Victory
75 (127 real)
Biography
Sauley-sur-Meurthe, 1894 - Paris, 1953.
Airman, ace of the Great War.
Licensed as a pilot in April 1915, René Fonck joined a reconnaissance squadron, the Caudron-47, equipped with the famous G-4. It was on board this aircraft that he shot down his first enemy plane. Then assigned to the Cigognes hunting group, in which so many airmen distinguished themselves, Fonck, at the controls of his formidable Spad, won his second victory on May 3, 1917. And then began the most extraordinary series of aerial duels. of the war. With uncommon shooting accuracy, he takes down his opponents with lightning speed - sometimes firing only four or five rounds. On May 9 and 26, 1917, twice accomplishing the most famous feat of all fighter aviation, Fonck shot down six planes in a row. And it was he who, on September 30, descended (Wisseiman, the winner of Guynemer. His real record is 127 victories, but the staff, considering only the planes shot down inside the French lines, did not tell him recognizes only 75. Testifying to an astonishing virtuosity of piloting, Fonck goes through the war without a scratch, without ever receiving a single bullet in his plane. In September 1926, a year before Lindbergh, he will attempt the crossing of the Atlantic North from west to east, aboard a Sikorsky. But taking off from Roosevelt-Field, near New York, the too heavily laden plane overturned. His companions Clavier and Isleiiof were killed. Fonck was unharmed. If the word , Luck can apply to a man who, so many times, has risked his life double or quits, it is indeed René Fonck, incomparable ace of the First World War