Ortoli earned his
Pilot's Brevet No. 1668 on 26 June 1914, thus barely qualifying as a prewar pilot. He volunteered for French military service for the length of the war on 2 September 1914. He entered as a
soldat de 2e classe in the ''
2e Groupe d'Aviation''. On 30 September, he was awarded
Military Pilot's Brevet No. 608. On 14 October 1914, he was simultaneously promoted to
Corporal and assigned to Escadrille 8. On 25 February 1915, he was promoted to
Sergeant. On 28 April 1915, Ortoli and his observer were credited with using their
Farman to down a
Rumpler two-seater observation plane in one of history's first aerial victories. On 8 July, Ortoli was medically evacuated to hospital with a head wound. He would not return to action until 7 October, when he arrived at Escadrille 31 as a
Nieuport pilot. On 11 March 1916, he was promoted to
Adjutant. On 4 June, he scored the second victory of his career over an
LVG. Nine days later, he was awarded the
Médaille militaire. On 24 September 1916, he transferred to Escadrille 77. Beginning on 23 January 1917, Ortoli began a string of nine victories that ended on 24 June. With one exception, shared with
Joseph M. X. de Sévin and
Jean Chaput, they were solo victories. ==Between the World Wars==