Roland Garros
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Image:Roland Garros.jpg Roland Garros (October 6, 1888 – October 5, 1918) was an early French aviator and a fighter aircraft pilot during World War I.
Garros was already a noted aviator before the war. In 1913 he gained fame for making the first nonstop flight across the Mediterranean Sea. The next year he joined the French army at the outbreak of World War I. After several missions he decided that shooting and flying at the same time was too difficult, so he fitted a machine gun to the front of his plane so the tasks became one and the same. In order to protect the propeller from the bullets, he fitted metal wedges to the prop. Starting from April 1, 1915, he soon shot down three German planes and quickly gained an excellent reputation.
On April 18, 1915, he was shot down and glided to a landing on the German side of the lines. After examining his plane Anthony Fokker's team designed an improved system known as the interrupter gear. Soon the tables were reversed with Fokker's planes shooting down nearly every enemy plane they met, leading to what became known as the Fokker Scourge.
Garros managed to escape from prisoner-of-war camp in Germany in February 1918 and joined the French army again. On October 5, 1918, he was shot down again and killed near Vouziers, Ardennes.
Garros is erroneously called the world's first fighter ace. In fact he shot down 3 aircraft, and the honor of the first ace went to another French airman, Adolphe Pégoud. Nevertheless, Garros was an outstanding aviator and probably the first real fighter pilot in the world.
Places named after Roland Garros
In the 1920s, a tennis centre was named after the pilot, Stade de Roland Garros. The stadium accommodates the French Open, one of tennis' Grand Slam tournaments. Consequently, the tournament is popularly and officially called Roland Garros.
The international airport of La Réunion, Roland Garros Airport, is also named after him.
See also
de:Roland Garros es:Roland Garros fr:Roland Garros id:Roland Garros it:Roland Garros nl:Roland Garros (luchtheld) ja:ローラン・ギャロス no:Roland Garros pl:Roland Garros pt:Roland Garros ru:Гаррос, Ролан sl:Roland Garros sv:Roland Garros tr:Roland Garros zh:罗兰·加洛斯