THE BLACK CATS

This photo shows nine of the Black Cats, grouped around the tail of one of their planes. The Black Cats was a unit of Allied fighter pilots from the First World War. They used a black cat as their insignia, and the unit always had thirteen members. Although skilled pilots one-and-all, enemy guns, crashes, and accidents took their toll, and only a half-dozen or so of the nearly 30 men who served in the unit survived the war.