18 Facts About Pierre Clostermann

Pierre Clostermann was the only son of Madeleine Carlier from Lorraine and Jacques Clostermann from Alsace.

Pierre Clostermann then joined England, via Brazil, Uruguay and South Africa, to join the Free French Air Force.

Pierre Clostermann already had 315 flight hours under his belt.

Pierre Clostermann joined the Free French Air Force in the United Kingdom in March 1942.

Pierre Clostermann scored his first two victories on 27 July 1943, as Yellow 2, claiming destruction of two Focke-Wulf Fw 190s over France.

In October 1943, Pierre Clostermann received a commission as an officer, and was assigned to the British No 602 Squadron RAF, remaining with the unit for the next ten months.

Pierre Clostermann flew a variety of operations including fighter sweeps, bomber escorts, high-altitude interdiction over the Royal Navy's Scapa Flow base, and strafing or dive-bombing attacks on V-1 launch sites on the French coast.

Pierre Clostermann flew air-cover for the Normandy Landings, and, on 11 June, was one of the first Free French pilots to land on French soil, at temporary airstrip B-2 near Bazenville, before moving to B-11, near Longues-sur-Mer, Normandy on 18 June 1944.

Pierre Clostermann was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross shortly afterwards, after which he was reassigned to French Air Force Headquarters.

Pierre Clostermann bailed out, his parachute opening just a few metres above the ground.

Pierre Clostermann continued operations with No 122 Wing RAF until he left the military altogether on 27 July 1945 with the RAF rank of wing commander and the French rank of lieutenant.

Pierre Clostermann claimed 225 motor vehicles destroyed, 72 locomotives, five tanks, and two E-boats.

In 1951, Pierre Clostermann authored an account of his wartime experiences entitled Le Grand Cirque.

Pierre Clostermann wrote Feux du Ciel published in 1957, a collection of heroic air combat exploits from both Allied and Axis sides.

Pierre Clostermann subsequently published a novel based on his experiences there, entitled Leo 25 Airborne.

Pierre Clostermann had written the comments, which were partly motivated by ethnic insults towards Argentinians that he had become aware of in the British press during the conflict, in a letter to a class of Argentine fighter-pilots who were being trained at that time in France at an Armee de l'Air establishment, at which his son was an instructor.

Pierre Clostermann attracted controversy in France for his vehement anti-war stance in the run-up to the 1991 Gulf War.

Pierre Clostermann died on 22 March 2006 at his home at Montesquieu-des-Alberes, in the French Pyrenees.