Georges Guynemer

e a squadron of six two-seaters above Auberive at an altitude of 5000 meters, and compelled them to go down to an altitude of 3600 meters. Before landing, he pounced on another group of eig

, avec des rayon

éance éblouis

entouré d'un or

tait trop haut p

un fils d'un

volaient tous d

, "when my machine-gun jammed. But just then the observer raised his hands. I beckoned to him several times to veer towards our lines, but noticing that he was making straight for his own, I went back to my gun, which now worked, and fired a volley of fifteen (at 2200 altitude). Immediately the mac

11, 1917, an Officer of the Legion o

Careless of danger, he has become, by the infallibility of his methods, the most formidable opponent of German flyers. On May 25 achieved unparalleled success, bringing down two machines in one minute, and two more in the cour

the same time will-power, courage, and the contagion of example. Guynemer loved the last senten

e Northern Armies. But this solemn ceremony had not prevented Guynemer from flying twice, the first time for two hours, the second flight one

ing row of squadron machines, sixty in number, which stood there like race horses as if to take part in the fête. Guynemer's well-known airplane, the Vieux-Charles, was the fifth to the left, its master having required its presence, though it had been injured that very d

re the young hero and eyed him with evident pleasure; then he proclaimed him a gallant soldier, touched his two shoulders with his sword, as they did to champions of past ages, pinned the rosette on his co

ver Guynemer's Vieux-Charles

s not injured?" he asked, point

n général," said Guynemer,

, but was killed in a combat on May 10 and brought back to camp dead by a surviving comrade. Guynemer's red rosette meant glory to the great chasers, to wounded Heurtaux, to Ménard and Deullin, to Auger, Fonck, Jailler, Guérin, Baudouin, and all their comrades! And it meant glory to the pilots and observers who, always together in the discharge of duty, are not infrequently together in meeting death: to Lieutenant Fressagues, pilot, and sous-lieutenant Bouvard, observer, who once fought seven Germans and managed to bring one down; to L

ght in every sector of the front with wonderful spirit and admirable self-sacrifice. The squadron has just taken part in the Lorraine and Champagne operations, and during this period its members have d

here another offensive was being prepared. But before leaving the Fismes or Rheims district, Guynemer was active. He had not been given his new rank in the Legion of Honor to be idle: that was not his way. On the contrary,

ove Brimont. Downed one in flames north of Villers-Franqueux, in our

But these excessive exertions brought on nervous fatigue. The escadrille had only just reached its

Fat

ur Boches for Frenchmen. At first fought three of them, then one alone at 3200 to 800 meters. He took fire. They will have to wait till the earth dries so they can dig him out. An hour later a two-seater turned up at 5500. He blundered, and fell st

, but that won't last. I read in a newspaper that I had been mobbed in a friendly manner in Paris. I

's stripes) and the cross of the

ight,

or

a for the first time. The water was very rough, especially for a litt

s was enough to persuade the crowd that some other airman was Guynemer. Indeed, there had been talk of sending him to Paris on that solemn

day of his enlistment, and willing to begin as gar?on d'aérodrome; the joke about the German airplane sunk so deep in the wet ground that it would have to be dug out, and the

his impressions after vi

grand, sans chef, sa

u poing, panach

ad never fough