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Jean Pierre Marie Joseph de Gaillard de la Valden (2 September 1895 - 26 August 1977) was a French World War I flying ace credited with five aerial victories. He is to be distinguished from comte Léopold de Gaillard de la Valdène (d.1894).

Biography

Early life and service

Count Jean de Gaillard de la Valdène (sometimes Valden) was born in Tusserve, France on 2 September 1895. He volunteered for military service when World War I erupted. In 1915, he was transferred from the Dragoons to aviation. On 12 July 1915, he qualified for his Military Pilot's Brevet. In 1916 as a corporal he was noted for having shot down an Aviatik near Lure. He was awarded the Médaille Militaire for this feat. Still flying a two-seat reconnaissance aircraft, he shot down two more German planes in 1916.

In early 1918, he was transferred to Escadrille 95, a fighter squadron. He would score two more confirmed victories with this unit, as well as four unconfirmed claims. He ended the war as a Maréchal-des-logis.

Later life

In the early days of World War II as a lieutenant, he was sent by Admiral Émile Muselier to Algeria and Morocco to recruit aviators willing to continue the war with the Free French Forces.

De Gaillard de la Valdène died in Lausanne, Switzerland on 26 August 1977.

Personal life

He was married to Lilí Álvarez, the Spanish tennis player and feminist, in 1934. She held feminist salons at their house in Bollène. In 1939, the couple lost their only child and soon after separated.

Later he remarried, to Diana Guest of the Guest family, a noted race-horse owner. They had two children, a son and a daughter.

Honors, awards and citations

• Médaille militaire

"Caporal of Escadrille MF123; a pilot of great initiative and very adroit. Always prepared to undertake the most perilous missions. On 14 March 1916, he did not hesitate to engage in combat with three enemy planes, and, although flying a plane inferior in speed, he protected himself from his adversaries by dint of his skill, superior morale and initiative. The battle was terminated by the vertical fall of one enemy plane."

(Médaille militaire citation, 24 May 1916)

Endnotes

1. ^ The Aerodrome website Retrieved 4 August 2020.
2. Revue des langues romanes Société pour l'étude des langues romanes, Montpellier - 1911 (1) Sur le comte Léopold de Gaillard de la Valdène, il y a un mauvais article, d'ailleurs non signé, dans la Grande Encyclopédie, t. XVIII, p. 352, où l'on ne donne pas même la date de sa mort (1894). C'était sa grand'tante, ...
3. La Revue du Bas-Poitou et des provinces de l'ouest 1916 "Parmi les derniers exploits de nos aviateurs, signalons celui du jeune caporal Jean de Gaillard de la Valdène, neveu du capitaine de Talode du Grail, qui, montant un avion français, aux environs de Lure a abattu un aviatik allemand ..."
4. ^ Over the Front: The Complete Record of the Fighter Aces and Units of the United States and French Air Services, 1914–1918, p. 141
5. Les rebelles de La Combattante p 73 Eddy Florentin - 2009 "Entre-temps, Muselier envoie le lieutenant de Gaillard de la Valdène en mission en Algérie et au Maroc pour y rallier les aviateurs désireux de continuer la guerre et ..."
6. Les dames de la Ligue des femmes françaises (1901-1914) Bruno Dumons - 2006 "Dans le restant du comtat Venaissin, près d'Orange, la marquise de Gaudemaris anime la mobilisation depuis son château de Massillan de même que la comtesse de Gaillard de La Valdène dans sa propriété de Bellevue à Bollène et la ..."
7. Une Vie de Création p 128 Charlotte Perriand - 1998 "Il vint nous voir à Paris avec un projet confié par Gaillard de La Valdène : la fourniture de baraquements militaires. Il nous proposa de nous associer à ce travail : une excellente occasion de faire progresser l'idée de préfabrication."

References

• Franks, Norman; Bailey, Frank (1993). Over the Front: The Complete Record of the Fighter Aces and Units of the United States and French Air Services, 1914–1918 London, UK: Grub Street Publishing. ISBN 978-0-948817-54-0.

• 1895 births
• 1977 deaths
• French World War I flying aces
• Counts of France