for the climate and rigours of the operation; the
first arrived on March 16th, but by April 20th only two
were capable of operating and the whole squadron was withdrawn.
Maj. Gen. Pershing wrote
to his superior officer, Brig. Gen. Frederick Funston his complaints about the
lack of effectiveness of the planes:
“[T]he
aeroplanes have been of no material benefit so far, either in scouting or as a
means of communication. They have not at all met my expectations.
The further south Villa goes into the mountains the more difficult will be
their tasks, and I have no doubt we shall soon be compelled to abandon them for
either scouting the enemy or keeping in touch with the advance columns.”
They
did re-equip with better planes – Curtiss N8 and eventually the new R-2
bi-planes and return to help Pershing. But once again the climate proved a huge
obstacle to the aircraft reliability and maintenance became a major issue once
again. Although the 1st Aero Squadron effectively failed in its
mission the lessons learned during the brief campaign were later put to good
use once the US entered the
war in Europe and it was the 1st Aero Squadron who were the first US
Army pilots who went over to France.
Wargaming with aircraft in Mexico
As we
can see there is some limited scope to include the odd plane over our Mexican
wargames table. Planes were few and their effects minimal, but the odd low
level bombing run or a circling “eye in the sky” could add something to a game.
The commander with access to an aircraft (or two), could in effect watch his
opponents movements and be able (with a short delay) move his own forces to
counter-act those moves. The pilot could drop messages to out-lying or distant
units - don`t forget the limited communications meant units could get lost in a
battle, how useful would it be to first find them and then send an order in
this way! Early aircraft were vulnerable to weather and this should be taken
into consideration during any game; mechanical reliability and maintenance
would also be major issues.
I built this "pusher" bi-plane using a Avro Pusher
Bombing,
whilst these early aircraft
could not carry any serious bomb loads, simply the noise and a flurry of
cast-iron granadas (grenades) or dynamite may well cause panic among a
surprised enemy.
Trains
Aircraft
need maintenance, fuel and spare parts these were usually carried (at least in
the revolutionary armies) on trains. The aircraft too were usually transported
over long distances on these trains. These incredibly valuable military assets
would therefore make excellent objectives for one off games.
Sources
Notes on the Mexican Army 1900-1920
by The South and Central American Military Historians Society
Documents of the Mexican Revolution
by J. Hinds
The
Incident: The Punitive Expedition by Steve Fruitt
The
Mexican Revolution 1910-20 by P. Jowett and A de Quesada
The
General & The Jaguar by Eileen Welsome
Battles
of the Mexican Revolution by J. Hinds
Chasing
Pancho Villa (article on Historicwings.com)
The Hunt for Pancho Villa by Alejandro de Quesada
