Sergent Paul Joannes Sauvage (5 February 1897—7 January 1917) was a French 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 8 confirmed and 6 probable aerial victories. He was originally posted to fly 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 ...

for Escadrille N 65, and scored his first victory with them on 16 July 1916. He became the youngest French ace on 2 October at age 19 years and 239 days, and held that distinction until his death by anti-aircraft fire on 7 January 1917.''Nieuport Aces of World War 1'', p. 58 12 days later

Pierre Marinovitch Pierre Marinovitch ( sr, Petar Marinović; 1 August 1898 – 2 October 1919) was a French World War I flying ace credited with 21 confirmed and 3 probable aerial victories. He was the youngest French flying ace of the war, scoring his 5th vi ...

scored his 5th victory and became the youngest French ace until the end of the war, at the point of his 5th victory was Marinovith even younger than Savage on 2nd October by exactly 70 days (19 years and 169 days).

Early life

Paul Joannes Sauvage was born in

Villefranche-sur-Saône Villefranche-sur-Saône (, ; frp, Velafranche) is a commune in the Rhône department in eastern France. It lies 1 mile (1.6 km) west of the river Saône, and is around north of Lyon. The inhabitants of the town are called ''Caladois''. Hi ...

, France on 5 February 1897.''Over the Front: A Complete Record of the Fighter Aces and Units of the United States and French Air Services, 1914-1918'', p. 218.

World War I military service

On 29 March 1916, Sauvage received Pilot's Brevet No. 3234. Once trained as a pilot, he ended up in Escadrille 65. By the time he claimed his first approved victory in July, he was ranked as a '' Caporal''. On 2 September 1916, after scoring his first three victories, Sauvage was one of the first pilots issued a new

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 ...

.''SPAD VII Aces of World War I'', p. 8. By the time he shot down his fourth German opponent on 23 September 1916, he had been promoted to '' Sergent''. His fifth aerial victory, on 2 October 1916, made him the youngest ace in French aviation. His sixth victory, on 3 November 1916, would soon be followed by award of the Médaille militaire on the 18th. French Spad - photo

Sauvage then flew a while with Escadrille 38, scoring two more confirmed victories during December 1916. However, he returned to Escadrille 65 at some date between 28 December 1916 and 8 January 1917. The French casualty list of the latter date lists Paul Joannes Sauvage; at 1520 hours 7 January 1917, his Spad and an antiaircraft shell intersected somewhere east of Maisonette, France. Sauvage died instantly.

Honors and awards

The Médaille militaire (Awarded 18 November 1916)
"Sergent pilot of Escadrille N65. Young pursuit pilot who has rapidly been classed among the best, thanks to his strength and highly remarkable sense of duty. On 3 November 1916 he downed his sixth German plane which crashed in flames behind enemy lines. Has been cited three times in army orders." The Croix de Guerre with five ''palmes''

Sources of information

References

*''Nieuport Aces of World War 1''. Norman Franks. Osprey Publishing, 2000. , . * ''Over the Front: A Complete Record of the Fighter Aces and Units of the United States and French Air Services, 1914-1918''. Norman L. R. Franks, Frank W. Bailey. Grub Street, 1992. , . * ''Spad VII Aces of World War I''. Jon Guttman. Osprey Publishing, 2001. , . 1897 births 1917 deaths French World War I flying aces French military personnel killed in World War I Recipients of the Croix de Guerre 1914–1918 (France) {{wwi-air