Georges Guynemer's SPAD VII, Musée de l'Air et de l'Espace.

 

Another photo from the Musée de l'Air et de l'Espace, taken in 2012, of World War One fighter SPAD VII flown by French ace Georges Guynemer (24th December 1894 -11th September 1917).  Guynemer remains one of France's most celebrated national heros, he could easily have avoided military service due to poor health but instead chose to serve his country as a fighter pilot. In his short career he became the second highest scoring French ace (Renée Fonck being the highest) and failed to return from a mission over Poelkapelle, Belgium. Neither his body nor his aircraft (a SPAD XIII) have ever been recovered. 

For more information on Georges Guynemer see English Wikipedia or in more detail; French Wikipedia

 

Camera; Nikon D40

Photo ref; DSC1111-2012 

© Roland Turner

Nord1500 "Griffon II", Musée de l'Air et de l'Espace

Another of my interests is aviation history and I frequently visit aircraft museums, one of the greatest being the Musée de l'Air et de l'Espace at Le Bourget Airport in the northern suburbs of Paris. Among the many exhibits are a number of weird and wonderful French experimental types, this example being the Nord 1500 Griffon II which achieved a top speed of Mach 2.19 in 1958 with Andre Turcat at the controls, who went on to be the chief test pilot on the Concorde development program.

Camera; Nikon D40

Photo ref; DSC1236-2012 

© Roland Turner