Flying for France in Washington Connecticut

Dr. Walter Powell will give the free presentation, “Flying for France: The Lafayette Escadrille and the Lafayette Flying Corps in WWI” on Saturday, November, 15 at 11:00 am in the Wykeham Room of the Gunn Memorial Library and Museum in Washington, Connecticut.

 The release in 2006 of the movie “Flyboys” has renewed interest in those Americans who flew for France before the United States entered World War One in April 1917. The combat experiences of Victor Chapman, Bert Hall, Norman Hall, James McConnell, Kiffin Rockwell, and leading ace Raoul Lufbery captured America’s imagination. In this illustrated lecture, Dr. Powell will revisit some of their exploits, and those of the Lafayette Flying Corps that followed.

Dr. Powell is the Executive Director of the General Society of Mayflower Descendants in Plymouth, Massachusetts. He has lectured widely on WWI and has guided tours of WWI battlefields in Europe. He holds an M.A. in History and a Ph.D. in English from Kent State University. For 17 years he served as Director of Planning and Historic Preservation for the Borough of Gettysburg, PA. He is also a former historic preservation consultant and adjunct professor in the Graduate Program in Applied History at Shippensburg University in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania. In September 2009 he joined his father in participating in the “WWI Fly In” at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio.

The exhibit, Over There: Washington and The Great War, will be open for viewing in the Gunn Museum from 10am-4pm, the day of this lecture. The exhibit shares the story of Washington, Connecticut’s contribution to WWI. The exhibit and associated programs are supported in part by a grant from the Connecticut Community Foundation.

Admission to the lecture and exhibit is free. The Gunn Library and Museum is located at 5 Wykeham Road, at the intersection of Wykeham Road and Rt. 47, on Washington Green. Call the Museu m 860-868-7756 or view www.gunnlibrary.org for more information.