Memorial Day, celebrated on the last Monday of May in the United States, pays tribute to members of the United States Armed Forces who have died in combat in all wars. This was an opportunity for “Looking Up Paris” to take an interest in the Lafayette Escadrille Memorial, erected in the Parc de Saint Cloud, bordering the towns of Garches and Marnes-la-Coquette. Inaugurated on 4 July 1928, the monument commemorates the first American air battles and symbolises Franco-American friendship during the First World War. The Escadrille Lafayette was a French squadron made up of American volunteer aviators, who joined up in April 1916, although the United States did not officially enter the war on the side of the Entente until April 1917, and French officers. A total of 267 Americans, grouped together in the Lafayette Flying Corps, joined the French air force before the United States entered the war, either in the Lafayette Escadrille (made up entirely of American airmen and deployed from 20 April 1916 at Luxeuil-les-Bains) or in other French units.
Their aerial epic began with the biplane fighter Nieuport 11, a very light and manoeuvrable aircraft, and its derivative the Nieuport 17, with a more powerful engine and which excelled in agility and speed of ascent, the two Nieuports putting an end in 1916 to the domination of the German Fokker. Then came the SPADs (from Société Pour l'Aviation et ses Dérivés) - the SPAD VII and from May 1917 the SPAD XIII, equipped with Hispano Suiza engines and Vickers machine guns - less manoeuvrable but extremely robust, with very good top and climb speeds. They could dive and climb steeply without their wings coming off, which unfortunately was not always the case with the Nieuports. From March 1917 until the end of the war, 9 French aircraft manufacturers built 8,500 SPAD XIIIs, reaching a rate of 11 aircrafts per day in 1918. The representation of the cockpit of a Nieuport 17 in the visitor centre shows that the pilot had to monitor the instrument panels, control the aircraft, navigate and engage in aerial combat - often at very low temperatures.
The memorial, designed by architect Alexandre Marcel, consists of a monumental central arch flanked by two open wings. The arch's coffered ceiling is adorned with the sculpted insignia of the 24 French Air Force squadrons with which the Americans flew during the 1st World War. At either edge of the arch face the sculpted profiles of the Marquis and General de Lafayette and George Washington, the first President of the United States of America. Associated in the War of Independence, they shared common values and an unwavering commitment to the defence of law and liberty, symbolising the history of friendship between the two countries.
On either side of the arch, the pavilions at the ends of the wings of the memorial are each adorned with a head sculpted in low relief: on the left, the Sioux chief Sitting Bull, emblem of the Lafayette Escadrille, also found on the fuselage of the aircraft; on the right, an aviator.
The ceiling of the memorial wings is embellished with bas-reliefs depicting birds and flying machines alternately: hot-air balloons, airships, Clément Ader's "L'Avion", the first motorised craft to take off in 1890, whose name invented by Ader later became a common name in French, seaplanes, monoplanes and biplanes, and the Spirit of Saint Louis registered N -X-211 - also known as Ryan N-P (for New York to Paris) - in which Charles Lindbergh made the 1st non-stop crossing of the Atlantic in 33h30min on 20 and 21 May 1927. As you descend the stairs to the crypt, you can see an extract from the second book of Samuel (chap.1 .23): "They were not separated in their death, they were lighter than eagles, stronger than lions", lines that are in symbiosis with the monument: the eagles refer to America and the Americans, and the lions - whose sculpted heads adorn the façade - may bring to mind the famous mascots of the Lafayette Escadrille, the lion cubs Whisky and Soda.
The crypt houses the 68 sarcophagi of the aviators of the Lafayette Flying Corps who lost their lives during the 1st World War and whose names are sculpted on the façade of the monument. It is adorned with 13 stained glass windows created by the Meauméjean company in 1928, recounting the exploits of the Escadrille, which not only provided essential support in combat, but also made a decisive contribution to the Allied cause in America. The final window, entitled "Glory and Peace", depicts American pilots in the form of an eagle returning to the United States at the end of the war.
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