Free French Spitfire Hero

Free French Spitfire Hero written by Jan Leeming & René Mouchotte DFC

and published by Air World - £25 - Hardback - Pages 320

René Mouchotte was born on 21 August 1914, at Saint Mande, Paris. He joined

the Armée de l’Air for his period of military service in 1934, obtaining his flying brevet.

Though Mouchotte returned to civilian life, he was called up at the outbreak of war in 1939, becoming a Sergeant-Pilot instructor in North Africa. When France capitulated in June 1940, Mouchotte and fellow pilot Charles Guerin decided to make their way to the United Kingdom. Along with four other French pilots, Mouchotte made the short flight to Gibraltar on the morning of 30 June. From there he traveled on to Britain, being accepted into the RAF soon after their arrival.

The Battle of Britain was already several weeks old when Mouchotte was posted to 245 Squadron, then based at Aldergrove, on 11 September 1940. A week later he transferred to 615 (County of Surrey) Squadron at Prestwick. Flying Hurricanes, it was with 615 Squadron that Mouchotte became a flight commander, shot down a Junkers Ju 88, and earned a Croix de Guerre. He moved to Turnhouse as Deputy ‘A’ Flight Commander with 340 (Free French) Squadron. He was promoted to captain in March 1942 and awarded the DFC.

On 18 January 1943, Mouchotte returned to Turnhouse to form and command 341 Squadron, which transferred to Biggin Hill. On 15 May 1943, Mouchette and Squadron Leader E.F.J Charles shared the sector’s 1000th victory. Two days later, Mouchotte destroyed a Me 109.

Commandant René Gaston Octave Jean Mouchotte DFC, CdeG – one of ‘The Few’ of the Battle of Britain – became one of the most famous Free French pilots of the Second World War, during which he served alongside such notables as the legendary Group Captain ‘Sailor’ Malan and the Wing Commander Al Deere. It is Commandant Mouchotte’s diaries, written between 1940 and 1943, that form the basis of this book. The diaries are introduced and contextualized by the renowned aviation historian Dilip Sarkar, who also forensically examines the story behind Biggin Hill’s 1000th ‘kill’ and the circumstances of René’s last flight, adding new detail to both events.

The thing about history that always stands out to me is that you will never stop learning about something new when it comes to history. Such a big conflict and involving so many people in so many ways, you have a never ending list of stories that people have experienced. Now I have never heard of Rene Mouchotte, a free french pilot during WW2 who would eventually come to Britain to fly in our air force and would distinguish himself. Sadly he died coming from a bombing raid on a V2 rocket launch site, crashing just off the coast of Belgium. His is a very fine story told throughout this book in a diary format and it really is interesting and my favourite kind of read. This book will be of interest to aviation fans and I would say it would interest most people as it is a very intriguing read.