1.) SPAD S.XIII Unit/Location: SPA152, La Noblette/France, June 1918 Code: unknown Pilot: Léon Bourjade Successes: 28 victories in WW I (27 balloons). Bourjade was the leading french balloon-buster ace, second only to the legendary Belgian ace Willy Coppens. Except one plane, all of his victories were made over balloons. When the war broke out, he interrupted his study for priesthood and volunteered for the artillery. He served in this arm for nearly 3 years. In 1917 he volunteered for the air service and received his Military Pilot's Brevet on 17 June. Following additional training, he was posted to Escadrille N152 and became the highest scoring ace to serve with this unit. In 1921, he was finally ordained as a priest and took a ship to New Guinea, where he served as a missionary. Bourjade died there in 1924, possibly of leprosy, aged only 35. Fate: survived Merits: Légion d'Honneur, Croix de Guerre
2.) SPAD S.XIII Unit/Location: SPA154, Trécon/France, August 1918 Code: unknown Pilot: Michel Coiffard Successes: 34 victories in WW I (24 balloons). Starting out with the artillery and then transferring to the infantry he won the Médaille Militaire. After being declared unfit for service due to a serious wound he subsequently transferred to the air service. He completed training in April 1917 and joined Escadrille N154 on 28.06.1917. He achieved his first victory on 05.09.1917 but only 2 more in the Winter of 1917/18, being a slow starter. But after the transition from Nieuports to SPAD's in the Summer of 1918 his star rose and he scored 31 of his victories between 30.06.-28.10.1918 (amongst it all of his 24 balloons)! On 28.10.1918 he shot down his last victim (a Fokker D.VII), but also received serious wounds. He made it back 12 km to his own lines and made a perfect landing to be taken to a field hospital, where he perished 3 hours. later after a blood transfusion. Fate: WIA & DOW on 29.10.1918 Merits: Légion d'Honneur, Médaille Militaire, MC
3.) SPAD S.XIII Unit/Location: SPA77, Fère-en-Tardenois/France, Spring 1918 Code: unknown Pilot: Maurice Boyau. Successes: 35 victories in WW I (21 balloons). Well known to the public as the captain of the French rugby team, Boyau started the war as a driver in the infantry. In 1915 he requested a transfer to the air service and received his Pilot's Brevet on 28 November 1915. At first acting as a flight instructor, he arranged to join Escadrille N77 (known as "Les Sportifs" because a lot of sportsmen served in this unit) in September 1916. His first 10 victories (6 balloons) were made between March and September 1917. In 1918 his score then really increased after the transition to a SPAD-unit. Boyau was at the forefront of rocket-attacks on balloons, but was shot down and KIA by German Ace Georg von Hantelmann. Fate: KIA on 16.09.1918 Merits: Légion d'Honneur, Croix de Guerre, Médaille Militaire
4.) SPAD S.XIII Unit/Location: SPA154, Trécon/France, September 1918 Code: S.7921 Pilot: Jacques Ehrlich Successes: 19 victories in WW I (18 balloons). Another French pilot that scored nearly all his victories vs. balloons was Jacques Ehrlich. At the start of the war, Ehrlich served with the infantry until his transfer to the French air service in December 1916. He received a Pilot's Brevet in May 1917 and was assigned to Escadrille N154. On 10.08.1917, he was badly wounded while strafing the German lines. He returned to duty in November 1917. All his victories were scored after the transition into a SPAD-unit and not on Nieuports. On the evening of 18 September 1918, Ehrlich was shot down and captured after scoring his 19th victory. Ehrlich destroyed 18 balloons and shot down an Albatros scout in less than three months. This made him the highest scoring Allied Jewish ace of World War 1! Fate: Shot down, but survived and taken POW on 18.09.1918 Merits: Croix de Guerre, Médaille Militaire5.) SPAD S.VII Unit/Location: SPA100, Champaubert/France, June 1918 Code: unknown Pilot: Claude Heagelen Successes: 23 victories in WW I (12 balloons). Haegelen scored his first 2 victories in 1917 with Escadrille N3 and was a slow starter. In 1918 he transferred to Escadrille SPA100 and scored another 21 victories from 23.03.-23.10.1918 (including all his 12 balloons). After the war he became a test pilot for the Hanriot-company and in 1931 & 1932 he won the "Coup Michelin", setting a new speed world record in the latter. Mobilized as fighter pilot at the beginning of WW II, he won another victory flying a Curtiss H 75, shooting down a German airplane on 14 June 1940. After the fall of France he became a member of the French Resistance, was arrested by the Germans in 1943 and jailed in Bourges. Fate: survived Merits: Légion d'Honneur, Croix de Guerre, Médaille Militaire
6.) Nieuport 17 Unit/Location: N90/SPA90, Autrey/France, 1917/1918 Code: unknown Pilot: Marius Ambrogi Successes: 14 victories in WW I (11 balloons). Ambrogi started the war at the infantry. He transferred from the army to aviation and received his pilot's brevet on 16 September 1916. He completed his fighter training in February 1917 and on 10 April, he was forwarded to Escadrille 90. He scored 3 victories against planes flying Nieuports between 30 October 1917 and 16 May 1918. On 17 May, Ambrogi switched to a SPAD and began a string of eleven balloons destroyed. In WW II Ambrogi was again mobilized as Commandant of GC 1/8. He was flying a Bloch 152C-1 to down a Dornier 17 on 18 May 1940 over Cambrai as his very last air victory. Fate: survived Merits: Légion d'Honneur, Croix de Guerre, Médaille Militaire7.) SPAD
S.XIII Unit/Location: SPA77,
Fère-en-Tardenois/France, Spring 1918 Code: unknown Pilot: Jean Sardier Successes: 15 victories in WW
I (5 balloons). Sardier joined the French army in 1914 and in the following
year, he transferred to the French air service and was breveted as a pilot and
observer by the summer of 1916. He started out in SAP77, scoring his first 13
victories (incl. all of his 5 balloons) there. In July 1918, he was given
command of SPA48, where he scored another 2 victories vs. enemy planes.
Although records are lacking, it seems that Sardier was one of the Legion
officials who denounced fellow French citizens who espoused left wing political views to the Nazis in
WW II after the German occupation of France. Fate: survived Merits: Légion d'Honneur, Croix de
Guerre, Médaille Militaire, DSO, MC
8.) SPAD S.VII Unit/Location: SPA81, Verdun-AreaFrance, April 1917 Code: unknown Pilot: Adrian Leps Successes: 12 victories in WW I (5 balloons). Leps started the war in the army. In 1915, he transferred to the air service and served as an observer with Escadrille N67 until he was badly wounded on 9 July. Having recovered from his wounds by the summer of 1916, Leps completed flight training and received his Pilot's Brevet on 23 August 1916. In December, he joined Escadrille N81 (later SPA81) and scored his first 5 victories on Nieuports during 1917. After the unit concerted to SPAD's, he scored another 7 victories (among them all his 5 balloons) between 06.04. and 15.06.1918. He returned to service for World War II, assigned as a major to Groupe de Chasse No. 21 under General Armand Pinsard. Fate: survived Merits: Légion d'Honneur, Croix de Guerre, MC Reserve Planes (in this order):
9.) SPAD S.VII Unit/Location: SPA81, Verdun-Area/France, June 1918 Code: unknown Pilot: Pierre Cardon Successes: 5 victories in WW I (5 balloons). Cardon started the war in the army and transferred to the air service on 3 April 1916. A mechanic with C64, he became a flight instructor after completing his training in early 1917. After more advanced training, Cardon was posted to SPA81 on 15 December 1917. During May and June of 1918, he scored five victories, all of them balloons. Fate: survived Merits: Croix de Guerre, Médaille Militaire
10.) SPAD S.VII Unit/Location: N581, Kamenetsk-Podolsk/Ukraine, Autumn 1917 Code: unknown Pilot: Georges Lachman Successes: 9 victories in WW I (4 balloons). Lachmann was a Sergent serving with the French Air Service in August 1914 when he received a Pilot's Brevet. He was wounded in action on 26 June 1917 and made ace in serving in various units on the western, eastern and Italian front, but trailing one more balloon to be recognised as a balloon-buster ace. 3 of his balloons, were scored on the eastern front, where he flew this French-marked SPAD! He liked to use the Le Prieur-rockets at balloon attacks. For his services during the war, he was decorated by the governments of France, Italy and Russia. Fate: survived Merits: Légion d'Honneur, Croix de Guerre, Médaille Militaire, Order of St. George (Russia), Croce di Guerra & Order of the Crown of Italy (Italy) 11.) Nieuport 16 Unit/Location: N978, Lemmes/France, 22.05.1916 Code: N.978 Pilot: Joseph-Henri Guiguet Successes: 5 victories in WW I (1 balloon). Though Guiguet was no real balloon-buster ace, he took part in the first major balloon-raid of the war in using "Le Prieur"-Rockets in anger for the very first time. All pilots that took part were volunteers and Guiguet had to destroy the most difficult target at Sivry. In the end he succeeded as well as five other pilots in shooting down 6 of 8 possible balloons for the loss of only one plane and pilot. He later made ace in shooting down 4 more enemy planes. Fate: survived Merits: Légion d'Honneur, Croix de Guerre, Médaille Militaire
12.) Nieuport 17 Unit/Location: N65, Lemmes/France, May 1916 Code: N.880 Pilot: Charles Nungesser Successes: 43 victories in WW I (7 balloons). Together with Guynemer, Nungesser was the most celebrated French ace in WW I. Unbeknownst to the most, he also was a "balloon-buster"-ace in downing seven of them (included in his overall tally of 43). The date is 22.05.1916, when he scored his 2nd balloon and 9th overall victory in the Verdun-area, where his first real successes were made. It was also the time before he did carry his famous shield with coffin, skull and candles on the fuselage sides. In those days he used a simple white "N" instead. Fate: survived Merits: Légion d'Honneur, Croix de Guerre, Médaille Militaire, DSO, MC & Croix de Guerre (Belgium)