After graduating from Dauphin High School in 1909, Walter John Shaffer took civilian flying lessons in Essington, Pennsylvania in 1915. When World War One began, he traveled to France and enlisted in the Service Aeronautique. He went through the aviation and gunnery training pipeline at Avord, Tours, Pau, and the G.D.E. He earned his brevet on the Caudron on October 7, 1917, and he graduated from training on December 28, 1917. Shaffer flew with Escadrille SPA 156 and then with SPA 38 where he was credited with shooting down one enemy aircraft and one enemy observation balloon. On October 10, 1918, Shaffer was shot down southeast of Laon in occupied Belgium, captured, and held prisoner in Germany. He escaped but was recaptured and held in a prison hospital in Namur, Belgium until the end of the war. Shaffer was awarded France's Medaille Militaire and the Croix de Guerre with three Palms. He was discharged on January 8, 1919.
After World War One, Shaffer continued to fly as a barnstormer, test pilot, and instructor pilot in the Curtiss Jenny. He and a partner flew paying customers and did stunts out of a dirt airstrip located near where the Dauphin Pool is today.
In 1926 he became an airmail pilot. He later flew for Pitcairn Aviation of Philadelphia and then Eastern Air Transport of Brooklyn.
During World War Two, Shaffer returned to active duty and served in the United States Army Air Corps in Australia and the Philippines as Chief Pilot of the Southwest Pacific Wing of the Air Transport Command.
After World War Two, Shaffer returned to flying for Eastern Air Lines until he retired in 1952.
[Reference: Military data from "The Lafayette Flying Corps: The American Volunteers in the French Air Service in World War One," by Dennis Gordon. Schiffer Military History, Atglen, PA: 2000. Posted by Bob Viguers]
Personal photos and life story from the Rudy/Shaffer family history and albums of Walter's brother Ernie Shaffer and his sister Esther Shaffer Rudy. Permission required for use.
Walter was born in Harrisburg, PA, the firstborn son of Charles E. and Clara Davidson Shaffer. The family soon moved to Dauphin, PA on the advice of typesetter Charles' doctor, who told him to move out of the city, to where there was fresh air. Walter grew up and lived at the home Charles built on the hill overlooking the Dauphin dam until he went to assist France, before the US joined the war. Before he enlisted in France, he was working in a Harrisburg printing ship in 1911, after graduating from Dauphin High School. His detailed letters home to his beloved mother in Dauphin, PA, were published in the Harrisburg newspaper and can be found online. Walter, brother Ernie, and their father were outdoors men, who loved river and stream fishing, canoeing on the Susquehanna and hunting. Many tales were told of their adventures on the rivers and in the woods of central Pennsylvania.
After World War One, Shaffer continued to fly as a barnstormer, test pilot, and instructor pilot in the Curtiss Jenny. He and a partner flew paying customers and did stunts out of a dirt airstrip located near where the Dauphin Pool is today.
In 1926 he became an airmail pilot. He later flew for Pitcairn Aviation of Philadelphia and then Eastern Air Transport of Brooklyn.
During World War Two, Shaffer returned to active duty and served in the United States Army Air Corps in Australia and the Philippines as Chief Pilot of the Southwest Pacific Wing of the Air Transport Command.
After World War Two, Shaffer returned to flying for Eastern Air Lines until he retired in 1952.
[Reference: Military data from "The Lafayette Flying Corps: The American Volunteers in the French Air Service in World War One," by Dennis Gordon. Schiffer Military History, Atglen, PA: 2000. Posted by Bob Viguers]
Personal photos and life story from the Rudy/Shaffer family history and albums of Walter's brother Ernie Shaffer and his sister Esther Shaffer Rudy. Permission required for use.
Walter was born in Harrisburg, PA, the firstborn son of Charles E. and Clara Davidson Shaffer. The family soon moved to Dauphin, PA on the advice of typesetter Charles' doctor, who told him to move out of the city, to where there was fresh air. Walter grew up and lived at the home Charles built on the hill overlooking the Dauphin dam until he went to assist France, before the US joined the war. Before he enlisted in France, he was working in a Harrisburg printing ship in 1911, after graduating from Dauphin High School. His detailed letters home to his beloved mother in Dauphin, PA, were published in the Harrisburg newspaper and can be found online. Walter, brother Ernie, and their father were outdoors men, who loved river and stream fishing, canoeing on the Susquehanna and hunting. Many tales were told of their adventures on the rivers and in the woods of central Pennsylvania.
After graduating from Dauphin High School in 1909, Walter John Shaffer took civilian flying lessons in Essington, Pennsylvania in 1915. When World War One began, he traveled to France and enlisted in the Service Aeronautique. He went through the aviation and gunnery training pipeline at Avord, Tours, Pau, and the G.D.E. He earned his brevet on the Caudron on October 7, 1917, and he graduated from training on December 28, 1917. Shaffer flew with Escadrille SPA 156 and then with SPA 38 where he was credited with shooting down one enemy aircraft and one enemy observation balloon. On October 10, 1918, Shaffer was shot down southeast of Laon in occupied Belgium, captured, and held prisoner in Germany. He escaped but was recaptured and held in a prison hospital in Namur, Belgium until the end of the war. Shaffer was awarded France's Medaille Militaire and the Croix de Guerre with three Palms. He was discharged on January 8, 1919.
After World War One, Shaffer continued to fly as a barnstormer, test pilot, and instructor pilot in the Curtiss Jenny. He and a partner flew paying customers and did stunts out of a dirt airstrip located near where the Dauphin Pool is today.
In 1926 he became an airmail pilot. He later flew for Pitcairn Aviation of Philadelphia and then Eastern Air Transport of Brooklyn.
During World War Two, Shaffer returned to active duty and served in the United States Army Air Corps in Australia and the Philippines as Chief Pilot of the Southwest Pacific Wing of the Air Transport Command.
After World War Two, Shaffer returned to flying for Eastern Air Lines until he retired in 1952.
[Reference: Military data from "The Lafayette Flying Corps: The American Volunteers in the French Air Service in World War One," by Dennis Gordon. Schiffer Military History, Atglen, PA: 2000. Posted by Bob Viguers]
Personal photos and life story from the Rudy/Shaffer family history and albums of Walter's brother Ernie Shaffer and his sister Esther Shaffer Rudy. Permission required for use.
Walter was born in Harrisburg, PA, the firstborn son of Charles E. and Clara Davidson Shaffer. The family soon moved to Dauphin, PA on the advice of typesetter Charles' doctor, who told him to move out of the city, to where there was fresh air. Walter grew up and lived at the home Charles built on the hill overlooking the Dauphin dam until he went to assist France, before the US joined the war. Before he enlisted in France, he was working in a Harrisburg printing ship in 1911, after graduating from Dauphin High School. His detailed letters home to his beloved mother in Dauphin, PA, were published in the Harrisburg newspaper and can be found online. Walter, brother Ernie, and their father were outdoors men, who loved river and stream fishing, canoeing on the Susquehanna and hunting. Many tales were told of their adventures on the rivers and in the woods of central Pennsylvania.
After World War One, Shaffer continued to fly as a barnstormer, test pilot, and instructor pilot in the Curtiss Jenny. He and a partner flew paying customers and did stunts out of a dirt airstrip located near where the Dauphin Pool is today.
In 1926 he became an airmail pilot. He later flew for Pitcairn Aviation of Philadelphia and then Eastern Air Transport of Brooklyn.
During World War Two, Shaffer returned to active duty and served in the United States Army Air Corps in Australia and the Philippines as Chief Pilot of the Southwest Pacific Wing of the Air Transport Command.
After World War Two, Shaffer returned to flying for Eastern Air Lines until he retired in 1952.
[Reference: Military data from "The Lafayette Flying Corps: The American Volunteers in the French Air Service in World War One," by Dennis Gordon. Schiffer Military History, Atglen, PA: 2000. Posted by Bob Viguers]
Personal photos and life story from the Rudy/Shaffer family history and albums of Walter's brother Ernie Shaffer and his sister Esther Shaffer Rudy. Permission required for use.
Walter was born in Harrisburg, PA, the firstborn son of Charles E. and Clara Davidson Shaffer. The family soon moved to Dauphin, PA on the advice of typesetter Charles' doctor, who told him to move out of the city, to where there was fresh air. Walter grew up and lived at the home Charles built on the hill overlooking the Dauphin dam until he went to assist France, before the US joined the war. Before he enlisted in France, he was working in a Harrisburg printing ship in 1911, after graduating from Dauphin High School. His detailed letters home to his beloved mother in Dauphin, PA, were published in the Harrisburg newspaper and can be found online. Walter, brother Ernie, and their father were outdoors men, who loved river and stream fishing, canoeing on the Susquehanna and hunting. Many tales were told of their adventures on the rivers and in the woods of central Pennsylvania.
Gravesite Details
WWI pilot in Lafayette Escadrille
Family Members
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
Records on Ancestry
Advertisement
