TNCA Series H two-seat parasol monoplane light bomber

The Mexican Revolution provided an early proving ground for combat aviation. A Bleriot XI monoplane was also demonstrated to President Porfirio Diaz, shortly before his overthrow. In February 1911, the Mexican government engaged Rene Simon, a member of an aerial circus touring the south-western United States, to reconnoitre rebel positions near Juarez. A number of foreign mercenaries flew missions for both federal and rebel armies.

Mercenary Captain John Hector Worden was the first to make aggressive use on an aeroplane on bombing missions. He flew scouting missions for the Mexican government, occasionally dropping bombs on rebel forces threatening to dynamite railroad lines. Having seen the military potential of aircraft, President Madero sent 3 military pilots for training in the United States in 1912.

The fall of Madero in 1913 interrupted the development of official military aviation in Mexico. Huerta had plans for the training of 31 pilots in France but this was stopped by the outbreak of World War I. In 1913 Dider Masson, a French-born American, piloted a rebel aircraft on several unsuccessful bombing runs on a federal gunboat in Guaymas harbor.

Also in 1913, two American mercenaries, Dean Ivan Lamb and Phil Rader, representing opposing factions, engaged in what is thought to be the world’s first aerial dogfight near Naco, Sonora, using hand-held revolvers!

Constitutionalist rebels in the north formed three flights of aircraft, Obregón’s Division del Noroesta having 2 Glenn Martin pusher bi-planes, Villa’s Division del Norte 5 Wright L bi-planes and the Division del Este of Pablo Gonzalez 2 Morane Saulnier mono-planes. Flown by foreign, mainly US, mercenaries, the aircraft were active in support of their respective ground forces as the Constitutionalist forces pressed southward during 1914.

In November 1915, despite the war in Europe cutting off all external sources of supply, the Carranza government set about the establishment of an air force as an integral part of the new Constitutional Army. A flying school and a central aviation workshop were set up at Balbuena, near Mexico City, with the surviving aircraft of the Divisions del Noroeste and Noreste.

Also in 1915 the Talleres Nacionales de Construcciones Aeronauticas [TNCA] set about the development and production of aircraft from scratch. The TNCA Series A tandem two-seater bi-plane trainer, powered by the Mexican developed Azatl air-cooled six cylinder radial engine, entered production 1916. Further aircraft followed, including the TNCA Series B trainer, the Series C lightweight single-seater fighter, the Series D, F and G, derived from Bleriot and Morane-Saulnier designs, 10 examples of the locally-designed Series E sesquiplane [sic] and 15 examples of the Series H two-seat parasol monoplane light bomber. By 1920, at the end of the Revolution, the Arma Aerea de las Fuerzas Constitucionales had approximately 50 locally-built aircraft.

In 1987 there was a article published in “The Americas” vol. 43 no. 1 (July) entitled “The Great Adventure: Mercenaries in the Mexican Revolution. The author Lawrence D. Taylor had this to say:

“Aviation constituted one of the more novel areas of revolutionary combat in which the mercenaries played an important role. Prior to the outbreak of World War One, a number of professional American and European pilots saw active service in Mexico, due to that country’s interest and initiative in putting the aeroplane to military use. As early as 1912, Hector Worden, an American flyer, was commissioned a captain in the federal army in the north under Col. Jesus A. Castro and engaged in patrol work by air of railroad lines and bridges, reporting damage done to the track and dropping bombs on those attempting sabotage. Two years later, in May of 1913, Didier Masson, an American pilot of French parentage, together with his English mechanic, Tomas Dean, both volunteers in the Division de Noroeste flew their Curtiss biplane in attacks against both the federal gunboat Guerrero in Guaymas Bay, Sonora, and enemy positions in the interior.

Encouraged by these pioneering efforts, Obregon and Villa set about organizing and using aerial corps for purposes of reconnaissance and bombardment. Foreigners who flew with Obregon’s nascent air force included the above-mentioned Didier Masson, Charles F. Niles, W. Leonard Bonney, and Lawrence Brown, all of whom were Americans. A Romanian aviator, George Pufflea, completed the foreign contingent. Niles did much valuable observation work for the carranzista army in the aerial campaigns over Campeche and Yucatan. Bonney, who replaced Niles as chief of the air division, served well in the battle of El Ebano in 1915, on one occasion blowing up a troop train with a dynamite bomb.

Villa, for his part, bought some half dozen aeroplanes in the United States and contracted American personnel to fly them. His pilots, recruited largely from Chicago, consisted of such early aerial buffs as Jack Mayes, Farnum T. Fish, Howard M. Rinehart, Mickey McGuire, Eugene “Wild Bill” Heth and Klaus Bergenthal. Due to the worn-out and obsolete condition of the aircraft these men flew (two Wright Model B’s and a Christofferson Curtiss Pusher), the group’s activities were largely confined to scouting. Villa subsequently bought improved machines, including a Martin tractor biplane in which William “Sailor” Lamkey obtained better results. Other noted aviators of the Division del Norte’s air detachment were Jefferson de Villa of Martinique, who for a time held an appointment as corps leader, and the American Edwin C. Parsons, who served as flying instructor to Villaista officers desiring to become airmen. Parson fought with Villa throughout the constitutionalist campaign and afterwards during the war against Carranza.”

In his footnotes Taylor cited a number of references including:

Guy Gilpatric, “Aviation in Mexico.” in The Aeroplane, January, 1917.

Edwin C. Parsons, The Great Adventure: the story of the Lafayette Escuadrille. (Garden City, New York, Doubleday Duran and Co, 1937)

Jose Villela, Pioneros de la Aviacion Mexicana. (Mexico, Colofon, 1964)

Arch Whitehouse, Heroes of the Sunlit Sky. (Garden City, New York, Doubleday and Co.)