Corniglion-Molinier, Edouard

Date of birth:: January 23rd, 1898 (Nice, France)
Date of death:: May 9th, 1963 (Paris, France)
Nationality:: French

Biography

When the First World War broke out, he was a law student. But the notarial profession does not seem to excite him and, from the age of 17, he only thinks of getting involved.
He therefore joined the alpine hunters, passed to the 5th Dragons in Saumur on October 6, 1915 and a month later he requested his transfer to Aeronautics.
Admitted, he was sent to the Ambérieu flight school where he obtained his pilot's license on April 27, 1916. After training courses in Avord and Pau, Brigadier Corniglion-Molinier was sent to squadron 392 in Italy where he arrived on October 17, 1916.
A week later, he patrolled the Adriatic, attacked three planes, put two to flight and, chasing the third, forced the latter to dive, distraught, after putting the observer out of action.
From Venice, where the 392 squadron was transformed into the 561 squadron in June 1917, it continued to accomplish with its customary ardor reconnaissance and observation missions on enemy lines, in the regions of Trieste and Fiume, attacks of airplanes, Drachen, and Austrian ships in the Gulf, attacks which earned him the rank of house marshal.
Wounded in a plane, but slightly, he was, on the other hand, evacuated with a serious attack of malaria from December 1917 to February 1918. On leaving the hospital he returned to Italy to join the 561 squadron before being assigned to SPA 162 in France at the end of June 1918.
The war ended, Edouard Corniglion-Molinier, demobilized with the rank of second lieutenant, resumed the course of his studies and, responding to the desire of his father who wanted to see him succeed him in his notary's office, he took the doctorate in Paris. in law to which, by intellectual taste, he added a license in letters.
In 1936, he participated in the Spanish Civil War where he flew again in the skies of battle, always in the company of André Malraux.
Thus passes the period between the two wars and in September 1939 comes the Second World War. Volunteer to serve in fighter aviation, he was assigned successively to fighter groups III / 6, III / 3 then to GC III / 2 in January 1940.
On May 13, 1940, he contributed, at the head of his patrol, to bring down a Henschel 126 inside his lines. On May 16, 1940, during a light patrol, he shot down a Heinkel 111.
He has 2 officially approved victories and he is one of the only three 14-18 drivers who added in 39-40 victories to their record from the previous war.
Demobilized on August 16, 1940, he retired to the South and soon founded with Emmanuel d'Astier de la Vigerie the resistance movement "The Last Column", which was intended for sabotage. Arrested in Marseille in December, he was imprisoned at Fort Saint-Nicolas but was released on January 7, 1941.
On January 10, 1941, he managed to cross into Morocco. From there, he joined Martinique from where he succeeded, by deceiving the surveillance of the Vichy navy, in reaching New York. On March 1, 1941, he signed his commitment to the Free French Forces in London.
Assigned to the RAF, Edouard Corniglion-Molinier was then appointed Chief of Staff, then Commander of the French Air Force in the Middle East; he assisted General Martial Valin in the creation of the "Lorraine" Bombardment Group and the "Alsace" Hunting Group in September 1941.
He participated with them in the campaigns of Libya and Cyrenaica. On November 23, 1941, during a mission south of Tobruk the Bombardment Group No. 1 Lorraine under the orders of Corniglion-Molinier, attacked a column of 100 German tanks and succeeded in destroying more than a third of the effective ; he was promoted lieutenant-colonel the following month.
Appointed commander of the FAFL in the Middle East in June 1942 to replace Colonel Jean Astier de Villatte, he was recalled to Great Britain following the Allied landing in North Africa. Arrived in London on November 23, 1942, General Valin made him his deputy by giving him the title of Commander of the FAFL in Great Britain. Promoted to the rank of colonel on December 15, 1942, Edouard Corniglion-Molinier took part in numerous missions to Germany and the occupied countries.
Back in France after the Normandy landings, in November 1944 he received his air brigadier general stars and took command of the Atlantic Air Force; he participated effectively in the reduction of the pockets of Royan and Rochefort with squadrons made up of personnel drawn from the maquis or the resistance or former pilots of 1940, equipped with pre-war equipment.
Towards the end of hostilities, he helped General Valin to reconstitute the French Air Force by ensuring, first with General de Vitrolles, then alone, the command of the schools until August 1, 1946, when he is demobilized and after having been appointed general of the air division.