The 1st Aero Squadron, created on March 5, 1913, is the U.S. military's oldest aviation unit. In 1916, the squadron, comprising 8 airplanes, 11 pilots, and 34 enlisted men, became the first U.S. Army air combat unit. After Mexican revolutionary Francisco "Pancho” Villa attacked Columbus, New Mexico, General John J. Pershing ordered the squadron to fly reconnaissance sorties from Columbus airfield on March 15, 1916. Flying Curtiss JN-3 aircraft known as Jennys, the squadron flew 540 sorties from March 1916 to January 1917, carrying out aerial reconnaissance and photography and delivering mail and official dispatches from airfields in Columbus and Casas Grandes, Mexico. Now designated the 1st Reconnaissance Squadron, it is the oldest continuously active unit in the U.S. Air Force. Buildings dating from Villa's raid and Pershing's military response survive nearby in Pancho Villa State Park and in the Village of Columbus and Camp Furlong National Historic Landmark district.