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Georges Guynemer (24 December 1894 – 11 September 1917 missing) was a top fighter ace for France during World War I, and a French national hero at the time of his death. ==Early life and military career== Georges Marie Ludovic Jules Guynemer was born in Compiègne to a wealthy and aristocratic family. His father was Paul Guynemer. His mother, Julie Naomi Doynel Saint-Quentin, was a descendant of the House of Bourbon by Bathilde d'Orléans, mother of the Duke of Enghien. He experienced an often sickly childhood. Nevertheless, he succeeded as an aviator through his enormous drive and self-confidence. He was originally rejected for military service, 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.〔(Georges Guynemer – The Most Brilliant Stork )〕 He experienced both victory and defeat in the first plane allocated to him, a Morane-Saulnier L monoplane previously flown by Charles Bonnard, and accordingly named ''Vieux Charles'' (''Old Charles''). On July 19, 1915 he shot down his first plane, a German Aviatik. Guynemer kept the name and continued to use it for most of his later aircraft. 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 by his fifth victory in February 1916, and was promoted to lieutenant in March. At the year's end, his score had risen to 25. Capitaine Brocard, commander of ''Escadrille'' N.3 (''Storks''), described Guynemer at that time as "...my most brilliant Stork."〔 Less than a year later, Guynemer was promoted to captain and commander of the Storks squadron. Guynemer became influential enough to affect French fighter aircraft design; in December 1916, he wrote a letter to the chief designer at Spad criticizing the Spad VII as inferior to the German Halberstadt that was its contemporary. As a consequence, Spad developed two new but very similar models, the SPAD XII and SPAD XIII. The new models were promising, but had teething problems with the reduction gear between engine and propeller. On 8 February 1917, flying a SPAD VII, Guynemer became the first Allied pilot to shoot down a German heavy bomber (Gotha G.III).〔(【引用サイトリンク】publisher=Aviation History )〕 His greatest month was May 1917, when he downed seven German aircraft.〔(theaerodrome.com ), 29 April 2010〕 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 be manually reloaded in flight; it had a heavy recoil when fired, and filled the canopy with fumes from 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. 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「Georges Guynemer」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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