168th Aero Squadron

168th Aero Squadron
Pilots of the 168th Aero Squadron, Gengault Aerodrome (Toul), France, November 1918
Active	19 December 1917 – 22 July 1919
Country	United States
Branch	Air Service, United States Army
Type	Squadron
Role	Corps Observation
Part of	American Expeditionary Forces (AEF)
Engagements	World War I Occupation of the Rhineland
Commanders
Notable commanders	Captain Harry A. Miller Lt Frederick L. Kopff
Insignia
168th Aero Squadron Emblem
Aircraft flown
Reconnaissance	Dayton-Wright DH-4, 1918–1919

Service record
Operations	IV Corps Observation Group Western Front, France: 30 September-11 November 1918 Flew first combat mission on 5 October 1918, flew one to five missions each day. First combat with enemy forces on 30 October, one enemy aircraft shot down (Lt. Myers), three other combats reported. 1 enemy balloon shot down on 3 November. Another combat reported on 5 November, Lt Myers shot down one enemy aircraft. Enemy combat again on 5 November, 2 DSC's awarded.

Captain Harry A. Miller

IV Corps Observation Group
Western Front, France: 30 September-11 November 1918

The 168th Aero Squadron was a Air Service, United States Army unit that fought on the Western Front during World War I.

The squadron was assigned as a Corps Observation Squadron, performing short-range, tactical reconnaissance over the IV Corps, United States Second Army sector of the Western Front in France, providing battlefield intelligence.

The squadron saw limited combat, and with Second Army's planned offensive drive on Metz cancelled due to the 1918 Armistice with Germany, the squadron was assigned to the United States Third Army as part of the Occupation of the Rhineland in Germany. The squadron returned to the United States in July 1919 and was demobilized.

The squadron was never reactivated and there is no current United States Air Force or Air National Guard successor unit.

The 168th Aero Squadron was organized on 12 December 1917 at Kelly Field, Texas, with 154 recruits being assigned to the squadron on the 19th. The squadron began a program of drill and indoctrination into the Air Service. On 18 December, the squadron was ordered to report to the Aviation Concentration Center, Hazelhurst Field, Long Island, and arrived on 26 December for overseas duty. There, about 60 members of the squadron were placed in training schools for three weeks while the remainder performed guard duty and camp maintenance duty.

On 31 January 1918, the squadron was ordered to report to the United States Port of Entry, Hoboken, New Jersey and boarded the HMS Adriatic. The crossing of the Atlantic was uneventful, the Adriatic being in a convoy of 14 ships, arriving at Liverpool, England on 16 Funerary. From Liverpool, the squadron traveled by train to the Ramsey Rest Camp, Winchester.

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