Marcel Albert, Air Ace of France in World War II, Dies at 92
Marcel Albert, who became one of the leading French fighter pilots of World War II, flying Soviet-built planes in duels with German aircraft on the Eastern front, died Monday in Harlingen, Tex. He was 92.
His death, at a nursing home, was announced by France’s Order of the Liberation, founded by Gen. Charles de Gaulle during the war. The cause was complications of cancer, his nephew Jean Mavinger told The Associated Press in Paris.
Mr. Albert was among four pilots of the Free French’s Normandie-Niémen fighter unit to be decorated as a Hero of the Soviet Union, receiving the citation in 1944. Flying Yakovlev fighter planes — known as Yaks — in combat alongside Soviet pilots, he took part in shooting down 24 German planes, according to the Order of the Liberation.
Created by de Gaulle in 1942 to help repel Hitler’s invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, the Normandie-Niémen unit was composed of nearly 100 French fighter pilots, almost half of whom were killed in action. According to the Normandie-Niémen Museum in Les Andelys, France, its pilots flew 5,240 missions and shot down at least 273 German planes....
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His death, at a nursing home, was announced by France’s Order of the Liberation, founded by Gen. Charles de Gaulle during the war. The cause was complications of cancer, his nephew Jean Mavinger told The Associated Press in Paris.
Mr. Albert was among four pilots of the Free French’s Normandie-Niémen fighter unit to be decorated as a Hero of the Soviet Union, receiving the citation in 1944. Flying Yakovlev fighter planes — known as Yaks — in combat alongside Soviet pilots, he took part in shooting down 24 German planes, according to the Order of the Liberation.
Created by de Gaulle in 1942 to help repel Hitler’s invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, the Normandie-Niémen unit was composed of nearly 100 French fighter pilots, almost half of whom were killed in action. According to the Normandie-Niémen Museum in Les Andelys, France, its pilots flew 5,240 missions and shot down at least 273 German planes....