René Fonck

Fonck was born on 27 March 1894 in the village of Saulcy-sur-Meurthe in the Vosges region of north eastern France. Fonck left school when he was 13. Although he had been interested in aviation from his youth, he was rejected for the air service when conscripted on 22 August 1914. Instead, he underwent five months basic training for the role of combat engineer; his training duties included first digging trenches near Épinal, and later bridge repairs on the Moselle River. ==Military aviation career==

1915–1916 On 15 February 1915 he was finally accepted into basic training to learn how to fly. He trained at St. Cyr and then at Le Crotoy on a Blériot Penguin, a reduced-wingspan "flightless" version of the famous Blériot XI aircraft that gave the sensation of flying while still on the ground. He completed his pilot training in May 1915 and then flew Caudron G III in which he was flying a single-seater, probably against No. 56 Squadron. September and October added four victories apiece to Fonck's score. Thus, by year's end, he had raised his tally to nineteen, was commissioned an officer, and had received the ''Légion d'honneur''. , showing the elevated intake manifold to clear the 37mm cannon mounted in the "vee" between the cylinder banks. Fonck got only 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 by his fellow pilots. Fonck took few chances, patiently stalking his intended victims from higher altitudes. He then used deflection shooting with deadly accuracy at close range, resulting in an astonishing economy of ammunition expended per kill. More often than not, a single burst of less than five rounds from his Vickers machine gun was sufficient. His preferred method of aerial combat was not to engage into dogfights, but to carry out surgically merciless executions. He was also reputed to be able to spot enemy observation aircraft from very far away, where most other pilots would have perceived nothing. Fonck, like France's leading ace, Captain Guynemer, flew a limited-production SPAD XII fighter, distinguished by the presence of a hand-loaded 37mm Puteaux cannon firing through the propeller boss. He is apparently credited with downing 11 German airplanes with this type of armament, called a moteur-canon. This was made possible by the gear-reduction version of the Hispano-Suiza V8 SOHC engine first used in that model of SPAD fighter. It offset the now-hollow propeller shaft above the crankshaft axis, and the 37mm cannon was mounted in the V space between the two rows of cylinders. Fonck would later fly the highly successful SPAD XIII, He did not add to his tally sheet until 19 January 1918, when he scored a double victory. February added another five, March seven more, and another three in April. Between 1600 and 1605 hours, he shot down three enemy two-seater reconnaissance planes. A couple of hours later, he repeated the feat. Understanding the importance of reconnaissance planes, with their potential to direct intensive artillery fire onto French troops, Fonck concentrated his attention upon them; six shot down within a three-hour span proved it. Another success two days later and two on 5 October put his score at 69, very close to the 72 of Major William Avery Bishop, then the leading Allied ace. On 30 October, he matched Bishop with three more victories. He shot down two more the following day, and another the day after that, finishing with 75 confirmed victories. However he and he alone carried the flag of the French Air Force at the victory parade on the Champs-Elysées. ==After the war==

Fonck returned to civilian life after World War I, and published his war memoirs Mes Combats, prefaced by Marechal Foch, in 1920. The fame he got from the war allowed him to be elected Member of Parliament representing the Vosges from 1919 to 1924. On 21 September 1926, the aircraft crashed on takeoff when the landing gear collapsed, killing two of his three crew members. Charles Lindbergh won the prize seven months later in 1927. Fonck eventually returned to military aviation and rose to Inspector of French fighter forces from 1937 to 1939. His inter-war contact with the likes of former World War I foe Hermann Göring and Ernst Udet cast a shadow upon Fonck's reputation during the German occupation of France, as did allegations of collaboration with the Nazis and the Vichy regime. In January 1941, Fonck was made a member of the National Council of Vichy France. On 10 August 1940, Vichy Foreign Minister Pierre Laval announced that Fonck had recruited 200 French pilots to fight on the Nazi side. However, the truth was more complicated. Marshal Philippe Pétain wished to exploit Fonck's relationship with Göring in order to meet Adolf Hitler. He ordered Colonel Fonck to talk to Göring. A meeting was planned at Montoire, but after discovering evidence about the pro-Nazi politics of Pierre Laval, Fonck tried to convince Pétain not to attend. Initially Pétain appeared to heed Fonck's advice, but for some reason he eventually decided to disregard Fonck's warnings and met Hitler at Montoire on 24 October 1940. Fonck's loyalties were thus questioned by the Vichy regime, and he returned home to Paris, where he was eventually arrested by the Gestapo and imprisoned in the Drancy internment camp. After the war, a French police inquiry about his supposed collaboration with the Vichy regime completely cleared Fonck. The conclusion was that his loyalty was proved by his close contacts with recognised resistance leaders such as Alfred Heurtaux during the war. He was awarded the Certificate of Resistance in 1948. The citation reads: "Mr. Fonck, René, a member of the fighting French forces without uniform, took part, in territory occupied by the enemy, to glorious fights for the liberation of the nation". Fonck remained in Paris, but also frequently visited his native Lorraine, where he had business interests. He died of a stroke in his Paris apartment, Rue du Cirque, at the age of 59 and is buried in the cemetery of his native village of Saulcy-sur-Meurthe. ==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..." ==Citations==