# André Gibert

André Gibert (31 March 1914 – 11 July 2003) was a Second World War fighter ace in the Free French Naval Forces and a member of the Groupe de chasse Île-de-France [fr]. Gibert ended his career with more than 25,000 flight hours.

## Biography

André Gilbert was born on 31 March 1914 in Paris, France and died on 11 July 2003 in La Celle-Saint-Cloud aged 89.

## Wartime service

In 1934 André Gibert joined the Merchant navy with the rank cadet. In 1935, he was promoted to lieutenant. On 15 April 1937, he joined the French naval aviation to be certified as a pilot which he did on 19 October 1938. From September 1939 to September 1940, he carried out missions mainly on a Latécoère 298 seaplane in the T3 squadron with the theaters of operations being in the north of France and Italy. He participated in the French campaign before being demobilized.
In February 1941, André Gibert embarked as a sailor on a mixed cargo ship, deserting it at Saint Thomas in order to join England and General de Gaulle. Passing through New York, Canada and a long crossing of twenty-five North Atlantic days in convoy, he was one of the first pilots to join General Charles de Gaulle and Free France. He joined the Free French Naval Forces (FNFL) on 1 April 1941. After a period of training which lasted until 10 November 1941, he became a member of the first French squadron, Squadron 340 "Groupe de chasse Île-de-France" as a Spitfire fighter pilot alongside Philippe de Scitivaux [fr], Maurice Choron, Bernard Dupérier, René Mouchotte, and others. He remained there from November 1941 to October 1942. On 10 April 1942, he participated in an aerial battle involving three hundred Allied and German aircraft between Le Touquet and Boulogne-sur-Mer, one of the biggest aerial encounters of the war. He also participated in the Dieppe Raid on 19 August 1942.
Gibert was then sent to Jacksonville, Florida in the United States to command the formation of the 6FE flotilla, the first exploration squadron of the Free French Naval Forces, on a PBY Catalina Seaplane. At his request he returned to air combat in December 1943 in No. 611 Squadron RAF of the Royal Air Force on Spitfire after being assigned to Boscombe Down as a test pilot to develop the new carrier-based fighter aircraft Blackburn Firebrand.
Missions to the North Sea, English Channel, Belgium and Holland followed. On 6 June 1944, Gilbert took part in the Battle of Normandy. After February 1945, he then returned to Jacksonville, Florida to command the training of Naval Aviation pilots before being demobilized on 15 July 1946 with the rank of lieutenant commander. He carried out 250 war missions, received Legion of Honour, recipient of the Croix de Guerre with eight citations and the Aeronautical Medal when he returned to Air France on September 2, 1946 as a trainee pilot.
He became captain on 1 October 1947, then instructor. With the aim of improving the safety of commercial flights, he was co-founder in 1952 of the Syndicat national des pilotes de ligne [fr] (SNPL) and was its president from 1953 to 1955. From 1960 to 1971, he served as an elected member representing the flight crew on the board of directors of Air France, which he left voluntarily in 1971.