Pierre Le Gloan (second from left below) was the fourth highest scoring French ace of WWII (18 victories). He won fame by downing five aircraft in one sortie -- four Italian CR.42 biplane fighters and a Breda BR.20 bomber -- on June 15, 1940 during the the Battle of France.
Le Gloan's No. 277 with other D.520s of GC III/6, probably taken at the unit's home aerodrome at Lu Luc, France, shortly after the Armistice with Germany in late June 1940.
Le Gloan's No. 277 with other D.520s of GC III/6, probably taken at the unit's home aerodrome at Lu Luc, France, shortly after the Armistice with Germany in late June 1940.
No. 277 with Le Gloan in the cockpit, on a post-Armistice June 1940 flight from Le Luc with full "armistice livery," i.e. white border to fuselage roundel and white fuselage arrow.
Le Gloan's later combat history was problematic. Flying for Vichy France, he also shot down six RAF Hurricanes and one Gloster Gladiator over Syria during heavy air combat in May-July 1941 between the Vichy French and the Allies.
No. 277 in the markings it carried during the fighting with the RAF and Free French Air Force over Syria in May-June 1941. No. 277 was written off in a crash-landing following one of these combats. Le Gloan is pictured, below right, with the wreck of No. 277.
Le Gloan switched sides again when his unit, GC III/6 joined the Free French Air Force and became GC 3/6 Roussillon in May 1943, at which time they converted to Bell P-39 Airacobras.
Pierre Le Gloan's life ended spectacularly on September 11, 1943, when he attempted to belly land a P-39 with a dead engine on the North African Coast near Algiers. Not realizing that his Airacobra still had its belly tank, he touched down with it attached. The fuel in the tank exploded and the entire aircraft blew up, killing him instantly. Le Gloan was 30 years old when he died.
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