Pierre Le Gloan

Pierre Le Gloan (January 6, 1913 - September 11,1943), French pilot (flying ace) of World War II.

He was born in Brittany, France. At the age of eighteen he joined the French Air Force. At the outbreak of the war he served in the GC III/6 fighter squadron, flying the Morane-Saulnier MS.406. Along with his wingman, he shot down his first German Do 17P reconnaissance bomber on November 23, 1939. At the beginning of the Battle of France in 1940 he shot down 3 German bombers.

On June 1, 1940 his squadron was moved towards southern France, to Le Luc airfield and re-armed with the newest Dewoitine D.520 fighters. After Italy declared war on France and the Italian air force started bombing raids, Le Gloan shot down two Fiat BR.20 bombers on June 13, flying in pair. On June 15 Le Gloan, along with another pilot, attacked a group of twelve Italian Fiat CR.42 fighters, and shot down three of them, while Cpt. Assolent shot down another. While returning to the airfield, Le Gloan shot down another CR.42 and another BR.20 bomber. For this outstanding achievement of destroying 5 aircraft in one flight, he was promoted to 2nd Lieutenant.

Due to the military situation of France, on June 20, GC III/6 squadron was withdrawn to Algiers in the French colony of Algeria. After the armistice between France and Germany, and the subsequent British attacks on the French navy, French forces in North Africa, including Le Gloan's unit, became subordinated to the Vichy government. In May 1941 GC III/6 was moved to the French colony of Syria. In June, Allied forces, including some Free French units, attacked Syria and Lebanon. In subsequent combat, on June 8, 1941, Le Gloan shot down his first British fighter (Hawker Hurricane). By July 5, he had shot down 6 Hurricanes and 1 Gloster Gladiator. Later the weakened GC III/6 was withdrawn back to Algiers.

During the allied invasion of North Africa in November 1942, (Operation Torch), French fighter squadrons based in Algiers, unlike those in Oran or Casablanca, did not oppose the Allied landings. Soon all the French forces in North Africa had sided with the Allies. In May 1943, Le Gloan's unit, then renamed GC 3/6 "Roussillon", was re-armed with new P-39 Airacobra fighters from the United States. In August, Le Gloan took the command of the 3rd "escadrille" (flight) of the squadron. The unit's primary task at the time were offshore patrols.

On September 11, 1943, Pierre Le Gloan flew on patrol with another pilot. Over the sea, smoke started to come out of Le Gloan's engine. He returned towards the shore, but the engine stopped. He tried to make a belly landing on the shore, but, probably forgetting that his Airacobra still had an underbelly fuel fank attached (which were not used on earlier French fighters), the fuel in his plane exploded while he was trying to land, killing him instantly.

During his complicated combat career, Pierre Le Gloan shot down 18 aircraft (4 German, 7 Italian and 7 British), which gave him the 4th position among the French flying aces of the war.