American Red Cross motorcycle unit in the UK during the First World War (1914-1918). These motorcycle units were known as insFlying Squadronsins, as they prided themselves on being able to get underway within three minutes of receiving an emergency call. The American Red Cross (ARC), founded in the USA in 1881, is a humanitarian organisation providing emergency relief during wars and disasters. It provided aid briefly at the start of the First World War, but it was not until the USA entered the war in April 1917 that increased civil and government funding and support allowed the ARC to resume and massively increase its war-related humanitarian efforts. Photographed in 1918.