André Robert Lévy

André Robert Lévy
Born 6 June 1893
Paris, France
Died 12 March 1973(1973-03-12) (aged 79)
Allegiance France
Service/branch Infantry; aviation
Rank Sergent
Unit Escadrille 29, Escadrille 561
Awards French: Légion d'honneur, Médaille militaire, Croix de Guerre, Italian: Croce di Guerra, 2 Gold and 2 Bronze Medal for Military Valor

Sergent André Robert Lévy was a World War I flying ace credited with six aerial victories.[1][2]

André Robert Lévy began his military service in the infantry but transferred to aviation on 8 October 1916. He was initially assigned to fly a Farman for Escadrille 29. However, he used a Sopwith 1.A2 for his first victory on 7 April 1917. On 16 May, he was then reassigned, to the only French air squadron on the Italian Front, Escadrille 561. Using a mixture of Nieuport and Spad fighters emblazoned with a dogs-head insignia,[3] Lévy scored his second win on 21 June 1918, scored a double on 20 July, and became an ace on 5 August.[4] On 16 September, he became a balloon buster, destroying an Austro-Hungarian observation balloon and being shot down in the process. With the engine dead from a fuel line severed by anti-aircraft fire, Lévy purposely landed hard, bending the landing gear, and inverting his Spad XIII. He was then taken away to prison camp in Mulbach. On his second attempt, on 2 November, Lévy escaped through a mountainous wilderness smothered under 30 inches of snow. He made it back to his unit on 6 November 1918.[5]

Sources of information

  1. SPAD XII/XIII aces of World War I. p. 27.
  2. http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/france/levy.php Retrieved on 5 May 2010.
  3. SPAD XII/XIII aces of World War I. p. 27.
  4. http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/france/levy.php Retrieved on 5 May 2010.
  5. SPAD XII/XIII aces of World War I. p. 27.

References

SPAD XII/XIII aces of World War I. Jon Guttman. Osprey Publishing, 2002. ISBN. 1841763160, 9781841763163.


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