Trivia #10 - René Fonck

[merlindex]

I am the webmaster of the site : "Mémoire de René Fonck" so...
A special trivia just for him !!!

Send me your answers using the private messages : --Send Merlin DEX a PM -- (http://www.wingsofwar.org/forums/private.php?do=newpm&u=35)



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1- How many official victories does René Fonck have at the end of the war, and how many more "unofficials" did he claim himself ? Why such a difference ?

2- How many victories does he officialy have with the SPAD XII canon, and how many more "unofficials" did he claim himself with this SPAD XII ?

3- In august the 6th 1916, René Fonck captured a Rumpler C.I and forced him to land on a Allied aérodrome. What 's the name of the 2 german aviators captured ?

4- In 1928, Fonck related that, in august 1918, while he was attacking a german formation of 4 aircrafts, He didn't shot at one of the plane because his pilot was flying very badly ! Who was the pilot of this plane ?

5- What was the name of René Fonck Stork (the bird not the symbol) ?

6- What was the symbol painted on the René Fonck Caudron G4 ? What was the symbol usually painted on the René Fonck' Spads upper wing ? Why ?

7- After the Great war, Fonck was elected as MP (député in french) in a famous Chamber of deputies. What's the name of this Chamber ? And give me the name of one other great WWI pilot also elected in this chamber :

8- Give me 10 aircraft models piloted at least once by René Fonck during his life :

9- Where is the " Aerodrome René Fonck" ?

10- How many plane has René Fonck lost under ennemy bullets between may 1917 and november 1918 as pilot in SPA 103 ?

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[merlindex]

Nobody ?
It 's to hard ?

Come on !

:rolleyes:

[LGKR]

Maybe it's because Fonck was an arrogant egomanical glory hound. :D

On the other hand if you can back it up with your actions, why not brag.

[usmc1855]

Hey... I tried.

And yes... it was rather challenging... well.. damn hard actually! :D

But I did submit answers.:cool:

[merlindex]

Arrogant egomanical glory hound. :D
Yes he was... just as 99% of the WWI aces. :rolleyes: Especially French ! :)

Actually, I am studying Fonck's life. I read Biographies, documents, articles...

He was often seen as an arrogant or snooty man... But in fact it was just a little shy commoner surrounded by tall and brillant men, often noble or from bourgeoisie...

Of course he was ambitious... But Guynemer or Mannock were too !:cool:

Of course he seems to be arrogant, but he was just shy and hard-worker as BALL, IMMELMANN, BOELKE, even Manfred Von Richthofen... :o

It s easy to stay on old and mistaken points of view of the best flying allied soldier of the the WWI. But He was more complexe and human than this man forgotten because of the stupidities of History.:eek:

And you seem to forget that René Fonck was one of the favourite heroes beloved by the americans after the WWI !:p

[merlindex]

I guess the fight will end by lack of fighter !
I give few more days to an eventual challenger...

[LGKR]

Yes he was... just as 99% of the WWI aces. :rolleyes: Especially French ! :)

Actually, I am studying Fonck's life. I read Biographies, documents, articles...

He was often seen as an arrogant or snooty man... But in fact it was just a little shy commoner surrounded by tall and brillant men, often noble or from bourgeoisie...

Of course he was ambitious... But Guynemer or Mannock were too !:cool:

Of course he seems to be arrogant, but he was just shy and hard-worker as BALL, IMMELMANN, BOELKE, even Manfred Von Richthofen... :o

It s easy to stay on old and mistaken points of view of the best flying allied soldier of the the WWI. But He was more complexe and human than this man forgotten because of the stupidities of History.:eek:

And you seem to forget that René Fonck was one of the favourite heroes beloved by the americans after the WWI !:p

Don't mistake my joking as a lack of pure respect for Fonck. I think there was just no way for him to compete with Guynemer's popularity.

Actualy so far my favorite Allied ace is Jan Olieslagers of Belgium, he was not driven by his own personal fame at all.

[merlindex]

Sorry if it seems a little bit agressive. That was not my intention. :o
Maybe I should be more quiet and less passionate when I try to defend Fonck's memory. ;)

Olieslagers was a great pilot.
He's one of the Aces I would like to know better.

[LGKR]

Sorry if it seems a little bit agressive. That was not my intention. :o
Maybe I should be more quiet and less passionate when I try to defend Fonck's memory. ;)

Olieslagers was a great pilot.
He's one of the Aces I would like to know better.

Never apologize for correcting historical misconceptions. I'm always defending the Vikings. :D

[merlindex]

For this Trivia, USMC1855 win ! :D

I know it was very difficult to reach the 10/10... Sorry ! :o
But it s a way for me to make René Fonck being better known !

So here are the answers :



***************
1- How many official victories does René Fonck have at the end of the war, and how many more "unofficials" did he claim *himself* ? Why such a difference ?

By official count, Fonck shot down 75 German airplanes.he had an additional 52 (some sources say 69 but it s a mistake because this number only appears on a SPA103 citation...) unconfirmed ones.
Why the difference? It was damned hard to get confirmation by French standards, which where: In order to obtain confirmation for an air victory, it was necessary for a French aviator to have the testimony of three independent people (other than the members of its own squadron), the type of enemy apparatus as well as the place, the date and the hour of the combat. We may add that most of this unconfirmed victories were above german territory, but a german communicate confirmed near 12 of this 52 victories.

2- How many victories does he officialy have with the SPAD XII canon, and how many more "unofficials" did he claim *himself* with this SPAD XII ?

7 Officials + 4 claimed (source : "Mes combats" and C. Micelli's Biography)


3- In august the 6th 1916, René Fonck captured a Rumpler C.I and forced him to land on a Allied aérodrome. What 's the name of the 2 german aviators captured ?

Oblt A. BREY / Lt Herman Von Raumer

4- In 1928, Fonck related that, in august 1918, while he was attacking a german formation of 4 aircrafts, He didn't shot at one of the plane because his pilot was flying very badly ! Who was the pilot of this plane ?

Goering ?? No... not far ... it was Ernst Udet !
Udet told Fonck that he though that Fonck's guns jammed during the attack and then the german pilot kept saved.
The fact is that Fonck has effectivly shot down 3 planes in agaust the 14th of 1918 over ROYE. Udet was effectivly present in this aera at the same time... But... Nobody knows the truth about this possible encounter between René and Ernst.


5- What was the name of René Fonck Stork (the bird not the symbol) ?
It was an alsacian Stork, her name was : Hélène ! She was a present from the wife of a rich french busynessman (M. HERIOT). She became the mascott of the "Escadrille des Cigognes".


6- What was the symbol painted on the René Fonck Caudron G4 ? What was the symbol usually painted on the René Fonck' Spads upper wing ? Why ?

On the Caudron G4 he had a Four Leaf Clover

On the SPADs the red star on the upper wing is Fonck's personal device: previously the star had been the symbol of the N 103 squadron.


7- After the Great war, Fonck was elected as MP (député in french) in a famous Chamber of deputies. What's the name of this Chamber ? And give me the name of one other great WWI pilot also elected in this chamber :

*Chamber of the Room blue horizon*
*Chambre Bleu Horizon sous les couleurs de l'Alliance démocratique de 1919 à 1924* He served as the Deputy of the Vosges

The other pilot elected to this chamber is: Alfred Marie Joseph Heurteaux

8- Give me 10 aircraft models piloted at least once by René Fonck during his life :

Caudron G3
Caudron G4
SPAD S. VII
SPAD XIII
SPAD XII
SPAD XV
Sikorsky S.35
Morane Saunier MS 35
Junker G24
Dewoitine 500, and maybe 501
Dewoitine 503


9- Where is the "Aerodrome René Fonck" ?

The aerodrome of Saint-Dié des vosges, baptized under the name of the aviator *Rene Fonck* in june 2009 and located on the commune of Remomeix.

10- How many plane has René Fonck lost under enemy bullets between may 1917 and november 1918 as pilot in SPA 103 ?

Zero.
René Fonck, as SPAD pilot, never let the time to his adversaries to reply !
The mecanicians found only one bullet in one of his plane. But not sure that it was a German one !
But before becoming a "stork", he has been very closed to die when he came back home with a G4 amazingly damaged.
And he crashed one or two Spad during his career !
Nobody's perfect !

[usmc1855]

For this Trivia, USMC1855 win ! :D

I know it was very difficult to reach the 10/10... Sorry ! :o
But it s a way for me to make René Fonck being better known !

So here are the answers :

Hurrah!

It's only taken about ten iterations of the trivia quiz's before I finally won one!

Merlin,

Thanks for the challenge. I wish I'd have done much better. There didn't seem to be a lot of info on René Fonck, that wasn't in the French language.