Georges Guynemer: France’s World War I Ace Pilot

By Jon Guttman | Aviation History  | one comment  | Print This Post  | Email This Post

Although French spirits were high, they were entering an extraordinarily dangerous sector. Unlike the Aviation Militaire, Britain’s Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) had pursued a policy of constantly sending offensive patrols into enemy territory, with or without a specific mission, simply as a gesture to assert aerial supremacy. The Germans, who referred to their British adversaries as being “more sporting” than the French, usually responded to the challenge whenever they chose and on their terms, resulting in the heavy British losses of “Bloody April” and a concentration over their sector of some of the most battle-seasoned Jagdstaffeln in the German air service. Those would include a group of four squadrons, created in emulation of GC.12, in June 1917: Jagdgeschwader (fighter wing) I, consisting of Jastas 4, 6, 10 and 11, under the command of Captain Manfred Freiherr von Richthofen.

Guynemer took a few days’ leave to visit his family, during which his father suggested that he retire from combat and reapply his experience as an instructor and a technical adviser. “And it will be said that I have ceased to fight because I have won all the awards,” Georges replied. “Let them say it,” his father protested, “for when you reappear stronger and more ardent, they will understand…there is a limit to human endurance.” “Yes,” Georges shot back, “a limit! A limit to be passed. If one has not given everything, one has given nothing.”

On July 20, Guynemer got his Spad XII back, and on the 27th he used it to destroy an Albatros fighter between Langemarck and Roulers with eight machine gun rounds and one cannon shell. He downed a DFW C.V over Westroosebeke the next day, using two shells and 30 bullets, but again his victim’s return fire sent S382 back to the repair shop until August 15. Guynemer scored a “double” on August 17 — one German two-seater with machine gun fire alone, and a second with the cannon — but an inconclusive fight with an aggressive two-seater crew the next day put his plane temporarily out of action once more.

In spite of his mixed fortunes, Guynemer had achieved enough success in the cannon fighter for Spad to get a contract for 300 more. It is doubtful that anywhere near that number were built, however, for the few Spad XIIs that saw service proved to be a handful for all but the most skilled pilots. Meanwhile, Guynemer received Spad XIII S504 and wasted no time in blooding it by shooting down a DFW C.V over Poperinghe on August 20. Guynemer’s first victory in the twin-gun Spad was also his 53rd overall.

On the 24th, Guynemer visited the Spad factory at Buc, to inspect the repairs to his Spad XII and recommend improvements. Typically for Guynemer, who seldom rested, he was in a dangerously nervous state, and on the 28th he remarked to a friend, “I shall not survive.”

After returning to N.3, Guynemer took off with Sub-Lieutenant Benjamin Bozon-Verduraz on September 8, but bad weather forced them to abort their patrol. With the weather still unsuitable for flying on the 9th, Guynemer attended Sunday Mass at St. Pol-sur-Mer. He took off in S504 on September 10, but had to land at the Belgian airfield at Les Möeres when the plane’s water pump control became stuck. After returning to N.3, Guynemer borrowed Deullin’s new Spad XIII to attack a large number of German aircraft, but took four bullets in his plane and was forced to land with a disabled air pump. Returning by automobile, he took off in another borrowed Spad, but this time the fuel overflowed due to a loosened carburetor cover, the engine caught fire and Guynemer was again forced to make a hasty landing.

Visibly annoyed by the day’s bad luck, Guynemer ordered his mechanics to have S504 working and ready to fly at 0800 hours the next morning, but fog delayed takeoff until 0825 on September 11. He was to have been accompanied by Bozon-Verduraz and Sergeant Risacher, but the sergeant was having trouble starting his engine, and Guynemer impatiently took off with Bozon-Verduraz only.

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Tags: Aces, Aerial Combat, Aviation History, Historical Conflicts, Historical Figures, World War I