This week in Beale history: The first U.S. military reconnaissance flight over foreign territory

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Robert M. Trujillo
  • 9th Reconnaissance Wing Public Affairs
BEALE AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  The first U.S. military reconnaissance flight over foreign territory occurred on March 16, 1916 during the Punitive Expedition in Mexico.

Under the order of Brigadier General John J. Pershing, the 1st Aero Squadron conducted the first U.S. military reconnaissance flight over foreign territory.

The squadron utilized the Curtiss JN-3 airplane to support military operations against paramilitary forces of Mexican revolutionary Francisco "Pancho" Villa.

Aviation pioneers, Townsend Dodd and Benjamin Foulois flew 20 miles into Mexico and provided Pershing with intelligence that showed no hostile forces within a day's march of his infantry and cavalry columns.