Didier Masson - Mercenary

Mercenary

Masson was working as an instructor for Martin in California when he was contracted by an agent of Venustiano Carranza to become a mercenary soldier. Masson hired on with the Mexican revolutionary leader for $5,000 as an airplane purchase fee, an allotment of $750 for equipment costs, $300 per month salary, $50 per flight for sorties flown in Mexico, and at least $250 for every bombing sortie flown. Masson flew a pusher airplane bought from Glenn Martin in 1912 and smuggled into Mexico through Arizona. The armed smugglers who forced their way into Mexico at the Nogales crossing included Masson and his mechanic, as well as Carranza underling Captain Joaquín Bauche Alcalde.

The name of the aeroplane was Sonora. It could carry two people, or one person and 150 lb (68 kg) of bombs. After a reconnaissance flight by Masson over Guaymas Harbor, he and Bauche used the aircraft to attack Federalist gunboats for the first bombing of a surface ship in the Western Hemisphere. On 10 May 1913, Masson and Bauche overflew at least five Mexican gunboats and dropping four improvised pipe bombs containing 15 kg (33 lb) of explosives. They missed, but the gunboats, seeing themselves as defenseless, steamed out of Guaymas Harbor to safety; indeed, some crew members leaped overboard in panic caused by the explosions. Masson also flew an unknown number of followup bombing missions.

Masson's Mexican adventure came to an end when Masson quit flying for the Mexican Revolutionists on 5 August, claiming he had not been paid in a month, and that he had reservations about bombing cities. Masson returned to his newly adopted United States.