information on the 86th escadrille

[hugh tifft]

Hi,
I am trying to find out about the 86th escadrille. I am especially interested in plane emblems and who the personnel were of the 86th escadrille.
I have a rare color autochrome of members of the 86th.
Thank you,
hugh

[Froggy]

***********

[ONEALM]

Hi Hugh and welsome to the Aerodrome !

Here's a synopsis for SPA 86:

Created as N.86 6 April 1917 at Bonnemainson under the command of Capitaine Andre Brault-Lefevre de Noettes.

Re-equipped with SPADs and redesignated SPA 86 in the 1st trimester of 1918.

30 (or 31) Confirmed victories, 6 pilots KIA, 4 MIA, 2 Killed in accidents, 2 Wounded, 3 POW including Sgt. Shukunosuke Kobayashi a Japanese pilot attached to the unit. Lt. Larner, an American later assigned to the US 103rd Aero was also with the unit.

Get a copy of Over the Front Volume 16, No. 3 Fall 2001. It contains an excellent article by Bill Bailey and Al Roeseler on Groupe de Combat 14 of which SPA 86 was an element. There are severl goo photos of SPA 86 airplanes, a color profile on the rear cover and a fron cover painting of one of their SPAD VII's.

It also contains a combat log for the unit and a list of personnel.

Visit Welcome to The League of WWI Aviation Historians if interested in getting a copy of this excellent journal.

I've attached a version of their unit insignia.

-Mike

[hugh tifft]

Hello Mike,
thank you for all that great information.
thats a great painting of the spad on the cover !!
It will take a while to learn how to circumnavigate through the site. there is a lot of knowledgeable enthusiastic folks out there.
Regards,
hugh