Eugene Gilbert

Sous Lieutenant Eugene Gilbert (July 19, 1889 - May 17, 1918) was a World War I flying ace credited with five aerial victories. He had also been a famous pioneer Pre-war racing pilot flying to many countries throughout Europe.^[1]

Gilbert was born in 1889 in Riom France. He became interested in flight in his teens and actually built his own version of a flying machine around 1909. The machine appears to have been unsuccessful but Gilbert took on more conventional fixed wing flying machines. By 1911 he was flying the famous Bleriot XI, an single wing aircraft in which it's designer had famously crossed the English Channel in 1909. In the Paris-to-Madrid flying race Gilbert flew across the Pyrenees Mountains and was attacked by an angry mother eagle defending her young and nest. To ward off the large bird he simply fired pistol shots at her rather than kill her. ^[2]

In 1915 WW1 was was raging and Gilbert was in uniform as a combat pilot. Like fellow French pre-war pilot Adolphe Pegoud, Gilbert was one of the first pilots to become an ace, an aviator who has shot down five or more enemy planes. In April 1915 Gilbert was captured by the Germans after landing his Morane-Saulnier fighter plane behind enemy lines. He later made a daring escape from his captors which was later recounted by a friend.

Gilbert was killed in May 1918 when test piloting a new plane at Villacoublay.

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References

External Links

• Eugene Gilbert at Flickr