Rene Fonck's life after the war

[Reinout]

What ever happened to René Fonck, whom I consider to be the best Allied ace of the war.
I know that he and Göring became friends between the two WW's, and that Fonck became an outcast because of it. From what I've read he died as a sad man. His accomplishments forgotten by the people he fought for.
What did he do in the war (WWII)?
And when did he die exactly? 1950 Is the year I recall as the year of his death. No certainty though.

Hope some of you out there can help.

Kind regards,

Reinout

Didn't all of his sqaudron mates dislike René Fonck? He had like one friend and even he described him as I believe "a tiresome braggart". The pride and joy of France was Guynemeyer as you no doubt know. It's funny that he made fast friends with Göring after the war. I'm not a big Göring fan. I probably wouldn't have liked Fonck as a person either. He was probably an excellent warrior though.

[Richard_Schrader]

René Fonck did some post-war flying. He tried to fly the
Atlantic ocean before Lindy, but crashed on takeoff from
New York. His co-pilot was killed.
His victory score is not verifiable because most of his reported victories were without witnesses. He did most of his flying alone. He was a braggert and a boor, and no one
liked him.
During WW 2 he was a collaborator with the Nazi, which
showed his true colors.

[Barrett]

Fonck was inspector of fighter aviation from 1937-39. He then retired in Paris, where he died in June 1953.

I don't know the extent of his alleged collaboration with the Germans, or if it's even been verified. If true, he had plenty of company including Marshal Petain, Maurice Chevalier, and Coco Chanel. In fact, collaboration with the Germans was so widespread that British records dealing with evading RAF aircrew are sealed into the next century because traitors and informants were identified during debriefs back in the UK. An Eagle Squadron acquaintance of mine asked for a copy of his own debrief years ago and was denied on the basis that it was a classified document!

Eric Hoffer writes in The True Believer: "The traitor is usually a fanatic--radical or revolutionary--who goes over to the enemy in order to hasten the downfall of a world he loathes. Most of the traitors of the Second World War came from the extreme right. 'There seems to be a thin line between violent, extreme nationalism and treason.'"
It would be interesting to find out more about Fonck's political leanings. Was he a militant nationalist who became disillusioned with his country? It was mentioned that he died a sad, frustrated man, and also that he was vain and selfish. Self-centered people are ripe for fanaticism. "The fiercest fanatics are often selfish people who were forced, by innate shortcomings or external circumstances, to lose faith in their own selves. They seperate the excellent instrument of their selfishness from their ineffectual selves and attach it to the service of some holy cause. And though it be a faith of love and humility they adopt, they can be neither loving nor humble."
Don't know enough about Fonck to tell for sure, but it does seem to explain why other prominent people turned traitor in WWII...

[Reinout]

Yes, Melinda, it does seem to explain the conduct of some.

I was indeed aware of his status as a notorious braggart and his attempt of crossing the Atlantic. I even saw a piece of film which showed his and his mates' aircraft turn-over on take-off.

Whether his victories are not verifiable I cannot say. From what I've read his claims of 127 or 125 kills were not all verifiable, but the 75 he's listed is were verified, right?
I think it is a bit too harsh to state that by collaborating he showed his "true colors". People sometimes have good reasons to collaborate. In my country (The Netherlands) a man was being accused of being a collaborator. He was in a way, but he had a good enough reason for it: he was hiding jews in the cellar! Those people survived because the Germans never bothered to search the house of an ally. Until we have found a reason for his collaboration we cannot pass judgement on him; and its not up to us to judge him I think.
So he died in 1953. I wonder how he lived his last years. Being branded a traitor and collaborator in France, did he stay there? Or did he migrate. If he stayed in France, what a miserable life he must have lead after WWII.
I am pretty sure that I would also not have liked him as a person, but I do have enough respect for those who risk their lives and limbs for their country (for whatever reason) that I feel this man was dealt a wrong card by fate.

Kind regards and thanks,

Reinout

[Richard_Schrader]

The saddest thing about René Fonck was that he was a
gifted pilot and shot. If he had just let his deeds speak for themselves he would have been idolized in France.

Good point, unless we know all the facts about a person it is impossible to pass judgement. It's true that Fonck was a military hero and deserved to be treated as such, no matter what sort of personality he had. I think that so many people were filled with disgust and rage at the Nazi atrocities, that their hatred did not subside even after the war was over, but was transfered to an extent, at people like Fonck. Hitler was dead, so they had to have a sort of substitute. They substituted people whom they thought were collaborators. It reminds me of the Stalinist purges and of the McCarthy era in the United States.
If you guys can stand me quoting the excellent Eric Hoffer one more time: "It is startling to see how the oppressed almost invariably shape themselves in the image of their hated oppressors. That the evil men do lives after them is partly due to the fact that those who have reason to have the evil most shape themselves after it and therefore perpetuate it...Hitler imposed himself on the world both by promoting Nazism and by forcing the democracies to become zealous, intolerant and ruthless."
Food for thought..

Melinda

[mike_baram]

Melinda has quoted Eric Hoffer, and I've quoted Thomas Sowell in this forum. Now, if someone would include Ayn Rand we could turn this forum into one bodacious monument to rational thought.

Don't you think you are jumping the gun on Fonk? You are all talking as if his being a "collaborator" is a known fact. I have never read anything about him being a traitor.If he was a traitor why wasn't he put on trial after the war? The French had no problem with the idea of putting Petain on trial after the war and he was a much bigger hero in WWI than Fonk was.