'For Liberty': Heritage’s December Arms & Armor Event Honors the Americans Who Flew For France in World War I, the Lafayette Escadrille

Alongside Winchesters and Bowie knives, fabric from the Red Baron’s downed triplane and historic pieces belonging to the Great War’s decorated volunteers DOWNLOAD DIGITAL PRESS KIT DALLAS, Texas (Nov. 21, 2023) — History offers myriad reasons why young Americans rushed to France upon the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, just as President Woodrow Wilson was insisting that "the United States must remain neutral in fact as well as in name during these days that try men's souls." Among their ranks were wealthy prep schoolers, farm boys and thrill-seekers on quests for adventure – something to fulfill what fighter pilot-turned-filmmaker William Wellman later called "the sporting instinct." There were the restless, the lost, the curious, boys not yet quite men escaping bad jobs and broken homes, lured by the romanticism of battle on faraway shores. Yet despite their disparate backgrounds, all were seemingly bound by a single thread: "They felt a moral obligation to fight for what they felt was right, even though it means considerable personal sacrifice," wrote Philip M. Flammer in The Vivid Air, a history of the all-American volunteer unit that flew and fought alongside the French during World War I – the Lafayette Escadrille. As expatriate boxer-turned-pilot Eugene Jacques Bullard, the son of a former slave, explained, "It seemed to me that French democracy influenced the minds of both black and white Americans there and helped us all act like brothers." In all, some 200 Americans flew for France in the war, 38 of whom made up the all-American Lafayette Escadrille, which has been celebrated and commemorated in numerous books and Wellman's 1958 Warner Bros. film starring Tab Hunter and a young Clint Eastwood. In Paris, the Lafayette Escadrille Memorial honors their sacrifice made in "tiny and flimsy" planes so dangerous they risked falling from the sky even if there wasn't an enemy in sight. Heritage Auctions pays tribute to those 38 in Dec. 11's Arms & Armor, Civil War & Militaria Signature® Auction with numerous pieces from a single collection.  In this event, as ever, collectors will find coveted favorites and rarities, among them a rare and documented Winchester Model 1876 (here, one of only 51 "One of One Thousand" made in that series), a hard-to-find Winchester 1873 (best known as "the gun that won the West") and a seldom-seen Confederate bullet mold recovered from the First Battle of Bull Run.And from World War I, here's a piece of fabric taken from the Red Baron's Fokker Triplane shortly after Manfred von Richthofen crash-landed near Sailly-le-Sec, France, following his April 21, 1918, low-altitude dogfight with a Canadian pilot. The fabric was obtained by Air Mechanic First Class Morris Waldman of the Royal Air Force, who was stationed near the crash site. When he mailed this home to his brother in England, Morris wrote that he saw Richthofen's corpse and that "he is not a big man and looked very powerful."  Yet time and again, the eye turns toward those Lafayette Escadrille keepsakes, among them a hand-painted Lafayette Escadrille aircraft insignia presented to Lieutenant Colonel William Thaw II – the Yale dropout who turned his back on his family's fortune (he brought his own plane to the war!) to become the first American to engage in aerial combat in World War I. Thaw's war record was so extraordinary that in time, the French government bestowed upon him the Chevalier of the Legion of Honor, declaring him a "pilot remarkable for his skill, his spirit and contempt of danger." This symbol, featuring a shouting Native American in full headdress, was adopted by the squadron in the fall of 1916 – it was either this or a buffalo, according to the squadron's commanding officer Georges Thenault, and the face was deemed more "fierce." It was intended to draw the eye, inspire fear and scream war. Legend also has it the design was lifted from a bottle of cognac. Another version of the story has Thaw spotting the emblem on a box of ammunition and then ordering a French mechanic named Suchet to paint it on the side of the planes. The Smithsonian has a fabric insignia in its collection. This oil-on-wood iteration perhaps carries more weight, as it was painted by Suchet and gifted to Thaw. One of the event's sure centerpieces is the French aviator's uniform belonging to Rufus R. Rand Jr., the last surviving Lafayette Escadrille member. As The New York Times noted upon his death in 1971, he served in both World Wars and "was decorated by the French Government for his service with the escadrille."  Rand was a beloved figure in his hometown of Minneapolis, where the Rand Tower remains a national historic landmark. It's also a tribute to Rand's service, from its art-deco aviation theme to the Wings sculpture on the first floor. And this is the horizon-blue, wool twill French air service tunic Rand wore during his time in France, with all the sweat stains one is likely to accrue while fending off the Central Powers. A tailor has even left a tag noting its owner: "N 273 January 1918 / Rufus R. Rand." The jacket also comes with both volumes of James Norman Hall and Charles Bernard Nordhoff's 1920 The Lafayette Flying Corps, still the definitive work on the subject, down to the corps' emblem on the title page.This is perhaps one of the more extraordinary keepsakes from this moment: a trench-art shell fashioned from a 1918-dated German brass shell casing. The name "HILL" is stamped into its side – Dudley Lawrence Hill, to be exact, the 12th man to volunteer for the escadrille, serving from June 1916 until February 1918. In between – on Oct. 8, 1917 – he was awarded France's Croix de Guerre (with the star), having "showed everyone the best examples of bravery, spirit, and hardiness." That award appears in this extraordinary piece. This item, perhaps, only seems more ordinary: a cigarette lighter. But this brass beauty almost tells the story of the flying Americans. "Escadrille Lafayette" and "Verdun 1918" are engraved on one side, the "Indian head" emblem and a fighter plane on the other. And it belonged to Robert Soubiran – "one of the first Americans to arrive in France in 1914, enlisting with the Foreign Legion, and one of the last to leave in 1919 after flying with the Lafayette Escadrille," according to the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum, which houses most of Soubiran's collection. But not this lighter. And not the stories it could tell. Heritage Auctions is the largest fine art and collectibles auction house founded in the United States, and the world's largest collectibles auctioneer. Heritage maintains offices in New York, Dallas, Beverly Hills, Chicago, Palm Beach, London, Paris, Geneva, Amsterdam and Hong Kong. Heritage also enjoys the highest Online traffic and dollar volume of any auction house on earth (source: SimilarWeb and Hiscox Report). 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