Willis Bradley Haviland
| Willis Bradley Haviland | |
|---|---|
Lafayette Escadrille Aviator
|
|
| Born |
10 March 1890 Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA |
| Died | 28 November 1944 (aged 54) Corona, California, USA |
| Resting place | Arlington National Cemetery |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Naval Air Combat Pilot; Naval Air Station Commander |
| Employer | French Foreign Legion, French Air Service, United States Navy |
| Known for | Pilot in the Lafayette Escadrille, First pilot to launch a plane from a battleship |
| Spouse(s) | Mary Lucile Satterthwaite |
| Children | 1 daughter |
| Parent(s) | Senator Dr. Willis Henry Haviland (father) Grace Hynes (mother) |
| Relatives | Co-founders of Haviland China (cousins) Willis Haviland Carrier (cousin) |
Commander Willis Bradley Haviland, (10 March 1890 – 28 November 1944) was a pioneer military pilot in World War I and a Naval Air Station Commanding Officer in World War II. As the sixteenth American volunteer in the Lafayette Escadrille, he was among the first air combat pilots to fight the Germans in World War I, before the United States officially entered the war. He would later become the first pilot to launch a plane from a battleship.
Born on 10 March 1890 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Willis was the only son of Dr. Willis Henry Haviland (10 Sep 1864 – 15 Jan 1939) by his first wife Grace Hynes. His parents divorced 28 Jun 1895, when he was only about 5 years old, and Dr. Haviland remarried to Mary Page Irvine on 22 Jul 1895 in Butte, Montana. Willis Bradley Haviland would remain close to his biological mother well into his adulthood.
He attended Kemper Military School and Iowa State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts at Ames.
His father was elected a Montana State Senator in 1906 for one term in the Democratic Party. Meanwhile, young Willis B. Haviland enlisted in the United States Navy from 1907–1911. When war broke out in Europe, Willis joined the American Field Service (American Ambulance Corp, nicknamed "Friends of France") in 1915. There he drove ambulances for seventeen months at the Alsace front. When the Field Service and American Ambulance severed ties in the summer of 1916, Willis received a pilot's license on 7 September in that year and entered the American Escadrille (soon afterward renamed Lafayette Escadrille) becoming the sixteenth American volunteer pilot in the squadron.
Willis Bradley Haviland was primarily an escort and reconnaissance pilot in the Lafayette Escadrille, and occasionally was assigned a bombing run. He was permitted only to engage in air combat with the enemy in defense. Consequently, he earned only two confirmed "kills" in this time period, not nearly as many as his ace peers who had more aggressive assignments. He was adept at keeping his plane out of the enemy's firing angle, and if provoked he was skilled enough to send the German and Austrian pilots into retreat when he turned on them.
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