The Eagle Squadrons were three fighter squadrons of the Royal Air Force (RAF), formed with volunteer pilots from the United States during the early days of World War II (circa 1940), prior to America's entry into the war in December 1941. Charles Sweeny, a wealthy businessman living in London, began recruiting American citizens to fight as a US volunteer detachment in the French Air force, echoing the Lafayette Escadrille of World War I. Following the Fall of France in 1940, a dozen of these recruits joined the RAF.