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Edmond Thieffry (28 September 1892 – 11 April 1929) was a Belgian First World War air ace and aviation pioneer. He made, with Léopold Roger and Jef de Bruycker, the first successful flight between Belgium and Congo (then the Belgian Congo). ==First World War== Thieffry was born in Etterbeek, a municipality of Brussels, and went on to study law in Leuven (hence his nickname "The Flying Judge"). After qualifying he was conscripted into the Belgian Army, joining the 10th Regiment in 1913. At the start of the First World War he saw service as a staff attaché to General Leman, but was captured by the Germans. He escaped on a stolen motorcycle to the neutral territory of the Netherlands, where he was arrested by Dutch military police. Using his legal knowledge and Dutch language skills he managed to talk his way out of internment, and travelled to Antwerp to rejoin the Belgian army. In 1915, Thieffry joined the ''Compagnie des Ouvriers et Aérostiers'' —the Belgian Army Air Corps— and with some difficulty qualified as a pilot at Étampes. On 1 February 1916 he joined the 3rd Squadron as an observer for artillery, where he was appreciated for his exactitude and courage. He crash-landed so many aircraft that he was promptly assigned to a single-seat fighter squadron, as no one would fly with him! He was rapidly transferred to 5th Squadron (The Comets) under Captain Jules Dony based at De Panne in December 1916.〔 His first confirmed victory was on 15 March 1917, flying a Nieuport 11. His second followed eight days later〔 above Gistel, and his third on 12 May above Houthulst. His fourth was on 14 June—an Albatros D.III above Westende. The 5th Squadron then relocated to Les Moëres, and was equipped with Nieuport 17s. Thieffry gained official status as an "ace" when he shot down two German fighters over Diksmuide on 3 July. In August he received the first SPAD VII fighter in the Belgian Air Force, bought by the Belgian prince. He gained three more victories with it. On 31 August his aircraft was badly damaged by two German Albatros D.V fighters, but he managed to land behind the Belgian lines. He continued to fight and he claimed his 10th and last confirmed kill on 10 October 1917. He also had five 'probable' kills. This placed him third on the list of Belgian aces, behind Willy Coppens and André de Meulemeester. Shortly afterwards he was shot down and wounded by return fire from a German two-seater aircraft of ''FAA 227'' over Kortrijk on 23 February 1918. He spent the rest of the war as a prisoner of war in Germany. He tried to escape on 13 April 1918 but was caught ten days later. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Edmond Thieffry」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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