Roland Garros

Who is Roland Garros?

Eugène Adrien Roland Georges Garros was born on 6 October 1888 in Saint-Denis, Réunion, and became one of the most celebrated pioneers of early aviation. After studying at the Lycée Janson-de-Sailly and HEC Paris, he took up flying in 1909 and earned his pilot's license the following year, quickly establishing himself as a daring competitor in the young sport of aviation. He achieved worldwide fame on 23 September 1913 by completing the first non-stop flight across the Mediterranean Sea, piloting a Morane-Saulnier monoplane from southern France to Tunisia in nearly eight hours despite mid-flight engine trouble. With the outbreak of the First World War, Garros joined the French air service, and working with his mechanic Jules Hue he developed metal deflector wedges fitted to the propeller blades of his aircraft, allowing a machine gun to fire safely through the spinning propeller. This innovation enabled him to make the first confirmed shooting-down of an enemy aircraft by a forward-firing fighter, on 1 April 1915. Garros was killed in aerial combat near Vouziers on 5 October 1918, one day before his thirtieth birthday and just weeks before the Armistice. Paris's Stade Roland-Garros, home of the French Open tennis tournament, was named in his honor in the 1920s.

Sources: Wikipedia, "Roland Garros (aviator)" · Île de la Réunion Tourisme, "Roland Garros" (en.reunion.fr) · Histoire pour Tous, "Roland Garros, l'aviateur" (histoire-pour-tous.fr)