Escadrille Spa.78
military unit
Escadrille Spa.78 (originally Escadrille N.78) was a French fighter squadron active from December 1916 until the end of World War I on 11 November 1918. It spent most of its existence as a component of a larger Groupe de Combat involved in offensive operations. The squadron was credited with a minimum of 40 confirmed aerial victories during the war.
History
Escadrille N.78 was organized on 12 December 1916 at Saint Etienne-a-Temple, France. It was formed under the guidance of Lieutenant Armand Pinsard. On 17 March 1917, it was one of four squadrons combined into Groupe de Combat 15 in support of IV Armee. In the latter part of 1917, the squadron re-equipped with SPAD fighters, and renamed Escadrille Spa.78.
The squadron would fight as part of the Groupe until the Armistice on 11 November 1918. The Groupe would operate with various French field armies until 10 September 1918. It fought in support of the U.S. First Army until 28 September, when it passed to support of IV Armee.
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This entry incorporates text from “Escadrille Spa.78” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.