Commandant Fernand Bonneton was a French World War I flying ace

Flying ace

A flying ace or fighter ace is a military aviator credited with shooting down several enemy aircraft during aerial combat. The actual number of aerial victories required to officially qualify as an "ace" has varied, but is usually considered to be five or more...

 credited with nine confirmed aerial victories.

World War I

In the beginning of World War I, Bonneton served in the cavalry until he was wounded twice. After a voluntary transfer to the infantry, he was wounded twice more and invalided out of ground service in May 1916. He then volunteered for transfer to aviation duty. After training at Juvisy, he was stationed on the Eastern Front

Eastern Front (World War I)

The Eastern Front was a theatre of war during World War I in Central and, primarily, Eastern Europe. The term is in contrast to the Western Front. Despite the geographical separation, the events in the two theatres strongly influenced each other...

; in Spring 1917, he was in Rumania. He was credited with his first aerial victory there on 8 August; there may have been a second, but details are not available. At any rate, he earned two Mentions in Dispatches and five foreign decorations before moving south to Italy, where he scored again on 30 October 1917.

In May 1918, he was moved back to France to join Escadrille Spa69 (the 'Spa' denoting the squadron's use of Spad

Société Pour L'Aviation et ses Dérivés

SPAD was a French aircraft manufacturer between 1911 and 1921. Its SPAD S.XIII biplane was the most popular French fighter airplane in World War I.-Deperdussin:...

s. On 10 July 1918, Bonneton shot down his third enemy airplane. He then began a career as a balloon buster

Balloon buster

Balloon busters were military pilots known for destroying enemy observation balloons. These pilots were noted for their fearlessness. Seventy-six fighter pilots in World War I were each credited with destroying five or more balloons, and thus were balloon aces....

, running off a string of five wins over them, along with another win over an enemy plane, by 22 October 1918.

Postwar

Bonneton commanded a squadron in Poland at war's end. Then he became Commandant of 1e Fighter Groupe. While serving in this capacity, he died in a flying accident at Brussels on 24 June 1922.

Reference

• Over the Front: A Complete Record of the Fighter Aces and Units of the United States and French Air Services, 1914-1918 Norman L. R. Franks, Frank W. Bailey. Grub Street, 1992. ISBN 0-948817-54-2, 9780948817540.

Endnotes