Jean Navarre
| Jean Marie Dominique Navarre | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Nickname(s) | "The Sentinel of Verdun" |
| Born |
8 August 1895 Jouy-sur-Morin, France |
| Died | 10 July 1919 (aged 23) Villacoublay, France |
| Allegiance |
 France |
| Service/branch | Aviation |
| Years of service | 1914–1919 |
| Rank | Sous lieutenant |
| Unit | |
| Awards | |
Jean Marie Dominique Navarre (8 August 1895 – 10 July 1919) was a French aviator during World War I. As one of the pioneer flying aces, he was credited with twelve confirmed aerial victories and fifteen unconfirmed ones.
Born on 8 August 1895 in Jouy-sur-Morin, Navarre turned out to be a difficult child who challenged his teachers and frequently played truant with his younger brother.
Navarre earned Civil Pilot's Brevet No. 581 on 22 August 1911. This earned him immediate entry into French military aviation in August 1914, when the World War began.
In September 1914, Navarre earned Military Pilot's Brevet No. 601. He was originally assigned to Escadrille MF8 (the "MF" designating the unit's use of Maurice Farman aircraft). He then joined the MS12 reconnaissance squadron, flying Morane-Saulnier L aircraft, nicknamed ‘parasol’ due to the large upper wing covering most of its narrow fuselage. Shortly thereafter, on 1 April 1915, Navarre was the pilot when his observer shot down a German Aviatik north of Fismes. Navarre's first victory earned him a Médaille militaire, awarded just five days later, to join his Croix de Guerre. On 13 April 1915, Navarre again scored while flying with a different gunner. On 2 August 1915, he was made a Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur, with the citation based as much on secretive special missions as on aerial victory. He would score once more, on 26 October 1915, before reassignment to Escadrille 67 to fly a Nieuport.
Navarre was flying a plane that he had painted a patriotic and striking red, white, and blue. When he received a new Nieuport 11 fighter plane, he deliberately painted it all red to challenge and intimidate the enemy in the skies over Verdun, well before his German counterpart would gain notoriety as the Red Baron. Navarre began his victory string with his new unit by scoring one of the first "doubles" of the war, downing a Fokker E.III and a German two-seater on 26 February 1916, and becoming one of the first flying aces in history. He was dubbed the first official French flying ace, though Adolphe Pégoud preceded him. Navarre tallied half a dozen more wins during the next three months and on May 19, 1916 he shot down a German Aviatik C over Chattancourt, France, becoming the first Allied ace credited with 10 victories.
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