Everything about Fred Zinn totally explained
Friedrich Wilhelm "Fred" Zinn was a volunteer American
aviator who flew with French
Armée de l'Air forces in
World War I and an early pioneer of
aerial photography for wartime
reconnaissance and
Military intelligence.
Fred Zinn lived in
Battle Creek, Michigan. While visiting
France in August 1914, he joined the
French Foreign Legion shortly after the outbreak of World War I. He was one of the group who signed the
American Volunteer Corps flag in
Paris on
October 17,
1914 before departing for
Rouen.
He served on the
Western Front until
February 1,
1916, when he was wounded for the second time during a German artillery attack.
Zinn transferred to the French Aéronautique Militaire on
February 14,
1916. He served as gunner and bombardier with Escadrille F-14 from
December 12,
1916, until
October 21,
1917, often augmenting his bombing duties by taking reconnaissance photographs of enemy lines before returning to base.
Zinn was one of the first aviators to attempt to photograph enemy troop positions from the air to assist commanders on the ground. This had previously been done from manned balloons, but they were vulnerable to enemy fire and had to be kept behind the lines. By flying directly over enemy positions and taking photographs, Zinn provided French commanders with a far better view of the battlefield, and the techniques he and others developed soon became standard practice for both sides in the
trench warfare style conflict.
He was decorated twice by the French government for bravery for flying low over enemy lines on these reconnaissance missions.
Although not formally assigned to the American
Lafayette Escadrille, Zinn was recorded as an observer for the Escadrille, presumably while taking aerial photographs.
After the
United States entered the war in 1917, Zinn entered the
U.S. Army Air Service as a captain and was attached to American GHQ at Chaumont until the
Armistice on
November 11,
1918. He was one of a small number of Legionnaires who entered the war in August of 1914 to survive over four years of active service and over three full years in combat units. Some French Foreign Legion units had close to 100% casualties in the intense trench warfare.
Zinn returned to the United States after the war and continued flying, including a trip to
San Francisco where his biplane was required to fly only over the waters of
San Francisco Bay due to a perceived danger to citizens if it traveled over land.
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