Fayetteville Technical Community College will present a public lecture at 1 p.m. on Sept. 6 about American fighter pilots who volunteered to fly for the French Air Force in the early days of World War I.
The pilots were part of a squadron dubbed the Lafayette Escadrille after the Marquis de Lafayette, the French hero of the American Revolution (and the namesake of Fayetteville, NC, and many other US communities).
The lecture will be in the Multi-Purpose Room of the Tony Rand Student Center on FTCC’s Fayetteville campus. It is open to the public. Admission is free.
Mark Trapp will present the lecture. Trapp is author of “A Destiny of Undying Greatness: Kiffin Rockwell and the Boys Who Remembered Lafayette.”
Trapp, a lawyer in Chicago, graduated from the University of Illinois and from the law school at Washington and Lee University. While at Washington and Lee, he learned of Kiffin Rockwell, an alum who in 1916 became the first American to shoot down an enemy aircraft during World War I. Trapp wrote his book after researching Rockwell and the other American pilots who volunteered to fight for France before the United States entered
World War I.
According to Trapp’s book, Rockwell admired Lafayette’s actions during the Revolution and felt duty-bound to act to defend France in return. He was joined by other idealistic Americans, including Carthage resident James R. McConnell, a land and industrial agent for the Seaboard Air Line Railway.
After the war broke out, McConnell reportedly said, “These sandhills will be here forever, but the war won’t, so I’m going.” He left for France in January 1915, five months after Kiffin Rockwell traveled to France and enlisted in the French Foreign Legion.
Rockwell fought in the trenches until he was wounded in May 1915 by machinegun fire. After his recovery, he transferred into the newly formed French Air Service and became a founding pilot of the Lafayette Escadrille. McConnell, initially an ambulance driver, later joined the squadron and the two men became close friends. The mural of James R. McConnell and his plane is located in Carthage on the side of a building near the Moore County courthouse.
Rockwell participated in over 140 dogfights before being shot down and killed on Sept. 23, 1916. McConnell also served with distinction, dying in combat on March 19, 1917. He was the last American flier in the Lafayette Escadrille to die in combat prior to the United States’ entry into the war.
The lecture, part of FTCC’s Community History Lecture Series, will be held on the 267th anniversary of the Marquis de Lafayette’s birthday. It will be presented in partnership with the Lafayette Society in Fayetteville.
For individuals who cannot physically attend this history lecture, the event can be viewed via live-stream at https://www.faytechcc.edu/history-department-community-history-lecture-series-live-stream/.
Dr. Daniel Stewart serves as a humanities instructor at Fayetteville Technical Community College – stewartd@faytechcc.edu and can respond to inquiries about this history lecture.

(Photo: The Lafayette Escadrille pictured during a dogfight. Photo courtesy of Hank Parfitt)