This collection documents the careers in the United States Army Air Service during and after World War I of two brothers from Gallatin, Tennessee. George Wright Puryear was a fighter pilot with the 95th Aero Squadron, was taken prisoner by the Germans, and subsequently became the first American officer to escape from a German prisoner of war camp. Alfred Isaac Puryear spent the war stationed in Paris, France, as a supply officer with the Army Air Service, and became an airship (dirigible) pilot after the war. This collection provides a fascinating visual record of the early history and aircraft of the Army Air Service, which would become the United States Air Force after World War II.