It also includes United States officers who served in France during World War I in the Lafayette Escadrille Flying Corps, the American Field Service, or with the Allies of World War I.
The 103d was founded and eventually commanded by Major Charles Biddle, who had flown in World War I as part of the famous Lafayette Escadrille.
Although the idea of parachutes was known long ago, and Banič's invention is a radically different type of a parachute from the type known today (it was a kind of umbrella attached to the body), it was the first parachute known to be actively used, saving the lives of many American aviators during World War I.
Four young men from various walks of life sign up as flyers for the Lafayette Escadrille, a military unit known as "The Legion of the Condemned" composed mostly of American volunteer pilots flying fighters in World War I. All four men are running away from something—the law, love, or themselves.
Lafayette, Louisiana | Lafayette | Marquis de Lafayette | Lafayette College | Gilbert du Motier, marquis de Lafayette | Lafayette, Indiana | Lafayette Park | Lafayette Escadrille | Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette | Lafayette McLaws | Lafayette County | LaFayette, Georgia | Galeries Lafayette | Bernard Lafayette | Lafayette Square, Washington, D.C. | Lafayette Square | Lafayette County, Wisconsin | West Lafayette | Monticello, Lafayette County, Wisconsin | Louisiana–Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns | Lafayette Square, St. Louis | Lafayette Russell | Lafayette Flying Corps | Lafayette County, Mississippi | Lafayette County, Arkansas | LaFayette | William Lafayette Strong | West Lafayette, Ohio | Visit of the Marquis de Lafayette to the United States | University of Louisiana at Lafayette Police Department |
Around this time, Palen earned money through the rental of some of his aircraft to a company in California that was filming the World War I movie Lafayette Escadrille, starring Tab Hunter.
After initially driving ambulances he became a member of the Lafayette Flying Corps (not the Lafayette Escadrille).
He flew a Nieuport in Escadrille 65, before transferring into a French unit composed of American volunteers, known as the Escadrille Americaine, Escadrille 124 under its new designation became nicknamed the Lafayette Escadrille.