Georges Guynemer 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 . 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 " ) . 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 ) . His greatest month was May 1917 , when he downed seven German aircraft . 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 machine gun . Although the cannon promised devastating firepower , the new plane was a handful because of it . 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 . Death . Guynemer failed to return from a combat mission on 11 September 1917 . The previous week had been one of mechanical ills , in both his assigned aircraft and the ones he borrowed . At 08 : 30 , with rookie pilot Jean Bozon - Verduraz , Guynemer took off in his Spad XIII S . 504 n°2 . His mission was to patrol the Langemark area . At 09 : 25 , near Poelkapelle , Guynemer sighted a lone Rumpler , a German observation plane , and dove toward it . Bozon - Verduraz saw several Fokkers above him , and by the time he had shaken them off , his leader was nowhere in sight , so he returned alone . Guynemer never came back . Neither the wreckage of his airplane , his body , nor his personal effects were ever found , but the Germans announced that he had been shot down by Lt . Kurt Wissemann of " Jasta " 3 , who in turn was killed in action 17 days later . French schoolchildren of the time were taught that Guynemer had flown so high , he couldn ' t come back down again . At the time of his death , he had tallied 53 victories . In all , he survived being shot down seven times , despite not having a parachute . It is not clear if he was killed in the crash of his plane or if he survived , only to be shot on the ground in no - man ' s land . Some speculate that his aircraft may have been blown apart by artillery shells . Captain Georges Guynemer was confirmed missing in action by his squadron commander Major Brocard ; it was officially announced in Paris by the French War Department on 25 September 1917 . Unofficial confirmation came from a captured German pilot who was shot down behind Canadian lines the evening of 29 September . A German sergeant from the 413th Regiment swore he had witnessed the crash and identified Guynemer ' s corpse ; he also certified that the French hero had died from a bullet through the head , with other injuries including a broken leg and a finger shot away . The German party retrieving the body was driven away by Allied artillery fire before they could bury or remove the body . The 25 September details released by the French War Department were unclassified and became public knowledge as described by one of his flying comrades ( name withheld due to security reasons ) : " Guynemer sighted five machines of the Albatros type D - 3 . Without hesitation , he bore down on them . At that moment enemy patrolling machines , soaring at a great height , appeared suddenly and fell upon Guynemer . There were forty enemy machines in the air at this time , including Baron von Richthofen and his circus division of machines , painted in diagonal blue and white stripes . Toward Guynemer ' s right some Belgian machines hove in sight , but it was too late . Guynemer must have been hit . His machine dropped gently toward the earth , and I lost track of it . All that I can say is that the machine was not on fire . " Additional details were furnished by Major Brocard , as listed in an article from the Paris " Le Matin " : " The last fight of the French aviator occurred four or five miles inside the German lines northeast of Ypres and opposite the British lines . Captain Guynemer was accompanied by Lieutenant Bozon Verduraz , who says that they were flying at a height of 15 , 000 feet when Guynemer sighted an enemy two - seater , which he attacked . Almost at the same moment Verduraz saw four German monoplanes approaching and turned toward them instantly so as to draw them off . They circled around for a while and then disappeared . Verduraz then returned to the place where he had left Guynemer engaged with the German biplane , but Guynemer had vanished . " According to an American Red Cross communique from the French front , the death of Captain Georges Guynemer was determined to be " definitely confirmed " . This Red Cross report provided these details : " Information received by the Red Cross says Guynemer was shot through the head north of Poelcapelle , on the Ypres front . His body was identified by a photograph on his pilot ' s license found in his pocket . The burial took place at Brussels in the presence of a guard of honor , composed of the 5th Prussian Division . Such is the story told by a Belgian , who has just escaped from the Germans . The burial was about to take place at Poelcapelle , when the bombardment preceding the British attack at Ypres started . The burying party hastily withdrew , taking the body with them . The German General chanced to be an aviation enthusiast with a great admiration for Captain Guynemer ' s achievements . At his direction the body was taken to Brussels in a special funeral car . Thither the captain was carried by non - commissioned officers and was covered with floral tributes from German aviators . The Prussian Guards stood at salute upon its arrival and during the burial , which was given all possible military honors . The French Government has been invited to place in the Pantheon , where many great Frenchmen are buried , an inscription to perpetuate the memory of Captain Guynemer as ′ a symbol of the aspirations and enthusiasm of the Army . ′ A resolution to this effect has been introduced in the Chamber of Deputies by Deputy Lasies . " Legacy . Guynemer was lionized by the French press and became a national hero . The French government encouraged the publicity to boost morale and take the people ' s minds off the terrible losses in the trenches . Guynemer was embarrassed by the attention , but his shyness only increased the public ' s appetite to know everything about him . This was quite different later in 1918 with the French top ace René Fonck , who despite having 75 confirmed victories , had bad publicity for his arrogance and shameless self - promotion . Guynemer ' s death was a profound shock to France ; nevertheless , he remained an icon for the duration of the war . Only 22 at his death , he continued to inspire the nation with his advice , " Until one has given all , one has given nothing . " The Paris street rue Guynemer is named after him as is a school in Compiègne , the Institution Guynemer . A statue is erected in Poelcapelle in commemoration of Georges Guynemer . References . " SPAD XII / XIII aces of World War I . " Jon Guttman . Osprey Publishing , 2002 . ISBN . 1841763160 , 9781841763163 .