Georges Marie Ludovic Jules Guynemer was born in
Paris to a wealthy and aristocratic family. His father was Paul Guynemer (1860-1922), a former officer of
Saint-Cyr. His mother, Julie Noémi Doynel de Saint-Quentin (1866-1957), belonged to the old Norman nobility and was a descendant of
Charles of Valois, founder of the
royal house of Valois. Guynemer experienced an often sickly childhood. Nevertheless, he succeeded as an aviator through his enormous drive and self-confidence. He was originally rejected five times for
military service due to frailty, but was accepted for training as a mechanic in late 1914. With determination, he gained acceptance to
pilot training, joining
Escadrille MS.3 on 8 June 1915. He remained in the same unit for his entire service. The first plane allocated to him was a
Morane-Saulnier L monoplane previously flown by Charles Bonnard, and accordingly named
Vieux Charles (
Old Charles). Guynemer kept the name and continued to use it for most of his later aircraft. On 19 July 1915, he shot down his first plane, a German
Aviatik. On 5 December 1915, the
Escadrille MS.3 was renamed the
Escadrille N.3, after being re-equipped with new
Nieuport 10 fighters. Flying the more effective plane, Guynemer quickly established himself as one of France's premier fighter pilots. He became an
ace, with his fifth victory coming in February 1916, and was promoted to
lieutenant in March. On 12 March 1916 he scored his 8th victory. At the end of the year, his score had risen to 25. Capitaine Brocard, commander of
Escadrille N.3 (
Storks), described Guynemer at that time as "...my most brilliant Stork." On 23 January 1917 Guynemer scored a "double" credit of victories 26 and 27, first shooting down an Albatros C piloted by Captain Martin Korner, who was killed, followed by a Rumpler C I of Flieger-Abteilung (A) 216 piloted by Lt. Bernhard Röder and his observer Lt. Otto von Schanzenbach who were both killed. On 26 January 1917 Guynemer forced down an
Albatros C.VII of Flieger-Abteilung (A) 226 whose crew was captured for his 30th credit. On 8 February 1917, flying a
SPAD VII, Guynemer became the first Allied pilot to shoot down a German
Gotha bomber, his 31st victory. On 16 March 1917 he brought down his 32nd credit, a
Roland D.II of
Jasta 32 whose pilot was captured. On 14 April 1917 he downed his 36th credit, by killing a crew from Flieger-Abteilung (A) 254. His highest scoring month was May 1917, when he downed seven German aircraft including a quadruple credit on 25 May. By July, he began to fly the Spad XII; his
avion magique was, at his behest, armed with a cannon whose barrel fired through the propeller shaft. It was also armed with a air-cooled
Vickers machine gun. Although the cannon promised devastating firepower, the new plane was a handful because of it, as the cannon's rearwards-protruding breech mandated separate aileron and elevator controls split from each other on opposing sides of the cockpit. The single shot cannon had to also be manually reloaded in flight; it had a heavy recoil when fired and filled the canopy with fumes with every shot. The Spad XII was not a plane for a novice pilot. However, Guynemer used it to down an
Albatros fighter on 27 July, and a
DFW the next day. The latter triumph made him the first French ace to attain 50 victories, with headlines such as "Fifty machines destroyed! This had been Guynemer's dream!" written in the newspapers. ==Death==