Fernand Jacquet
| Fernand Maximillian Leon Jacquet | |
|---|---|
Belgian Capt Fernand Jacquet and mechanic with Belgian Farman HF.20 pusher (with skull insignia) of the 2me Escadrille de Chasse, Day Reconnaisance.
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| Born |
November 2, 1888 Petite-Chapelle |
| Died | October 12, 1947 (aged 58) Beaumont |
| Allegiance |
 Belgium
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| Service/branch |
 Belgian Air Component
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| Years of service | 1907–1921 |
| Rank | Captain-Commandant |
| Unit | Escadrille Demanet (I), 2e Escadrille de Chasse, 1ère Escadrille de Chasse |
| Commands held | Groupe de Chasse |
| Awards | Order of the Crown (Belgium), Order of Leopold (Belgium), Croix de Guerre, French Legion d'Honneur and Croix de Guerre, Russian Order of Saint Anne, British Distinguished Flying Cross |
| Other work | Served in anti-Nazi resistance during World War II |
Captain-Commandant Fernand Maximillian Leon Jacquet was a World War I flying ace credited with seven aerial victories. He was the first Belgian pilot to score an aerial victory, on 17 April 1915, and became the first Belgian ace on 1 February 1917. He was also the first Belgian pilot to fly his king to the front, in 1917. Additionally, he was the only Belgian honored by the British with a Distinguished Flying Cross.
Jacquet was the son of a wealthy landowner. He joined the Belgian Army as a cadet in October 1907, and was educated at the Royal Military Academy; he was commissioned on 25 June 1910 and then assigned to the 4ème Régt de Ligne. He qualified as a pilot on 25 February 1913 with Brevet No. 68, and at the outbreak of war was serving with the Escadrille Demanet (I) in Liege.
When neutral Belgium was invaded by Germany in August 1914, Jacquet flew reconnaissance missions near Namur, and reported the hazards of the encroaching Germans. Nor was the action in the air enough for the aggressive Belgian pilot. When not flying combat missions in a two-seater, he would rove the roads near the front in an automobile with a mounted Lewis machine gun; his gunner was none other than Joseph-Phillippe-Francois de Riquet, Prince de Chimay. It seems probable that the Belgian had a gunner on the ground for the same reason he had one in the air; the gunners had to do the shooting because Jacquet was too nearsighted. Additionally, Jacquet would increasingly 'push the envelope' in his aerial missions, whether volunteering for "special missions", or simply hell-raising. In the latter category, Jacquet bombed the Germans at Groote Hemme on 24 November 1914, and again on Christmas Eve at Beerst and Essen. In the former, while brave men brought home the aerial photographs and reconnaissance sightings from the front, Jacquet penetrated past them to pierce deep into the German defenses, looking for a fight.
He found ten Aviatiks on 26 February 1915, and took them on, though without success. On three other occasions, he attacked single Aviatiks. Finally, on 17 April 1915, he scored his nation's first aerial victory. Jacquet was taken under fire by the observer of a German Albatros two-seater at hundred yard range. He was flying a Farman HF.20 pusher with a Lewis gun, but it was his gunner, Henri Vindevoghel, who fired the fatal seven shots from 30 yards that killed the pilot, doomed his gunner, and set the plane on fire. Jacquet followed up with an indecisive combat on 20 June, when he claimed an enemy airplane driven down out of control, and on 28 July 1915, when he unsuccessfully claimed forcing an enemy plane to land.
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