The Disappearance of Georges Guynemer: What Exactly Happened?

[Kirk R. Lowry]

Originally Posted by Froggy

Hello Kirk

Merci beaucoup pour votre évocation de Georges Guynemer
Moi aussi je crois qu'il se plaisait tellement la-haut, au-dessus de la foule,
qu'il a décidé d'y rester...peut-être n'y a t-il pas de place sur terre pour les héros comme lui ?


Best regards
Bruno

Bruno, merci pour vos mots que j'apprécie beaucoup.

I have long been fascinated by Guynemer. There was and is a distinctive air about the man.

I wonder if it would be possible for you, having abundant computer skills, to post a map of the sight of the crash? In The Storks, by Franks and Bailey, the location is described as follows: "about 700 metres north-west of a military cemetery near Poelkapelle".

Merci beaucoup mon ami
Salut!
Kirk

[Froggy]

Hello Kirk

Here is a ggogle view of the crash site- 700 m NW of the English cemetery
The photo is not very clear, but it should give some indications about where he lost his Life..As you seen all seems not to have move since
1917 !!



Bien amicalement
Bruno

[LegendaryLoewenhardt]

Interesting find, Froggy. Quite interesting, indeed. I'll check that out on Google Earth, also.

[J.R.]

Guys,

I remember a story in Over the Front from several years ago, perhaps more than five, that had researched this in Poelkappelle and came to the conclusion he was buried in the village cemetery in a mass grave along with some civilian victims of an epidemic.

If some of my fellow League members can help me remember the article and issue of the OTF in question, I would be grateful.

BTW a photo of the memorial can be found on the aces data base of this website.

J.R.

[Dan_San_Abbott]

J.R.
I distinctly remember reading somewhere that the Germans had found him at the crash site and while searching his body, they found his identity card and were able to identify his body??? Hmmmm?
Blue skies,
Dan-San

[alex_revell]

A friend of mine recently attended a commemoration at the G memorial. It was quite a large, high-powered affair with various high officials, the mayor, military personnel, schoolchildren, bands and speeches etc. There was a fly past by military aircraft, but the amazing thing was that after the fly past a lone stork flew over the memorial.

[jastaflieger]

It seems that Guynemer is still flying in the sky, so he never did fall to earth after all!

[Kirk R. Lowry]

Bonjour mes amis

Alex - what a marvelous service ... it would be interesting to learn more of the event.

J.R. - The article referred to, Is Guynemer Buried in Rumbeke?, was written by Lothair Vanoverbeke and appears in Over the Front, Volume 15, Number 1, Spring 2000. While of a morbid nature the article is interesting and postulates that Guynemer was buried by German soldiers in a "cemetery along the Kwadestraat in Rumbeke" in a mass grave dug for locals who had recently died during a typhoid epidemic. After reading the article one would be inclined to say that Guynemer may be buried there, but, it cannot be said that Guynemer is buried there ... and even if the reminiscences of locals are correct the man is still lost in an unmarked grave.

Dan-San - You are, of course, correct, several personal items belonging to Guynemer were recovered including an identity card issued le 1er Août 1915. The description of the meeting of Coppens with Guynemer that was related in the article Willy and Me: Dan-San Abbott Meets Willy Coppens which appeared in Over the Front, Volume 22, Number 3, Fall 2007 was amazing. That incident would mean that it could be asserted certainly that the crew of the two seat aircraft initially encountered could not have been responsible for the death of Guynemer and the landing for servicing and perhaps fueling of the SPAD XIII would mean that the time of the sortie would have been extended significantly.

Bruno - merci, comme toujours!

Salut!
Kirk

[Froggy]

Hello

I think that the reason that it was never possible to find where he was buried
is simply because he was never buried ......

"It would appear that one way or another Guynemer had in fact been shot down. Later investigations showed that German Infantry reached the crash site and identified Guynemer from his papers. Whilst hit a number of times, a head wound was put down as the official cause of death.

No sooner had all this happened than the German Infantry had to take cover from a British barrage on the area which as part of the build up to the offensive would last until the 20th and destroyed both pilot and aircraft.

Guynemer's body was never found."

Here is a site( interesting) about Guynemer memorial (among others)

Poelkapelle: Guynemer Cigognes Monument

cordialement

Bruno

( Revell I like to think that Guynemer should be a stork now)

[rammjaeger]

On 27 September 1917 "The New York Times" had a fantasyful article about Guynemers death with the headline "SAW 40 AIR FOES AFTER GUYNEMER":

Paris, Sept. 26 – Captain Georges Guynemer´s last fight is described by a comrade, who is quoted by the “Excelsior” as follows:
“Guynemer sighted five machines of the Albatross type D-3. Without hesitating he bore down on them. At that moment enemy patrolling machines, soaring at a great height, appeared suddenly and fell upon Guynemer.”
"There were forty enemy machines in the air at this time, including Count von Richthofen and his circus division of machines, painted in diagonal blue and white stripes. Toward Guynemer´s right some Belgian machines hove in sight, but it was too late.”
“Mr Guynemer must have been hit. His machine dropped gently toward the earth, and I lost track of it. All that I can say is that the machine was not on fire."
Then the article discusses G.s exploits.