The First Fighter Ace
I specialize in Air-to-Air Combat. Everyone else in my squadron specializes in Air-to-Air combat. We all secretly dream of becoming fighter Aces, and so it is surprisingly that none of us had heard of the world’s first fighter ace – Adolphe Pequod. It’s time to remedy that.
The Daredevil
Adolphe Peguod was born into the French Empie in 1889 and joined the French Army in 1907 where he served in North Africa. Peguod was able to get an aircraft ride in 1911 – something that was exceeding rare at the time – and after set his sights on becoming a pilot. He was dischargde from the army in 1913 and began flying with the Bleriot Flight School. Peguod started work as a test pilot and was given the unenviable task of becoming the first man to jump from an airplane with a parachute. It takes a certain kind of insanity to agree to test parachutes but Peguod was a certain type of lunatic. Using a sacrificial plane, Bleriot leaped from an airplane and found himself safely under parachute. While floating to the ground Peguod watched his pilot-less plane dive forward, then climb when it had gained airspeed and nearly complete a loop before crashing to the ground. It his words:
I’ve seen him, alone, looping the loop. So you see that this is possible. Also, I will try
Peguod addressing reports after his parachute test.
In September of 1913 Peguod looped his Bleriot monoplane which was widely publicized to be the first loop every flown. In actuality a Russian pilot, Pyotr Nesterov, had beaten Peguod to the punch just a couple weeks prior. Despite this, Peguod became known as the first man to loop the loop and was invited to Moscow to demonstrate this new maneuver to Czar Nicholas. This launched a tour for Peguod where he flew across Europe putting on a 1913 version of an Airshow. Peguod would often stay to teach pilots after demonstrating his aerobatics. Oswald Boelcke and James McCudden are just two of the many pilots who were inspired by personally seeing Pequod’s demonstrations.
The loop is a basic aerobatic today but when Peguod began flying his loop it was anything but basic. Airplanes require an excess of energy to pull into the vertical and get over the top. Without enough energy you can find yourself pointing straight up without the airspeed to continue the nose rotation and the airplane can tail slide. Tail sliding is uncomfortable at best, lethal at worst. When Peguod was attempting his loops he had to push the nose over into a dive to get enough airspeed to go over the top before pulling up. Pull too hard and Peguod would burn his knots at the bottom of the loop, too little and it would take too long to get over the top and knots would be expended in the vertical. The fact that Peguod could execute his demonstrations without incident in an airplane that was essentially a kite with wings is a testament to his skill as a pilot.
From Demo Pilot to Fighter Pilot
When Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie were killed on June 28th 1914, Peguod was still enjoying his 15 minutes of fame as a rare pre-war demo pilot. However, when war kicked off just a month later Peguod quickly found himself back in the French Army, this time as an observation pilot. As we covered in the episode on Roland Garros arming the observation planes was a tricky problem that both sides were trying to solve. The most immediate solution was mounting a machine gun on a swivel that the observer could shoot, usually to the sides and to the rear. Peguod was assigned to Escadrille MS 37 flying Morane Saulnier 2 seaters and was soon flying with armed observer. On Feb 5 1915, Peguod scored the first fighter pilot hat trick shooting down 3 German observation planes with the help of his observer and gunner. Peguod and his observer were awarded the Medaille Militaire for their efforts.
On April 2nd Peguod scored his 4th victory and soon went looking for his 5th. At this time, however, the term “Ace” had not been defined so he did not know that he was 1 kill away from immortality. At the end of April Pequod spotted a German Aviatik observation plane and pulled his Morane Saulnier 2-seater alongside and his gunner shot exactly 1 round before the gun jammed. Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good. Peguod and his gunner watched as the Aviatik nosed over and crashed thousands of feet below them, the one bullet killing the pilot and making Peguod the first fighter ace.
In July of 1915 Peguod began to fly the Nieuport 10 Sesquiplane. He faired over the back cockpit and mounted a Lewis machine gun to the top wing to make it a fighter. Peguod was now a single seat fighter pilot. On July 11th Peguod’s scored his first kill as a single seat fighter pilot and was now the one pulling the trigger in addition to flying, reloading, and clearing jams.
On August 28th, Peguod found himself on the receiving end of a machine gun when a German observer is able to shoot up his engine forcing Peguod to make an emergency landing. After Peguod makes it back to his Escadrille he is awarded the citation of a Chavalier de la Legiond’Honneur, France’s highest decoration and one established by Napoleon 100 years earlier.
“Accumulating the daily traits of courage and audacity, he has attacked heavily armed planes alone countless times.. On August 28th 1915 his plane was riddled by bullets and he was forced to land and immediately took every means to save his airplane in spite of German fire.”
Pequod’s citation for the Legion D’Honneur.
Just 3 days later on August 31st he takes off in search of Germans and he finds yet another Aviatik 2seater. Little does he know, the pilot flying the Aviatik is Unteroffizer Otto Kandulski, one of his former pupils. Peguod closes in for the attack, but lady luck abandons him and the gunner on the German plane finds Pequod’s heart, who’s killed instantly. Peguod was found near the font lines amid a mass of broken wood, canvas, and a stuffed penguin, a mascot and good luck charm that he always flew with. He was only 26 years old.
After learning that he had taken part in killing for former instructor Kandulski risked his life flying over the front lines to drop a funeral wreath with the note.
“His adversaries honor the flier Peguod, fallen in combat for his country”
