Pierre Clostermann
Born: Feb 28 1921
Died: March 22 2006

Pierre Clostermann
Pierre Clostermann was born on February 28 1921 at Curitiba, Brazil, where his father worked as a French diplomat. At an age of only sixteen he aquired his pilot's licence in November 1937. He was educated in Paris and studied engineering in USA when France fell.

Career Details
In 1941 he joined the Free French Forces (341 "Alsace" Squadron). The following year he was transferred to RAF and 602 Squadron, where he served in Spitfire. During this time he destroyed at least 11 enemy aircraft, 2 probable and seven damage.

On 4 March 1945 he joined No 274 Squadron and the Hawker Tempest. His first Tempest score was a Bf 109 on his second day during a "cannon test".
In the middle of March 1945 he was posted as a Flight commander to No 56 Squadron. With this unit he destroyed a Bf109 in the air. On 8 April he was transferred to No 3 Squadron as "A" Flight commander where he on 20 April scored two Fw 190D-9s'.
Clostermann's final score in Tempest is at least 12 destroyed, 6 shared and 2 probables . He was awarded the DSO and DFC and Bar in addition to French, Belgian and American decorations.

After the war Clostermann went into politics and business, serving as Deputy in the French parliament and as aeronautics executive for Cessna and Dassault. Clostermann served briefly on operations in the Algerian war of early 1960's.

Clostermann's Le Grand Charles,

JF - E, from "4 o'clock". Actually he flew four aircraft marked JF-E with serial numbers NV994 (no 1) and NV724 (no 4). No 2 may have been SN222 and no 3 is not known.

Photo autographed by Clostermann.

Note the 32 crosses: 23 black confirmed victories and 9 white probables. When this photo was taken all his victories were not definitively classified.