Jean-Paul Jacques Favre de Thierrens (18 February 189517 October 1973) was a World War I

flying ace A flying ace, fighter ace or air ace is a military aviator credited with shooting down five or more enemy aircraft during aerial combat. The exact number of aerial victories required to officially qualify as an ace is varied, but is usually co ...

credited with five confirmed aerial victories and one unconfirmed one. His courageous service would earn him the ''Légion d'honneur'' and the ''Croix de guerre''. He would return to service during World War II, becoming active in

espionage Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information for a tangibl ...

for the

French Resistance The French Resistance (french: La Résistance) was a collection of organisations that fought the German occupation of France during World War II, Nazi occupation of France and the Collaborationism, collaborationist Vichy France, Vichy régim ...

while rising to the military rank of

lieutenant colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...

. His status in the ''Legion d'honneur'' was raised to Commander as a result of his continued service to his nation.

Early life

Favre de Thierrens was born in

Nîmes Nîmes ( , ; oc, Nimes ; Latin: ''Nemausus'') is the prefecture of the Gard department in the Occitanie region of Southern France. Located between the Mediterranean Sea and Cévennes, the commune of Nîmes has an estimated population of 148,5 ...

, France, on 18 February 1895.''Over the Front'', p. 158. He was raised in a Calvinist family. He passed the exam to enter at the ''Ecole des Beaux-arts''. He did not spend much time at the ''Beaux-arts'' as the first World War broke out.

Aviation service during World War I

His initial military service during World War I was in the 32nd Regiment d'Artillerie. After transfer to the ''Aéronautique Militaire'', Favre de Thierrens underwent aviation training and received his Military Pilot's Brevet in 1916. He was posted to Escadrille F215, which was equipped with

Farman Farman Aviation Works (french: Avions Farman) was a French aircraft company founded and run by the brothers Richard, Henri, and Maurice Farman. They designed and constructed aircraft and engines from 1908 until 1936; during the French national ...

s. He was wounded by antiaircraft shrapnel on 2 September 1916. After winning two citations with Escadrille 215, he was transferred to Escadrille N62 as a

Nieuport Nieuport, later Nieuport-Delage, was a French aeroplane company that primarily built racing aircraft before World War I and fighter aircraft during World War I and between the wars. History Beginnings Originally formed as Nieuport-Duplex in ...

pilot. After the unit re-equipped with

SPAD VII The SPAD S.VII was the first of a series of highly successful biplane fighter aircraft produced by ''Société Pour L'Aviation et ses Dérivés'' (SPAD) during the First World War. Like its successors, the S.VII was renowned as a sturdy and r ...

s, he began to score aerial victories. He would have five victory claims verified as scored between 21 October 1917 and 4 June 1918; in later years, he would claim a sixth win that apparently was not officially verified. On 12 June 1918, he was appointed a Chevalier in the ''

Legion d'honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon B ...

''. The accompanying award proclamation mentioned that he had amassed four citations. At some point, he had also been awarded the ''

Croix de Guerre The ''Croix de Guerre'' (, ''Cross of War'') is a military decoration of France. It was first created in 1915 and consists of a square-cross medal on two crossed swords, hanging from a ribbon with various degree pins. The decoration was first awa ...

''.

List of aerial victories

World II

Favre de Thierrens would return to service, rising to

during World War II. He would join the

Vichy regime Vichy France (french: Régime de Vichy; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was the fascist French state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II. Officially independent, but with half of its terr ...

prisoner of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of wa ...

aid society, the ''Rassemblement national prisonniers de guerre'', as a

mole Mole (or Molé) may refer to: Animals * Mole (animal) or "true mole", mammals in the family Talpidae, found in Eurasia and North America * Golden moles, southern African mammals in the family Chrysochloridae, similar to but unrelated to Talpida ...

on behalf of the

; he was involved in the escape of

General A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of highest military ranks, high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers t ...

Henri Giraud Henri Honoré Giraud (18 January 1879 – 11 March 1949) was a French general and a leader of the Free French Forces during the Second World War until he was forced to retire in 1944. Born to an Alsatian family in Paris, Giraud graduated from ...

.''François Mitterrand: A Political Biography'', p. 11. He was the immediate superior of

François Mitterrand François Marie Adrien Maurice Mitterrand (26 October 19168 January 1996) was President of France, serving under that position from 1981 to 1995, the longest time in office in the history of France. As First Secretary of the Socialist Party, he ...

. Later, on 12 September 1994,

in a television interview about his Vichyst past, talked about Favre de Thierrens as a ''colourful character''. When the ''zone libre'' or ''free zone'' was invaded, he hide in his house at Ledenon, Gard the archives of the French secret services. His services would earn him a promotion to Commander in the ''Legion d'honneur'', the award being made on 2 November 1945.

After World II

After World War II, he moved back to his estate at Saint-Bonnet-du-Gard. In 1953, at the age of 59 years, Favre de Thierrens started to paint and became a fine artist noted for figure studies. His first exhibition took place in 1955, followed by others in Switzerland and the US. He mainly painted women but not also his estate and the countryside of

Provence Provence (, , , , ; oc, Provença or ''Prouvènço'' , ) is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which extends from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the Italian border to the east; it is bor ...

. In 1971, as he became blinded, he stopped painting. Jean-Paul Jacques Favre de Thierrens died on 17 October 1973 in Paris. He is buried in

Endnotes

References

* ''François Mitterrand: A Political Biography''. David Scott Bell. Polity, 2005. , 9780745631042. * ''Over the Front: A Complete Record of the Fighter Aces and Units of the United States and French Air Services, 1914–1918''

Norman Franks Norman Leslie Robert Franks (born 1940) is an English militaria writer who specialises in aviation topics. He focuses on the pilots and squadrons of World Wars I and II. Biography He published his first book in 1976. He was an Organisation a ...

, Frank W. Bailey. Grub Street, 1992. , 9780948817540. * ''Spad VII Aces of World War I: Volume 39 of Aircraft of the Aces''. Jon Guttman. Osprey Publishing, 2001. , 9781841762227.

External links

Jacques Favre de Thierrens on Art FactOne page on ''the aerodrome'', a website dedicated to World War I flying aces
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thierrens, Jean-Paul Favre de 1895 births 1973 deaths French World War I flying aces