Bert Hall

Weston Birch "Bert" Hall (November 7, 1885 – December 6, 1948) was a military aviator and writer. Hall was one of America's first combat aviators, flying with the famed Lafayette Escadrille in France before the U.S. entered World War I.

Hall was born near Higginsville, Missouri, the son of George Hall.

Bert Hall learned to fly in 1910 at Buc, France, using a "Maurice Farman Biplane Pusher, with a fog-cutter out in front and an air-cooled Renault motor behind." He subsequently acquired a "new 1913 Bleriot, equipped with a 60 H.P. Gnome motor", and on February 16, 1913, he along with his French mechanic André Pierce became soldiers of fortune flying for the Sultan of Turkey, Akbdul Hamid, for $100 American dollars a day, against the Bulgarians. The first day he was paid in Turkish currency and refused to fly, but received "in gold money" from then on. After two months the Turkish Army payments became inconsistent "fifty dollars one day and sixty the next and forty-five the next", so Bert and André "packed up and flew into Roumania (sic), stopping at Bucharest ... receiving the equivalent of one hundred dollars gold per day in advance.". After 30 days the Bulgars welshed, but before Bert and his mechanic could depart with their gold, Bert was arrested, leaving André to bribe the jailers for Bert's release.

After a brief barn storming tour through Ukraine, his Bleriot motor quit over the Pyrenees Mountains outside of Tarbes and crashed. He salvaged the motor for 2,500 francs. In early August 1914, Bert met renowned big game hunter René Philezot and both enlisted as infantry in the French Foreign Legion Deuxiéme (Second) Regiment, which had been redeployed from Morocco to France for trench warfare. In early October, 1914, Bill Thaw, Jimmy Bach, and Bert applied for aviation, and on December 14, 1914, the three entered "into the French Flying Corps."

Bert was one of the seven original members of the Lafayette Escadrille. They included two of the original three applicants—Bill Thaw and Bert Hall, (Jimmy Bach was in the French Flying Corps, but was in a German Prison camp before the LE was organized); Norman (Nimmie) Prince, Frazier Curtiss and Elliot Cowdin joined on March 9, 1914; with the final addition of Raoul Lufbery and Didier Masson. However, he was greatly disliked by his comrades. Besides having an abrasive personality, he was known to be a liar.

Dennis Gordon wrote a book called Autobiographies of the Lafayette Escadrille published by the Doughboy Historical Society - POB 3912 Missoula, MT 59806. According to this book, Bert Hall did get four confirmed kills in the LS and several medals and was the squadron adjutant. But he was a four-flusher, a liar, a deserter and a good poker player who could read his opponents. and usually cleaned the table.

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