January 8, 2012 - On Friday the state of New Mexico celebrated its centennial. Though the Air Force officially made its appearance in the Tularosa Basin in February 1942 with the construction of Alamogordo Army Airfield, the air power roots of America were established only 150 miles from Holloman four years after New Mexico's admittance into the union in 1912 as the 47th state. 

America's first deployment and operational use of military air power did not take place in the skies over Germany or France, but in 1916 in Columbus, N.M. And though it appeared to some military leaders to have been a total failure, it was a turning point in military history this was the first time America would use the fledgling discovery of flight as a tactical air unit in a combat situation.

Packed in wooden crates, eight old and underpowered Curtiss JN-3 "Jenny" biplanes barely able to fly 100 mph arrived in Columbus on March 15, 1916. The 1st Aero Squadron, known as the "Early Birds", consisting of 11 officers and 84 enlisted men, joined Brig. Gen. John "Black Jack" Pershing and more than 4,000 cavalry soldiers in southern New Mexico.

Aviation pioneer, Capt. Benjamin Foulois, who went on to become Chief of the Air Corps in 1931, served as the commander of the 1st Aero Squadron. The squadron was the Army Signal Corps' only flying arm at the time. During the expedition, the squadron flew 346 hours on 540 missions, covering nearly 20,000 miles. Captain Foulois described the perils in flying the 1916 biplanes as machines inadequate for the task assigned.

"Not only were they inadequate, they were downright dangerous to fly because of their age," he wrote in his report titled "Report of the Operations of the First Aero Squadron, Signal Corps, with the Mexican Punitive Expedition for Period March 15 to August 15, 1916". "Yet we did a great amount of scouting over country in which cavalry and infantry could not operate."

Many times pilots were called upon to take extraordinary risks during their flights into the mountainous canyons in Mexico. Knowing if they were forced to crash land there it was a good possibility they would be taken prisoner by an enemy who didn't have the same ideas for prisoners of war treatment as the U.S., the inexperienced aviators continued their mission.

The pilots also knew even if they safely landed in hostile territory -- and managed to evade the enemy -- they could face both personal risk and physical suffering as they made their way back to the safety of U.S. forces, which was often hundreds of miles or several days walk away. The lack of water in the desert area and the inability to carry food or additional clothing in the JN-3 further added to the mental and physical strains put on the early aviators.

Although the 1st AS played a key role in the military operation, the biplanes made of little more than canvas stretched over sticks and wood were limited to communications and observation roles. Navigation errors resulting from poor maps combined with night flying, contributed to problems for the squadron as did the dust storms and excessive heat in the arid environment of southern New Mexico and the swirling winds of the Sierra Madres Mountains in northern Mexico.