Louis Noël was a French aviator and military pilot. He was born in 1872[1] and died in 1939.[2]
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Noël learnt to fly in Great Britain at the Avro school at Brooklands, and was awarded Royal Aero Club pilot's license No. 119 on 17 August 1911.[3] In June 1912 he became an instructor at the Grahame -White flying school at Hendon, where he also gave exhibition flights and took park in flying competitions.[4] He was hired as a reconnaissance pilot in France in 1914, and conducted numerous missions along the Eastern front in World War I, including the Salonica-Bucharest route.[1]
He competed in the 1914 Aerial Derby starting from Hendon Aerodrome with a Morane-Saulnier monoplane equipped with an 80 hp Le Rhone engine.[5] Although he completed the course in the fastest time, he was disqualified for missing one of the control points.
In 1917 he served with Escadrille M.F. 88 at Salonica.[6] He would receive the Croix de Guerre, the Médaille Militaire, the Legion of Honour, and the Gold Medal of the Aero Club of France.[7][8]
Noël made a speech recalling a "special mission" he flew with Robert de Flers over Romania during the war, at de Flers' funeral at the Père Lachaise Cemetery in 1928.[9]
References edit
- ^ a b de Auer-Véran, Francine (2008). "Archives de l'aéronautique militaire de la Première Guerre mondiale - Répertoire numérique détaillé de la série A (1914-1919) et guide des sources" [Archives of military aviation of the First World War - Detailed Series A (1914-1919) Digital Directory and Guide to Sources] (in French). Château de Vincennes: Service historique de la Défense. Archived from the original (pdf) on March 1, 2011. Retrieved October 5, 2014.
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - ^ Newcastle Evening Chronicle, 10 October 1939: 'M. Louis Noel, the famous French airman, was killed near Paris to-day when his aeroplane fell 4,000 feet.'
- ^ Official Notices to Members Flight 26 August 1911
- ^ Louis NoelFlight 15 November 1913
- ^ "1914 Aerial Derby". Grace's Guide. 26 October 2010. Retrieved October 5, 2014.
- ^ "Dispatches". Flight: A Journal Devoted to the Interests, Practice, and Progress of Aerial Locomotion and Transport. 8. Royal Aero Club of the United Kingdom: see p. 182. 1917. Retrieved October 5, 2014.
- ^ "Dispatches". The Aeroplane. 13. Temple Press: see p.1326. 1917. Retrieved October 5, 2014.
- ^ Unknown (October 20, 1917). "DANS LES CERCLES" [In the (Social) Circles]. Le Gaulois (in French). Paris. ISSN 1160-8404. Retrieved October 5, 2014.
- ^ Anonymous (1928). "Robert de Fiers en " mission spéciale "" [Robert de Flers -"special mission"]. Le Figaro (in French). Paris. ISSN 0182-5852. Retrieved October 5, 2014.