Capitaine Jacques Raphaël Roques (2 August 1897 – 24 May 1988) was a Swiss citizen who flew for the French during World War I, where he was credited with five aerial victories. He returned to military service during World War II, and served with 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 ...

from the

fall of France The Battle of France (french: bataille de France) (10 May – 25 June 1940), also known as the Western Campaign ('), the French Campaign (german: Frankreichfeldzug, ) and the Fall of France, was the German invasion of France during the Second World ...

to war's end.

Background and early life

Roques was born in Paris to a Swiss father and a Venezuelan mother. He was still a student when the war broke out in August 1914, and in October 1914, while preparing for his

baccalauréat The ''baccalauréat'' (; ), often known in France colloquially as the ''bac'', is a French national academic qualification that students can obtain at the completion of their secondary education (at the end of the ''lycée'') by meeting certain ...

, he attended a preparatory school close to

Lycée Carnot The Lycée Carnot is a Public school (government funded), public secondary school, secondary and higher education school at 145 Boulevard Malesherbes in the XVIIe arrondissement, 17th arrondissement, Paris, France. The Lycée Carnot was founded in ...

where he befriended Robert Bajac, whom he would later serve alongside and share several aerial victories. He then learned to fly, being awarded

Aéro-Club de France The Aéro-Club de France () was founded as the Aéro-Club on 20 October 1898 as a society 'to encourage aerial locomotion' by Ernest Archdeacon, Léon Serpollet, Henri de la Valette, Jules Verne and his wife, André Michelin, Albert de Dion, ...

civilian pilot licence No. 2279 on 15 September 1915, and then volunteered to enlist in the French Army in November.

World War I service

As a Swiss national Roques was assigned to the Foreign Legion unit '' 2ème régiment étranger'', with service number 36810. On 13 March 1916 he was transferred to the Army's aviation branch, the '' Aeronautique Militaire'', assigned to ''1er régiment aviation'' and sent to the military flying school at

Chartres Chartres () is the prefecture of the Eure-et-Loir department in the Centre-Val de Loire region in France. It is located about southwest of Paris. At the 2019 census, there were 170,763 inhabitants in the metropolitan area of Chartres (as d ...

for his basic military flying training. He was awarded Military Pilot's Certificate No. 3495 on 26 May 1916 and was promoted to corporal the same day. He received advanced flight training, including fighter tactics and aerial gunnery, at the military flying schools at

Avord Avord () is a commune in the Cher department in the Centre-Val de Loire region of France. Geography A farming area comprising the village and several hamlets situated by the banks of the river Yèvre, some east of Bourges at the junction of t ...

, Pau, and Cazaux, completing his training in November 1916. After two months in a reserve unit Roques was posted to '' Escadrille N.48'' in early January 1917, based near

Verdun Verdun (, , , ; official name before 1970 ''Verdun-sur-Meuse'') is a large city in the Meuse department in Grand Est, northeastern France. It is an arrondissement of the department. Verdun is the biggest city in Meuse, although the capital ...

, to fly

Nieuport 17 The Nieuport 17 C.1 (or Nieuport XVII C.1 in contemporary sources) was a French sesquiplane fighter designed and manufactured by the Nieuport company during World War I. An improvement over the Nieuport 11, it was a little larger than earlier N ...

fighters. From the beginning of April 1917, the escadrille began to replace its Nieuports with the

SPAD S.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 ...

, and thus would eventually be redesignated ''Escadrille SPA.48''. Roques was promoted to sergeant on 25 April 1917, and gained his first aerial victory the following day, sharing in the shooting down of an Albatros over

Loivre Loivre () is a Communes of France, commune in the Marne (department), Marne Departments of France, department in north-eastern France. Loivre station has rail connections to Reims and Laon. Administration Communal governance The commune is g ...

with Sergeant Robert Bajac. In mid-1917, ''Escadrille SPA.48'' were moved to the

Dunkirk Dunkirk (french: Dunkerque ; vls, label=French Flemish, Duunkerke; nl, Duinkerke(n) ; , ;) is a commune in the department of Nord in northern France. and on 27 July Roques and Bajac, with Jacques Ortoli of ''Escadrille N.31'', were credited with shooting down a Fokker two-seater over the forest of

Houthulst Houthulst (; vls, Oetulst, ) is a municipality located in the Belgian province of West Flanders. The municipality consists of the sub-municipalities Houthulst, Jonkershove, Klerken and Merkem. On January 1, 2006, Houthulst had a total populatio ...

in Belgium. On 10 August 1917, ''Adjudant'' Bajac was on patrol with Sergeants Roques and Hutteau when they spotted an apparently lone enemy aircraft, and despite orders to the contrary, Hutteau dove in to attack. However, the aircraft was the bait to a trap and the three French aircraft suddenly found themselves under attack by a group of Germans. Hutteau managed to escape and return to the French lines, despite having his aircraft riddled with bullets, while Bajac was wounded in the forearm and thigh, and lost consciousness briefly, recovering only from the ground, and managing an emergency landing on a road. Only Roques escaped unscathed. On 13 September 1917 Roques was awarded with the Belgian ''

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 ...

'' with palm, presented by

King Albert I Albert I (8 April 1875 – 17 February 1934) was King of the Belgians from 23 December 1909 until his death in 1934. Born in Brussels as the fifth child and second son of Prince Philippe, Count of Flanders and Princess Marie of Hohenzollern-S ...

Bergues Bergues (; nl, Sint-Winoksbergen; vls, Bergn) is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. It is situated to the south of Dunkirk and from the Belgian border. Locally it is referred to as "the other Bruges in Flanders". Bergues ...

, and in November he was promoted to ''

adjudant Adjutant is a military appointment given to an officer who assists the commanding officer with unit administration, mostly the management of human resources in an army unit. The term is used in French-speaking armed forces as a non-commissioned ...

''. On 19 February 1918 ''Sous-Lieutenant'' Bajac and ''Adjudants'' Roques and Edmond Caillaux, now flying the

SPAD S.XIII The SPAD S.XIII is a French biplane fighter aircraft of the First World War, developed by '' Société Pour L'Aviation et ses Dérivés'' (SPAD) from the earlier and highly successful SPAD S.VII. During early 1917, the French designer Louis Bé ...

, shot down a

Rumpler Rumpler-Luftfahrzeugbau GmbH, Rumpler-Werke, usually known simply as Rumpler was a German aircraft and automobile manufacturer founded in Berlin by Austrian engineer Edmund Rumpler in 1909 as Rumpler Luftfahrzeugbau.Gunston 1993, p.259 The fir ...

two-seater which crashed near

Nogent-l'Abbesse Nogent-l'Abbesse () is a commune in the Marne department in north-eastern France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territorie ...

. Roques claimed shares in an enemy aircraft shot down on 17 May, and another two-seater downed on 11 June, but was not credited. However, on 12 June he and Bajac shot down a

Fokker D.VII The Fokker D.VII was a German World War I fighter aircraft designed by Reinhold Platz of the Fokker-Flugzeugwerke. Germany produced around 3,300 D.VII aircraft in the second half of 1918. In service with the ''Luftstreitkräfte'', the D.VII qui ...

over Ressons-sur-Matz, and on 17 June he and ''Sous-Lieutenant'' Gilbert de Guingand shared in the downing of a

Halberstadt CL.II The Halberstadt CL.II was a German two-seat escort fighter/ground attack aircraft of World War I. It served in large numbers with the German ''Luftstreitkräfte'' (Imperial German Army Air Service) in 1917-18. Development and design Early in ...

over

Chaudun Chaudun () is a commune in the department of Aisne in Hauts-de-France in northern France. Population See also *Communes of the Aisne department The following is a list of the 799 communes in the French department of Aisne. The com ...

. On 9 September 1918, after having gained the five confirmed victories required to become a flying ace Roques was awarded the ''

Médaille Militaire The ''Médaille militaire'' ( en, Military Medal) is a military decoration of the French Republic for other ranks for meritorious service and acts of bravery in action against an enemy force. It is the third highest award of the French Republic, ...

''. By the end of the war his ''Croix de Guerre'' had three palms and the silver-gilt star (''étoile vermeil''), and he also received the '' Croix du combattant volontaire''.

Inter-war activities

Roques left the army in 1919, also becoming a naturalized French citizen the same year. He remained active as a reserve flying officer, and was made a ''Chevalier'' of the ''

Légion 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 ...

'' on 23 August 1925. He also served as technical director for the flight sequences in

René Clair René Clair (11 November 1898 – 15 March 1981), born René-Lucien Chomette, was a French filmmaker and writer. He first established his reputation in the 1920s as a director of silent films in which comedy was often mingled with fantasy. He wen ...

's 1927 film ''

The Prey of the Wind ''The Prey of the Wind'' (French: ''La proie du vent'') is a 1927 French silent drama film directed by René Clair and starring Charles Vanel, Sandra Milovanoff and Jean Murat.McGerr p.50 The film's sets were designed by Lazare Meerson. Ca ...

''. In 1930 he was listed as the owner of two

Morane-Saulnier Aéroplanes Morane-Saulnier was a French aircraft manufacturing company formed in October 1911 by Raymond Saulnier (aircraft manufacturer), Raymond Saulnier (1881–1964) and the Robert and Léon Morane, Morane brothers, Léon (1885–1918) and ...

-built DH.60 Moths, ''F-AJQC'' and ''F-AJQD'', and was still flying the latter in 1934. He transferred to the ''

Armée de l'air The French Air and Space Force (AAE) (french: Armée de l'air et de l'espace, ) is the air and space force of the French Armed Forces. It was the first military aviation force in history, formed in 1909 as the , a service arm of the French Arm ...

'' when it became independent of the army in 1934, and on 30 May 1936 was made an ''Officier'' of the ''Légion d'honneur''.

World War II service

Roques was recalled to serve in the air force on 25 August 1939, with the rank of captain. Posted to '' Base airenne 112'' at

, he served as second-in-command of the ''2e escadrille'' of ''

Groupe de Chasse ''Groupe de Chasse'' or ''groupe de chasse'' (usually abbreviated as GC) is the French language term for " fighter group" or "fighter wing". More literal translations include "pursuit group" (the US term for fighter groups prior to 1942) and "hu ...

I/1'', then as second-in-command of the entire ''Groupe'' from 10 January 1940. He was discharged from the air force on 31 July 1940, following the

, but became an active member of the

for the rest of the war. Roques died in Paris on 24 May 1988.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Roques, Jacques 1897 births 1988 deaths Military personnel from Paris Swiss flying aces Swiss military personnel Recipients of the Croix de Guerre 1914–1918 (France) Recipients of the Croix de guerre (Belgium) Officers of the Legion of Honour French military personnel of World War I French military personnel of World War II French Resistance members Soldiers of the French Foreign Legion