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That spring Meyer joined a group recruited at Yale for a summer training course in aviation, preparatory for examination for a commission in the Aerial Reserve Corps. They were sent to Governors Island, New York. This unit was headed by Captain Phillip A. Carrol, with Filip A. Bjorkland as instructor, and was financed by a central fund to which all members of the group contributed according to their means. Curtiss JN-4 training planes were used. Meyer was commissioned First Lieutenant there in 1916. At this time he also flew for and obtained Expert Aviator Certificate No. 70. 

When the United States entered World War I this group became the first reserve squadron. Meyer went on active duty in April, 1917, with the Personnel Section of the Signal Corps. He was sent overseas in July with the First Instruction Squadron to serve as instructor and field commander at the Third Aviation Instruction Center, Issoudun, France. There he worked with [[left-margin]]checkmark[[/left-margin]] French teams and flew single-seater fig[[crossed-out]]t[[/crossed-out]]hter planes, most of which were Nieuports. 

In March, 1918, Meyer served with the Royal Naval Air Service at Dunkirk. Later he joined the 97th and 103rd Pursuit Squadrons, acting as pursuit pilot and flight leader. The 103rd was the former LaFayette Escadrille, then with the 3rd Wing of the First Army. On August 18, 1918, Meyer was involved in a serious crash while flying as a passenger in a De Havilland-4 plane with Lieutenant Blair Thaw. They hit some unseen telegraph wires at full speed and Thaw was killed in the accident. Meyer was seriously injured and was hospitalized for several months. This was the only flying accident of his career. In the hospital following his accident, Meyer was assigned Red Cross nurse, Miss Katherine Thaw, who was closely related to Lieutenant Blair Thaw, and she later became Mrs. Cord Meyer. From this union there were four sons. After convalescense Meyer was honorably discharged from the service in April 1919. 

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