Issue No 22 THE AVIATION HISTORIAN 67
in “45” (BuNo 126956, which has been part of
the collection of the National Museum of Naval
Aviation in Pensacola, Florida, since 2012).
Sadly, 1984 proved to be a terrible year for the
GPG, with the loss of two of its most experienced
pilots. On March 12 René Gras was killed during
a parachute team display for Renovation Day
celebrations; after dropping from a Puma, his
parachute dragged him towards the sea and
he was drowned. To make matters worse, Joe
Lapeyre was killed in a T-34C during a solo
aerobatic routine at low altitude on October 30.
In 1985 six new pilots joined the GPG, under-
taking evaluation flights in the Embraer Tucano
and Pilatus PC-7 during those companies’
African sales tours that year. By this time the
unit comprised three T-6s, three T-34Cs, three
Magisters, one EMB-110, one Fournier powered
glider, the MFI-9 Junior and the Super Cub. In
November that year GPG pilots test-flew an
ATR-42 turboprop transport, flying it in unusual
configurations outside its usual flight envelope
— much to the chagrin of the company’s
demonstration pilot!
Farewell to the T-6
On February 21, 1989, Jacques Borne performed
the GPG’s final T-6 flight, the aircraft subsequently
moving to South Africa after 14 years with the
GPG. In November the same year, Paul Lagardère
and Pierre Grosjean were sent to Toulouse for a
month’s training on the ATR-42. The delivery
flight of the latter, registered TR-KJD, was made
during December 11–13 via Toulouse, Agadir,
Dakar, Lomé and Libreville, where a patrol of
T-34Cs escorted the transport to its new home.
On December 19 Jacques Borne flew to Toulouse
for conversion to the ATR-42, in which he would
make his last flight less than a year later, aged 51,
having accrued some 6,438 flying hours, more
than 1,047 of which were in the Skyraider.
To mark Borne’s retirement from the GPG on
February 4, 1991, his former colleagues arranged
an air parade in his honour. While taking off, the
nosewheel of Pierre Grosjean’s T-34C, TR-KFU,
suffered damage, Grosjean then flying past the
control tower for an assessment of the situation.
Instructed to land on the grass runway, Grosjean
set the aircraft down on its mainwheels, gently
lowering the nose on to its cowling. The aircraft
was not repaired and was broken up for spares.
In January 1992 the ATR-42 and its GPG
crew — pilots Paul Lagardère, Pierre Grosjean
and mechanic Daniel Boulet — were leased by
TransAir to provide support services for the
Paris—Sirte—Cape Town car rally. By mid-
1993, the GPG had three AS.332 Super Puma
helicopters and the ATR-42 on strength, but no
fighter or bomber aircraft. In 2018 the GPG’s
inventory is listed as one Dassault Falcon 900,
one Bandeirante, one Super Puma, one
Gulfstream III and the ATR-42.ABOVE In 1982 the GPG swapped its Korean War-vintage Skyraiders for four turboprop-powered Beechcraft T-34C
Turbo Mentors, one of which is seen here over the Gabonese plains. BELOW RIGHT Mechanic and future GPG
pilot Jean Dellac prepares to fly the Malmö MFI-9B Junior he and fellow mechanic Michel Gineste restored in 1980.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The author would like to thank
Jacques and Frédéric Borne, Jean Dellac and Pierre
Grosjean for their help with the preparation of this articleTAHJEAN DELLAC