Pierre Roques
| Pierre Auguste Roques | |
|---|---|
Portrait published in L'Illustration during the First World War.
|
|
| Born |
28 December 1856 Marseillan, Hérault, France |
| Died | 26 February 1920 (aged 63) Saint-Cloud, France |
| Allegiance |
 France
|
| Rank | General |
| Commands held |
First Army Fourth Army |
| Battles/wars | World War I |
| Awards |
Grand cross of the Légion d'honneur Médaille militaire |
Pierre Auguste Roques (28 December 1856 – 26 February 1920) was a French general and creator of the French air force.
Born to a modest family in Marseillan, Hérault, his lively intelligence earned him a study grant that allowed him to prepare for the entrance examinations to the École Polytechnique. He entered the École Polytechnique in 1877 and became a friend of Joseph Joffre. Having chosen the military engineering branch of the army he was commissioned as an officer in 1879 (at that time, more engineering than military). During his colonial campaigns, he created a vast number of structures (railways, bridges, roads) in Tonkin, Algeria and, above all, in Madagascar. According to historians, this island owes a large part of its infrastructure to Roques. By 1906, Roques had been promoted to the rank of général de brigade.
As Director of Engineering, Roques was preoccupied from 1906 with the management of the new air service. He was the founder and organiser of French military aviation, he created the word avion and was appointed the Permanent Inspector of Military Aeronautics in 1910. The 1911 aeroplane contest in Reims - the world's first - was intended to allow the French military to evaluate and buy 'scientifically' its first aeroplanes. Roques decided that the «établissements d'aéronautique» (aeronautical establishments) should be called «escadrilles» (squadrons) and that the «aéroplanes» should henceforth be called «avions», after the name chosen by Clément Ader for his own aircraft and in homage to this visionary engineer with whom he corresponded regularly. It was also Roques who initiated the «carnet de vol» (pilot's log book) still in use today. The names introduced by Roques came to be generally accepted and very quickly became part of French vocabulary.
At the outbreak of the First World War, he was the commanding general of the 12th Corps. By January 1915 he had become the commander of the First Army.
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