Adolphe Celestin Pegoud (13 June 1889 - 31 August 1915) was a well known French aviator who became the first fighter ace. Pegoud served in the French Army from 1907 to 1913. Immediately thereafter he began flying, earned his pilot's certificate, and in a few months, on 21 September 1913, as a test pilot for Louis Blériot, in a Bleriot model XI monoplane and in a series of test flights exploring the limits of airplane maneuvers, he flew a loop, believing it to be the world's first. Pegoud's feat was consequently widely publicized and believed by many to be the first loop, although Pyotr Nesterov, a Russian army pilot, had flown the first one on 9 September 1913, just 12 days earlier, in a Nieuport IV monoplane at an army airfield near Kiev. Pegoud also was the first pilot to make a parachute jump from an airplane. He also became a popular instructor of French and other European fledgling pilots. At the start of World War I Pegoud volunteered for flying duty and was immediately accepted as an observation pilot. On 5 February 1915 he and his gunner were credited with shooting down two German aircraft and forcing another to land. Soon he was flying single-seat aircraft and in April claimed two further victories. His sixth success came in July. It is not known how many of Pegoud's victories involved destruction of enemy aircraft, as early air combat was rare enough to warrant credit for a forced landing. However, it is certain that Pegoud, rather than Roland Garros (three documented victories), was the first pilot to achieve acedom of any sort. On 31 August 1915 Pegoud was shot down, ironically by one of his prewar German students, Unteroffizier Kandulski, while intercepting a German reconnaissance aircraft ...... He was 26 years old. The same German crew later dropped a funeral wreath above French lines.
Adjutant Pégoud's observer when he was credited with three victories on 5 February, and with one on 28 April was Soldat le Rendu. It looks like the name of his observer on 2April, when he was credited with his fourth victory, has been lost to history. He was with Escadrille MS 48 for his first five victories, but had moved to MS 49 by the time of his sixth - probably Uffz Walter Hoffmann and Ltn Heinrich Calberia of FlAbt 48b, who were killed in action and wounded, respectively, on 11 July. Pégoud was the second French pilot to be credited with six victories. The first was Sous-Lieutenant Eugene Gilbert of MS 23, MS 37 and MS 49 was was credited with his sixth victory on 17 June, before being interned in Switzerland after a forced landing on 27 June. He escaped in June 1916 and then served as a test pilot until his death in an accident on 17 May 1918. Gareth
The first parachuting from an aircraft was accomplished by Adolphe Celestin Pegoud, 24 in 1913 - from 200 m above Buc, France (the plane, which he had been piloting, crashed). Less than a month later, he would become the first pilot to perform a loop (this is also claimed for Gustave Hamel, and for a Russian, Piotr Nesterov). Also in 1913, Pegoud became the first pilot to fly an aircraft in sustained inverted flight. During World War I, he was, on 31 August 1915, the first ace to be killed in aerial combat, shot down by a German two-seater piloted by his former student, Unteroffizier Kandulski. Pegoud was born on 15 June 1889. He got his pilot's licence (no. 1243) on 01 March 1913, at the Bleriot Company. However, it is said Jacques Garnerin was the first parachutist ............ Leonardo da Vinci produced the first known parachute design in the 15th century and Montgolfier and other early balloonists experimented with their own styles. However, it was Jacques Garnerin who perfected the first practical parachute. Garnerin was a long-distance balloonist who flew missions for the French military and he was intrigued by military applications of the parachute. He tried a number of designs, testing them by tossing parachute-wearing dogs from his balloon at 1000 m. On 22 October 1797 - he made the first human parachute jump.
For those interested my Grandfather was Roger Ronserail. Roger was also a student of Pegoud's before the war. Pegoud was shot down by Otto Kandulski and two weeks later as luck would have it Roger killed Otto. After that my grandfather was known throughout France as "Le Vengeur de Pegoud". It is true that when Pegoud was buried Otto dropped a wreath above French lines and it is also a family story handed down from my grand mother to her daughters (my mother and aunt) that when Otto was buried Roger dropped a wreath over German lines. Roger himself shot down 7 aircraft during the war and died in 1925 whislt doing what he loved best, showing off to the crowd by displaying aerobatics.
