On May 1st, 1916, the planes finally arrived. They came disassembled, along with a factory team to help with assembly. The pilots pitched in to help with this work. Given how eager Kiffin was to fly, it’s not surprising that his plane was the first to be finished. Here a Nieuport fuselage is unloaded from a truck. The squadron was equipped with the Nieuport 11, a rotary engine fighter which could fly at 97 mph and climb to 15,000 ft. Capt. Thénault said “They excited the jealousy of other pilots with slower and more bulky airplanes. They were mere lambs, we were wolves. In war it is better to be a wolf.” (The squadron also had a few Nieuport 16s, which were virtually identical but with a slightly larger engine.) (Photo courtesy of Washington & Lee University.)