Georges Madon Georges Felix Madon ( 28 July 1892 – 11 November 1924 ) was the fourth ranked French ace pilot of the First World War . His lengthy career and wide variety of aviation experiences were remarkable . Life and career . Early years . Madon was born in Bizerte , Tunisia and was athletic from an early age . He was short but had an erect stance , and was exceptionally strong . He boxed and played football . Madon first became interested in aviation when just 15 years old , when he made an unsuccessful attempt to build his own craft . He had quit school to get over a siege of malaria . After building models and kites , he fabricated a bicycle - powered " aviette " . His desire to fly led him to attempt to become a pilot for the Ottoman Empire . When that failed , he enlisted in the First Engineering Regiment in Versailles , and ended up as a cook . He repeatedly requested pilot ' s training . Aerial Service . He subsequently qualified as a pilot in June , 1911 , after 19 lessons . On 12 March 1912 , he enlisted in the French military and received his military pilot ' s license at Avord , France , in January , 1913 . Although only a corporal , he was one of France ' s most experienced military pilots . He originally flew reconnaissance and night - time bombing missions while assigned to fly prewar Bleriots with Escadrille ( squadron ) BL30 . The night flying missions were some of the first ever , and his experience probably accounts for this assignment . Certainly it saved his life , when on 30 October 1914 , his engine was destroyed by a direct hit by 77 mm cannon fire . It took exceptional skill to coax the Bleriot to a dead stick landing against the wind within French lines . In April , 1915 , thrown off course by heavy fog , he flew into Swiss air space while qualifying upon a new Farman , and was interned for several months . It took him two tries to escape , but he freed himself in December by chloroforming and kidnapping his guard . His reward was a court - martial and 60 days confinement . He was then posted to Escadrille MF218 as a sergeant directing artillery fire . He requested transfer to a fighter squadron . After retraining at Pau and Cazaux , he was posted to fly Nieuports with N38 on 1 September 1916 . He scored his first victory on the 28th . By year ' s end , he was up to four and had been promoted to adjutant . He began the new year by strafing an enemy locomotive to a halt . Later , on July 2 , 1917 , he was wounded in action when he collided with an enemy aircraft and crashed . By then , he had 12 victories . The following month , he was commissioned a sous lieutenant . By October , his confirmed score was 17 , with 20 unconfirmed . He was said to have returned with blood and brains on his plane ' s propeller three times ; another time , he brought home the glasses from an enemy observer ' s face stuck in his plane ' s wire bracing . By March , 1918 , his personal score stood at 25 confirmed . He was appointed to command Escadrille Spa38 , which was re - equipped with new Spad XIII s . Although principally a photo reconnaissance unit , Spa38 aggressively defended itself . They lived up to the motto they adopted from their commander ; " Whoever rubs against me gets pricked " . They also adopted his black thistle insignia on their planes . As part of Madon ' s new role , he mentored other pilots who became aces because of his tutelage ; among these were Andre Martenot de Cordou , Hector Garaud , and American David Putnam . By war ' s end , he was credited with 41 confirmed victories and 64 probables . About the latter , he once nonchalantly remarked , " The Boche knows his losses . " His score of 41 still ranked him fourth among all French pilots . In an ironic twist , he was promoted to temporary captain on the last day of the war , Armistice Day , 1918 . In an era when fighter aces ' careers were commonly measured in months , he had had a two - year string of victories . With seven years flying experience , he was one of the world ' s most experienced aviators by war ' s end . Later years . Madon stayed in aviation after the war ended . In 1922 , he flew a radically designed racing monoplane scheduled for the Coupe - Deutsch Race . The Simplex monoplane had a Hispano - Suiza engine crammed into a short fuselage ; pilot view was seriously limited by a rearward seating behind a barrel radiator . Madon crashed the plane during a test flight and suffered severe injuries . Precisely six years after Armistice Day , at age 32 , Madon was killed in his native Tunisia preparing for a tribute to fellow airman Roland Garros . His aircraft suffered mechanical trouble , and he gallantly crashed it into the roof of a villa rather than hit spectators . He died in Tunis . Legacy . Madon ' s legacy is founded on more than his experienced long service to his country and his long rise through military ranks . His score sheet included an incredible 64 probable victories . Confirmation of any sizable number of these might raise him to a score greater even than the Red Baron himself , von Richthofen . Madon was awarded three medals by his own country , Médaille Militaire , Chevalier de la Légion d ' honneur and Croix de Guerre with ten palms . He also was awarded the Italian Order for Valor , and the Romanian Order for Valor . The Avord Air Base , near Avord in central France , where he learned to fly , is named " Base Aérienne 702 Capitaine Georges Madon " . Citations for Decorations . " George Felix Madon , Lieutenant temporary ( active ) engineer , pilot aviator , officer elite fighter pilot of an indomitable energy , heroic bravery and supreme skill . Also winner in the ordinary course of committed countless battles without concern of many opponents , or the removal of our lines , never reached even a single bullet through the devastating speed of his attacks , the precision of his maneuvers , the infallibility of his shot , wounded sometimes in terrible falls , leads tirelessly by his splendid example , the squadron under his command and it shows every day with new exploits . On 11 August 1918 , he slaughtered his 40th enemy plane . A injury . Chevalier de la Légion d ' honneur for war . Nineteen citations . "