Detail from the Memorial to the French Moroccan Division at Vimy Ridge. The theaters and battles in which the division played a role are recorded on the sides of the monument. © 2013, John M. Shea
1915BelgiumJanuary 28 - Nieuport, la Grande DuneArtoisMay 9 - la Cote 140June 16 - Ravin de SouchezChampagneSeptember 25 - Butte de Souain, Bois Sabot1916the SommeJuly 4 - Assevillers, Belloy en Santerre, Barleux
". . . At 0600 that morning [Jean] Navarre, in concert with Sous-Lieutenant Pelletier d'Oisy of N.69, had shot down a two-seater, but soon afterward Navarre came down in French lines near Samogneux, severely wounded.At that time Navarre was the leading Allied fighter pilot with 12 victories, a record outdone by only two Germans, Boelcke and Immelmann. A succession of events would prevent his adding any further to his tally. Navarre had always been a mercurial individual whose relentless combat activity had undoubtedly taken a psychological toll that nobody, including himself, could fully understand at the time. While he was convalescing, however, his mind was pushed over the edge by news that his twin brother Pierre, recovered from his own wounds and eager to return to action, had fatally crashed during a training flight . . ."
After his recovery and his twin brother's death, French fighter pilot twins Jean Navarre rejoined his squadron in January, 1917, but was soon arrested for fighting, and was subsequently committed to an institution to recover from a breakdown. He died in a flying accident on July 10, 1919. German pilot Oswald Bölcke formed the first Jadgstaffel, or hunter squadron, composed entirely of fighter planes, a specialization that was an improvement on the combining of planes with different functions in the same unit. German ace Max Immelmann was credited with inventing the Immelmann turn, reversing direction by turning the plane 180 degrees while climbing, beginning and ending the maneuver with the plane level. French squadrons were designated by the plane type flown by the squadron. N.69 was a fighter squadron of Nieuport planes.
The Origin of the Fighter Aircraft by Jon Gutman, page 58, copyright © 2009 Jon Gutman, publisher: Westholme Publishing, publication date: 2009
1916-06-17, 1916, June, Navarre
