Two tales in one book for a genuine legend of French aviation, whose name is known the world over: Roland Garros.
He died young at the age of 29, but this Reunion Island native lived the same way he flew: full throttle. A story that ended abruptly one unfortunate day in October 1918—just about a month before the armistice that would put an end to World War I—when his Spad sparred with German Fokkers and crashed in the Ardennes.
But prior to this end at the height of his glory, the man will have left an indelible mark on aviation by being the first to cross the Mediterranean in 1913 – flying from Fréjus to the Tunisian city of Bizerte in just under eight hours. To mention one feat among many others that would make him famous, so famous that he drew crowds of people eager to see him fly all over the world: France, the United States, Mexico, etc.
An accomplished athlete (cycling in particular), a self-taught man (he learned to fly more or less on his own), and an engineer (he developed the first single-seater fighter plane that could fire through the propeller); he was truly a man of many talents.
Today, his “Mémoires” have been republished, along with “Journal de guerre”, where he revisits the three years he spent in captivity in Germany, with an escape in early 1918, whose fearlessness would be unrivaled by all but the aviator’s own bravery. Ten years after this daring feat and his disappearance, the brand-new tennis stadium at Porte d’Auteuil in Paris would be named in his honor.
Book. “Mémoires” followed by “Journal de guerre”. Author, Roland Garros. Editions Points (Points Aventure collection). ISBN: 2757863398
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