Charbonneaux, Pol

Date of birth:: October 26th, 1909 (Reims, France)
Date of death:: July 20th, 1954 (Andrews USAF Base, USA)
Nationality:: French

Biography

A reserve officer student, he did his military service with the 18th Dragon Regiment then at the Saumur cavalry school, in 1930-1931.

Returned to civilian life, Pol Charbonneaux carried out periods of reserve and passed his plane pilot's license in March 1938; it is then returned to the air force reserve.

Recalled when the reservists were mobilized in August 1939, he was seconded to the Prefect of Marne.

In June 1940, he was in Toulouse, at the reconnaissance training center. He precedes the Appeal of June 18 by going to England by plane on June 17.

After some time spent in Saint-Atham camp (Wales), he was assigned to Combat Group 1 under the orders of Commander de Marmier. In September 1940, he left England with the Dakar expedition and landed in Cameroon where he was in charge of supplies.

In December 1940, Lieutenant Charbonneaux was sent to Egypt, to Ismailia, to follow a Blenheim pilot training course. A few months later, he joined, in Khartoum, the Reserved Bombardment Group No. 1 (GRB 1) which was operating in Abyssinia. There, he carried out his first war missions against the Italians who resisted around Lake Tana. He takes part in several missions on Gondar, Bahr, Dar, Debra, Marcos ...

In 1941, after the formation of the "Lorraine" bombing group, Lieutenant Pol Charbonneaux was sent to Libya where he took part in the English offensive in November which led the Allied troops beyond Benghazi. He is part of the first squadron of the "Lorraine".

On December 20, 1941, 12 aircraft including 4 Blenheim of the "Lorraine", escorted by twenty fighters, were to bomb enemy columns on the Tocra-Benghazi road. After more than an hour of flight, the formation was attacked by a dozen Messerschmitt 109 F. The allies lost 9 planes including those of Colonel Pijeaud and Lieutenant du Boisrouvray. Of the Lorraine planes, only those piloted by Yves Ezanno and Pol Charbonneaux succeeded in returning to the base.

Pol Charbonneaux was promoted captain in March 1942, when the "Lorraine" group returned to Syria. For a few months, he travels planes between Takoradi and Calcutta. He then took command in Palestine of the "Nancy" squadron. At the end of 1942, he returned to England with the group "Lorraine".

Commander in April 1943, he carried out several bombing missions, in particular in low-level flight, before being withdrawn from operations for health reasons in September 1943. He then totaled 155 hours of war flying and sixty-seven missions.

Pol Charbonneaux was then assigned to the Filey training center where he was responsible for organizing the training of French personnel coming from North Africa.

In July 1944, he joined the cabinet of General de Gaulle and was promoted lieutenant-colonel in December 1944.

In June 1945, he was given command of the La Rochelle piloting school base and, the following year, was admitted to the first promotion of the Air War School. Appointed in 1948 to the General Staff of the Air Force as inspector of aviation bombing and transport, he was promoted to the rank of colonel in January 1951 and assigned as deputy air attaché to the French Embassy in the United States (Washington).

On July 17, 1954, Colonel Pol Charbonneaux's plane caught fire during takeoff from Andrews base in the United States. On July 20, Colonel Charbonneaux died of his injuries. He is buried in Reims.