Roland Garros (aviator)

Lore & Background

Roland Garros was born in Saint-Denis, Réunion, and studied at the Lycée Janson de Sailly and HEC Paris. At age 12 he caught pneumonia and was sent to Cannes to recover; he took up cycling and won an inter-school championship. He also enjoyed football, rugby and tennis. At 21 he started a car dealership in Paris and was a close friend of Ettore Bugatti. In 1913 he became the first owner of the Garros Bugatti Type 18, later named Black Bess.

Garros began his aviation career in 1909 flying a Santos-Dumont Demoiselle and gained his licence in July 1910. He set altitude records in 1911 and 1912, and on 23 September 1913 achieved international fame by making the first non-stop flight across the Mediterranean Sea from Fréjus-Saint Raphaël to Bizerte, Tunisia in a Morane-Saulnier G. The flight lasted nearly eight hours and he resolved two engine malfunctions en route.

On the outbreak of the First World War, Garros enlisted as a reconnaissance pilot. With mechanic Jules Hue, he developed protective wedges for propeller blades to allow a forward-firing machine gun. On 1 April 1915 he achieved the first shooting-down of an aircraft by a fighter firing through a tractor propeller. After two more victories, his plane came down behind German lines on 18 April 1915 due to engine trouble. He spent nearly three years as a prisoner of war, escaping on 14 February 1918. He rejoined the French Army and was shot down and killed on 5 October 1918, one day before his 30th birthday.

Reader's Guide

Roland Garros is significant as a pioneer of early aviation and a key figure in the development of fighter aircraft armament. His 1913 non-stop flight across the Mediterranean demonstrated the growing range and reliability of monoplanes. More critically, his work with mechanic Jules Hue on deflector wedges for propeller blades enabled the first practical forward-firing machine gun installation on a combat aircraft, leading to his three aerial victories in April 1915. Although his design was a workaround rather than a synchronizer, the capture of his aircraft by German forces allowed Anthony Fokker to develop a true interrupter gear, which gave Germany a temporary advantage in the air war. Garros's legacy extends beyond aviation: the Roland Garros tennis stadium in Paris, opened in 1928 and home to the French Open, was named in his memory. His name also adorns La Réunion's international airport and a monument in Bizerte. Despite being sometimes called the world's first fighter ace, he shot down only four aircraft, falling short of the five-victory ace criterion.

Did You Know?

• Garros made the first non-stop flight across the Mediterranean Sea on 23 September 1913, from southern France to Tunisia.
• He helped develop the first forward-firing machine gun mounted on a combat aircraft, using protective wedges on the propeller.
• Garros spent nearly three years as a prisoner of war after his plane came down behind German lines in April 1915.
• The Roland Garros tennis stadium in Paris, opened in 1928, was named in his memory.