Michel Coiffard
Michel Joseph Callixte Marie Coiffard (born July 16, 1892 in Nantes , † October 29, 1918 near Bergnicourt in the Ardennes ) was one of the most successful French fighter pilots of the First World War .
Life
Coiffard was initially an infantryman with the 13th Battalion of Hunters on Foot. After being repeatedly commended for bravery in front of the enemy, he came to an artillery unit because of his multiple wounds , was written to be unsuitable for the front and then applied to the aviation militaire .
On January 4, 1917, his request was approved. In the first four months of 1917, Coiffard completed his training as a pilot and was transferred to the Escadrille N154 on June 28, 1917. On September 5, 1917, he scored his first aerial victory against a German Albatros reconnaissance aircraft that took aerial photos over Catelet near Saint-Quentin.
On November 19, Coiffard was promoted to lieutenant.
On January 3, 1918, Coiffard was on a reconnaissance mission over Saint-Quentin when he came across three enemy Palatinate fighters . Coiffard shot one of them down, but then had to make an emergency landing on the French side with engine failure. After another victory in the air, he was made a Knight of the Legion of Honor on February 2nd .
Coiffard was best known as the most successful French balloon specialist. In June 1918 the Escadrille N 154 was stationed near Reims . Here Coiffard began to specialize in balloons: In June and July 1918 alone, he shot five tethered balloons on eight days of flight. In July Coiffard was the squadron leader of the Escadrille, now renamed SPA 154, because the outdated Nieuports had been replaced by more modern Spad fighter aircraft. Coiffards Spad was named "Valentine" .
At the end of July he had a total of 17 kills, eight more were added in August and six in September.
But then luck left him. On September 15, 1918, Coiffard tried in vain to attack a tethered balloon near Brimont , but could not survive the violent anti-aircraft fire.
On October 28th, the SPA 154 was given the task of escorting a Salmson reconnaissance aircraft. When one of the dreaded Fokker D.VIIs gets in the way, Coiffard gives the attack signal, but only his comrade Condemine notices it. The two French get into a fierce aerial battle with around 20 German airmen and are driven over the enemy lines. Both pilots managed to shoot down an enemy machine, but Coiffard, seriously wounded with a shot in the stomach, had difficulty reaching his own lines and was immediately taken to hospital N ° 5 of the 1st Colonial Corps in Bergnicourt, but succumbed to his injuries on October 29, 1918.
Coiffard's hit list consisted of 26 balloons (24 of which he shared with other fighter pilots) and 8 airplanes (2 shared with others). He was sixth among all French fighter pilots during the war.
Coiffard, who was awarded the military medal and the Croix de guerre and was made a knight and later an officer of the Legion of Honor , rests in the French Heroes' Cemetery in Sommepy-Tahure (Marne); Grave # 1027.
literature
- Norman LR Franks, Frank W. Bailey: Over the Front. A Complete Record of the Fighter Aces and Units of the United States and French Air Services, 1914-1918 . Grub Street, London 1992, ISBN 0-948817-54-2 .
- Arch Whitehouse: Flieger-Ase 1914-1918 . Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 1970, pp. 307-310.
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Coiffard, Michel |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Michel Coifard |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | French fighter pilot in the First World War |
| DATE OF BIRTH | July 6, 1892 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Nantes |
| DATE OF DEATH | October 29, 1918 |
| Place of death | Bergnicourt (Ardennes) |