"Roger Sauvage"[March 26,1917-September 1977]

Was one of the few pilots of African-American descent to fly both the French and Russian Air Forces in World War II.Roger was born in Paris.The son of a white Frenchwoman,Marie Sauvage,and a black soldier from Martinique.His father was killed during World War II leaving him to be raised by his mother.Like many young Frenchman, of the day Roger was fascinated by aviation and the heroic French fighter pilots of World War I.His ambition became to join the French Air Force,the Armee de l'Air.He studied mathematics and engineering and in 1935 was accepted for pilot training.By 1937 he was flying with the Groupe de Reconnaissance de Strassburg.He soon tired of flying observation missions and requested a transfer to a fighter squadron.After retraining Roger joined a new fighter unit in 1939 and was assigned a Potez 631 twin-engine fighter.In May 1940,the Germans invaded France and routine patrols became desperate struggles for life and death.Largely outclassed by the faster German planes,his unit acquitted itself well,downing seventy-one enemy planes. Roger recorded his first victory when he destroyed a German Heinkel bomber.In contradiction of all regulations,the exuberant pilot landed his plane near the crashed bomber and held the two surviving crew members prisoners until soldiers arrived.Roger scored one more kill in France,but days later an armistice was signed.Like other French pilots who wanted to continue fighting the Germans,he fled to Africa where he stayed until the formation of the Normandie Regiment,a unit of French Flyers who would fight as part of the Soviet Air Force.Roger arrived at the Russian front at the beginning of 1944.Within six months after the French pilots arrived three quarters were killed or wounded.Things improved,when the expatriates were given the new YAK-9 fighters and later the superb Yak-3.Roger group were always stationed close to the front lines,and they moved westward with the Russian advance.In early 1945,he participated in the destruction of a half dozens German aircraft.He ended the war credited with five individual victories and eleven shared with other pilots,making him a "triple ace."At the end of the war the French pilots returned to France,arriving to a hero's welcome at Le Bourget Airport north of Paris in June of 1945.Roger continued his career with the Armee de l'Air.In September 1945,he promoted to Lieutenant,and in April 1950 he became Captain.His recounting of his experience during the war became a popular book,Un Du Normandie-Niemen,published in 1950.In the mid 1950s he became involved in right wing politics,aligning himself with Jean-Marie Le Pen.Roger remained in the Armee de l'Air until 1968 and was active in fighting pilot reunions.