René Fonck
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René Paul Fonck (27 March 1894–18 June 1953) was a French aviator who ended the Great War as the top Allied fighter ace. His 75 victories (72 solo and three shared and a further 52 'probable' victories) [1] also ranked him second only to Manfred von Richthofen, (80 planes confirmed shot down) as the top ace of the conflict. When all succeeding conflicts are considered he remains the top scoring Allied Ace to date. Taking into account his probable claims, Fonck's final tally could conceivably be nearer 100. He was made an Officer of the Legion of Honor in 1918 and later a Commander of the Legion of Honor after the war.
Fonck was born on 27 March 1894 in the village of Saulcy-sur-Meurthe in the Vosges region of northeastern France. Although he had been interested in aviation from his youth, he declined an assignment in the air service when conscripted in 1914, instead choosing service in the trenches as a combat engineer.
He eventually changed his mind and he completed pilot training in May 1915 and flew Caudron observation aircraft with Escadrille C 47 , where he claimed his first two kills, shared with his observers. On 25 May 1916 Fonck's observer was killed by an anti-aircraft shell burst, a fate that almost befell Fonck a few weeks later.
On 15 April 1917, at age 23, Fonck received a coveted assignment: joining the famous Escadrille les Cigognes (The Storks squadron, where the ace Georges Guynemer served at the time). Flying SPADs, he quickly made a name for himself, attaining ace status (claiming 5 or more kills) in May. By year's end he had raised his tally to 19, was commissioned and had received the Légion d'honneur.
Fonck only got better. Known for his clinical professionalism, he applied mathematical principles to combat flying and his engineering knowledge regarding the capabilities of the aircraft he flew was unsurpassed among his fellow pilots. Fonck took few chances, patiently stalking his intended victims from higher altitudes. He then used deflection shooting with deadly accuracy on enemy pilots at close range, resulting in an astonishing economy of ammunition per kill. He claimed 56 victories during the whole of 1918, attaining a total of 36 kills by May 1918. On two occasions he was credited with six enemy aircraft in one day. In July he surpassed the score of the legendary Capt. Georges Guynemer (53 victories) who had remained the leading French ace since his death in September 1917. Fonck, like Guynemer, flew a limited production SPAD XII fighter, distinguished by the presence of a hand-loaded 37mm Puteaux cannon firing through the propeller boss, mounted as a moteur-canon, with which he is apparently credited with downing 11 German aircraft. This was made possible by the gear-reduction version of the particular Hispano-Suiza V8 SOHC engine first used in that model of SPAD fighter aircraft, the Hispano-Suiza HS-8Bb, which offset the now-hollow propeller shaft above the crankshaft axis. He would later fly the highly successful SPAD XIII, which was the first SPAD fighter model to use twin Vickers machine guns.
For all his skill and success, Fonck remained distant, arrogant, even abrasive. His comrades respected his skills, but considered him a braggart and shameless self promoter. He always seemed to resent the fact that Georges Guynemer remained more popular in the French press even after he surpassed him in victories. He was never given a command of his own, but at the end of the war he had accounted for all but 36 of Escadrille SPA.103's 111 claimed victories. Unlike many leading French aces, Fonck's score contained very few shared victories.
Fonck returned to civilian life after WW-1. During the 1920's, Fonck persuaded Igor Sikorsky to redesign the Sikorsky S.35 for the transatlantic race or Orteig Prize.[2] On 21 September 1926, Fonck crashed on takeoff when the landing gear collapsed, killing two of his three crewmembers, and Charles Lindbergh shortly afterward won the prize in 1927. Fonck eventually returned to military aviation and rose to inspector of French fighter forces just before WW II. His prewar veterans' contacts with Hermann Göring cast a shadow upon Fonck's reputation during the German occupation of France and led to allegations of collaboration with the occupying forces and the Vichy regime. However he was entirely cleared after the liberation of France in 1944. He remained in Paris but also visited frequently his native Lorraine where he had business interests . He died at age 59 and is buried in the cemetery of his native village of Saulcy-sur-Meurthe.
Fonck published his war memoirs Mes Combats, prefaced by Marechal Foch, in 1920.
[edit] Quotes
- "I put my bullets into the target as if I placed them there by hand."
- "I prefer to fly alone... when alone, I perform those little coups of audacity which amuse me..."
[edit] References
- "Mes Combats",Capitaine Fonck,1920,Editions Flammarion,Paris,France.
[edit] External links
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