Roland Garros was born
in France in 1882. An experienced pilot, Garros was the first Frenchman
to cross the Mediterranean by air. On the outbreak of the First
World War, Garros was sent to serve on the Western Front.
Garros realised that
he would have more success in dogfights if he could find a way of
firing a machine-gun through the propeller. Working with Raymond
Saulnier, a French aircraft manufacturer, Garros, added deflector
plates to the blades of the propeller of his Morane-Saulnier. These
small wedges of toughened steel diverted the passage of those bullets
which struck the blades.
Now able to use a forward-firing
machine-gun, went out searching for his first victim. On 1st April
1915, Garros approached an German Albatros B II reconnaissance aircraft.
The German pilot was surprised when Garros approached him head-on.
The accepted air fighting strategy at the time was to take 'pot-shots'
with a revolver or rifle. Instead Garros shot down the Albatros
through his whirling propeller.
In the next two weeks
Garros shot down four more enemy aircraft. However, the success
was short-lived because on 18th April, a rifleman defending Courtrai
railway station, managed to fracture the petrol pipe of the aircraft
that Garros was flying. Garros was forced to land behind the German
front-line and before he could set-fire to his machine it was captured
by the Germans. After finding out about Garros' invention, German
pilots began using these deflector plates on the blades of their
propellers.
In 1918 Garros escaped
from Germany and returned to active service on the Western Front.
Roland Garros was shot down and killed at Vouziers on 5th October
1918.
