Date of birth:

July 24th, 1910 (Nancy, France)

Date of death:

July 14th, 1943 (Lost at sea, near Sicily, Italy)

Nationality:

French

Volunteered for five years on July 27, 1927 in the Navy, he volunteered for maritime aviation.

A pupil at the Istres school from July 1928 to February 1929, he was licensed as a seaplane pilot in June 1929 at Hourtin.

His qualities as a pilot earned him service at the French Navy's flight test center in Saint-Raphaël. He became a fighter pilot at Etampes in 1936.

Naval aviation fighter pilot Roland Claude took part in the 1940 battle; wounded in Boulogne he was taken prisoner in Belgium from where he managed to escape.

In December 1940, he was assigned as a master pilot to the 7B squadron, based on the Tafaraoui field, near Oran. On March 1, 1941, when a weapon was taken from the base during which the Croix de Guerre was awarded to him, he obtained the authorization to roll on the ground to store his aircraft after the ceremony.

He climbs in his Glenn-Martin 167 with the quartermasters Stourm and Pacaud and takes off to join Free France via Gibraltar, where his aircraft is violently attacked by the Spanish and English DCA.

Enlisted in the Free French Air Forces (FAFL), he was promoted to chief master pilot on April 1, 1941 and was assigned, after rapid training, to the 66 Squadron of the Royal Air Force, on Spitfire.

After a stint at 32 Squadron on a Hurricane, he was promoted to lieutenant 1st class in October 1941 before being assigned to the "Ile-de-France" fighter group (340 Squadron) then in formation.

From June to November 1942, he served on Spitfire with 118 Squadron. On June 17, 1942, his aircraft was seriously damaged and he had to make a forced landing, without landing gear. On June 24, he destroyed an FW 190 in collaboration with his patrol leader and on August 19, during Operation Jubilee on Dieppe, he carried out three missions.

In January 1943, he was seconded to the British Fleet Air Arm, to 761 and then to 807 Squadron in February. He embarked on the aircraft carrier HMS Indomitable and took part in operations in the spring and summer of 1943, in Sicilian waters.

It was at the head of his Seafire patrol, during the fighting for the conquest of Sicily that, while attacking a Junkers 88, the Ensign 1st Class Roland Claude was killed on July 14, 1943 and disappeared in sea.

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• - Roland CLAUDE | L'Ordre de la Libération et son Musée