Chapter I: Front Matter

GEORGES GUYNEMER

_Published on the Fund
given to the Yale University Press in memory of_

ENSIGN CURTIS SEAMAN READ, U.S.N.R.F.

_of the Class of 1918, Yale College, killed in the
aviation service in France, February, 1918_

HENRY BORDEAUX

GEORGES
GUYNEMER

KNIGHT OF THE AIR

TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH
By LOUISE MORGAN SILL

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY
THEODORE ROOSEVELT

NEW HAVEN
YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS
NEW YORK: 280 MADISON AVENUE

MDCCCCXVIII

COPYRIGHT, 1918, BY
YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PAGE

Introduction 9

Prologue 13

CANTO I: CHILDHOOD

I. The Guynemers 21

II. Home and College 28

III. The Departure 52

CANTO II: LAUNCHED INTO SPACE

I. The First Victory 65

II. From the Aisne to Verdun 91

III. "La Terre a vu jadis errer des Paladins" 108

IV. On the Somme (June, 1916, to February, 1917) 125

CANTO III: AT THE ZENITH

I. On the 25th of May, 1917 143

II. A Visit to Guynemer 157

III. Guynemer in Camp 163

IV. Guynemer at Home 170

V. The Magic Machine 182

CANTO IV: THE ASCENSION

I. The Battle of Flanders 189

II. Omens 200

III. The Last Flight 210

IV. The Vigil 217

V. The Legend 225

VI. In the Panthéon 239

Envoi 242

Appendix: Genealogy of Georges Guynemer 251

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Georges Guynemer, Knight of the Air _Frontispiece_
(From a wood block in three colors by Rudolph Ruzicka.)

The First Flight in a Blériot 80

In the Air 120

Combat 176

"Going West" 208
(From charcoal drawings by W.A. Dwiggins.)