The great Mississippi River flood of 1927 was one of the worst natural disasters in American history . It inundated 27,000 square miles , an area about the size of New England , killing as many as 1,000 people and displacing 700,000 more . At a time when the entire budget of the federal government was barely $ 3 billion , the flood caused an estimated $ 1 billion in damage . Although National Guard aviation units had been regularly called upon to assist civil authorities since early in that decade , the 1927 flood marked the first time that an entire Guard flying unit and its government-issued aircraft had been mobilized to help deal with a major natural disaster
Mississippi River flood of 1927
Great Mississippi Flood of 1927
154th Training Squadron