Background By the summer of 1917, two and a half years of the air war had begun to take a serious toll on the number of French and British aviators. While the United States possessed a relatively enormous pool of human resources, they lacked the well developed training methods and aircraft production capabilities of the Allies. In order to maximize the resources of both, the French submitted a memorandum to General
George O. Squier, then the Chief Signal Officer of the U.S. Army, suggesting the establishment of an American advanced flying school in France. The site decided upon for this advanced aviation school was
Issoudun, France. Issoudun, located about 100 miles southeast of
Paris, was primarily chosen because the surrounding countryside was extremely level and relatively sparsely populated with wide-open spaces for flying fields. The site was also relatively close to a major government-owned railroad line. Probably just as important was its proximity to the aviation factories and new plane assembly fields in the south which were to supply the aircraft to be used in the training at Issoudun. In spite of the advantages of this location, significant work was required to bring the Third Aviation Instruction Center (3rd AIC), as it was to be named, to life. • Main Aerodrome : Field 1, ==See also==