page_title: Willy Coppens
section_title: After the war
hierarchical_section_title: Willy Coppens / After the war
caption_attribution_description: English: Belgian First World War Official Exchange Collection The Earl of Athlone decorates Belgian Officers in the Place Poellaert in Brussels, 3 October 1919 (in the centre of the photo is Belgian Air Ace Willy Coppens)
context_page_description: Willy Omer François Jean baron Coppens de Houthulst was Belgium's leading fighter ace and the champion "balloon buster" of World War I. He was credited with 37 confirmed victories and six probables.
context_section_description: For his wartime service he was knighted, becoming Willy Omer Francois Jean Coppens de Houthulst, for a forest in his squadron's operating area. He was decorated by Belgium, France, Britain, Portugal, Italy, Poland, and Serbia. His memoir, Days on the Wing, were published in 1931 and reissued in the 1970s as Flying in Flanders.
  Between the two World Wars Coppens was Belgian air attaché to four nations. In September 1928, despite his disability, he set a parachute jump record by leaping from 19,700 feet (6,005 meters); this record stood for four years. He retired to Switzerland in 1940, organising resistance work and marrying. In the late 1960s he returned to Belgium and lived his last five years with fellow Belgian ace Jan Olieslagers's only daughter until his death in 1986.
caption: Coppens (centre), pictured in 1919
exif: {"Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image Copyright": "Imperial War Museums"}