The Second Millionaires Unit

In 1916, just months before the USA entered World War One, a buncha fellas from Yale University volunteered to form what was to become known as 'The Yale Unit', or 'The Millionaires Unit'... although not all of its members came from wealthy families. Officially designated by the US Navy as 'Aerial Coast Patrol Unit #1', this outfit's intended purpose was to help combat the U-boat threat. More on that particular outfit HERE.

In December 1916, a second 'Yale Unit' was formed,  designated 'Aerial Coast Patrol Unit #2'... and later, a third such unit came into being, although it apparently never reached full fruition. The second 'Yale Unit' is the focus of today's post, however, as its members underwent initial flight training in Buffalo, NY, flying the Curtiss 'F Boat'.

The following two photos come from the San Diego Air & Space Museum's archives, and were taken by Harold Kantner in Buffalo during 1917. Three men in the first photo are identified as James Sanford 'Shorty' Otis, E.D. (Edward) DeCernea and Jay Schieffelin  although it's not clear who is who...

More often than not, we like to write as little as possible here at BuffaloWingz... mostly due to utter laziness, but also because, on occasion, we come across something online which fits the bill nicely and/or is much more comprehensive than anything we can put together here in a half hour or so. The latter is the case in this instance.

Reproduced below, for convenience, are the relevant pages from a publication which can be found HERE.

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