French Aces

[Pips]

Initially I was going to comment that (it seemed to me) that the heyday of the great French aces was during the period '16-'17, and relatively few (other than Fonck) in '18. Guynemer, Nungesser, Boyou, Heautaux, Deullin, Navarre, and the incomparible Dorme; all came to prominance during early that period.

Yet digging into my (sadly limited) collection of books on the Aviation Militaire, 1918 saw as many Frenchmen do well in the air in that year as in earlier years. Fonck. Guerin, Marinovitch, Madon, Bourjade, Haegelen, Ehrlich, Pinsard and even Nungesser (again).

So why is it that I am left with the feelng that the Aviation Militaire seemed of so little account in contemporary writings of the latter stages of the air war? Accounts of both the RFC and the GAF hardly mention the French air service after late 1917 - the focus is almost always on each other and the coming Americans