in which you could end up with 12
Messerschmitts on your back.
“Here is the Seine, then Mantes:
the bridge is intact. I fly northward.
There’s a village that’s been bombed;
there is plenty of smoke rising from it.
“I fly in a zig-zag pattern, to
try and stop German troops from
shooting at us. Our altitude is 100m,
and we’ve 2,300rpm on the engines,
which means we are flying at between
260 and 280km/h. I look at the sky,
at the ground, at my instruments, and
especially at the oil temperature. The
air is warm today, and I really don’t
want to overheat my engines.
“Suddenly, after a hill on a small
road, I see one armoured car, two light
cars and four or five trucks. ‘Be careful,
I don’t know what they are’, the
observer yells at me. I dive at them.
“Men jump out of the trucks. ‘Turn,
turn!’ shouts the observer again. ‘They
are German’. I turn sharply left, look
behind and apply full power. De
Pange shows me on the map where
we are. I look at my engines. I’m
keeping an eye on the temperatures:
still normal. Ah, this good old Gnome
et Rhône engine! I zig-zag again.
Same altitude, same power settings.
“I fly over a hillside, and in the valley
I see two cars and a few trucks. The
guys from the truck start running.
‘The Germans! The Germans!’ cries de
Pange on the intercom.
“I turn sharply and de Pange asks
me, ‘Do your machine guns work?’ I
answer, ‘I think so. Let’s try them —
we will know then’. ‘Let’s go!’LEFT:
Potez 63.11
serial 238 on
the strength of
Groupement Aérien
d’Observation
(GAO) 546, the
unit to which Pierre
Mazières belonged.ABOVE:
The observer about
to take his seat in a
Potez 63.11.AEROPLANE JULY 2018 http://www.aeroplanemonthly.com 69P
ierre Mazières was born at La
Londe-les-Maures in the Var
region of south-eastern France
on 30 January 1918. He was
an aviation enthusiast from his youth,
when he started drawing aircraft for
books. That interest in art, and his
fascination with flight, would never
leave him.
In 1936 he joined the Armée de
l’Air, beginning his training at Istres.
He was there for 20 months, during
which time he received instruction on
the Potez 25 and Morane-Saulnier
MS230 and experienced the typical
life of a young student pilot. Mazières
received parachute training in the
‘jump tower’, and witnessed some
unfortunate accidents. He also saw
rare machines such as the Loire
46 and Bloch MB152 fighters, the
Hanriot 436 trainer and liaison
aircraft, the Romano R82 trainer
and the Bréguet 27 reconnaissance
aeroplane. Among his friends at the
military flying school was Bruno de
Faletans, who went on to fly Yakovlev
Yak-7s with the ‘Normandie-Niemen’
regiment and died in the Soviet
Union during 1944.
Mazières graduated on 30 July 1937.
At the end of 1939, he started flying
the North American NA-57, followed
by the Potez 63.11. Having been
engaged for three years, he married in
January 1940, but the German invasion
of France that May meant that
operational flying in the Potez with
Groupement Aérien d’Observation
(GAO) 546 came to dominate his
life — in particular, a series of highly
dangerous reconnaissance flights.
On 4 June 1940, he performed one
such sortie with fellow airman Jeande Pange, who would also later fly
with the ‘Normandie-Niemen’ unit.
Mazières was wounded during this
mission, which he duly recounted in
his notebook.
“Around 11.00hrs, while I was
sleeping under the shadow of a Potez
wing, I hear a car arriving.
“Lt Bousquet gets out of this car
and shakes me by the hand. Then
two other crew members arrive: the
observer, Sous-Lt de Pange, and the
gunner, Sgt Le Corre. We look at the
maps on the tail of the aircraft, and
Bousquet explains to us the aim of the
flight: to check if the bridge at Mantes
has been destroyed, a reconnaissance
flight parallel with the Seine river, and
searching for German troops. The
mechanics prepare the aircraft and I
get ready. I smoke a last cigarette — I
am very nervous. All those who have
made such a flight know this feeling
before you get airborne; it lasts until
you sit in the aircraft.“I think of the village of Jouy, of my
parents. That’s enough of the feelings:
now, let’s go.
“I board the Potez. I am handed a
handgun. I have sworn never to be
taken prisoner, and I have decided to
stick to my words.
“Now I feel better. I test the
engines and the propellers. The crew
is on board. I taxi the aircraft, I wave
to the mechanics on the ground for
the last time, and they give me a
good-luck sign. I take off, fly over the
airfield and fly north, in the direction
of Mantes. I have my four machine
guns ready. The weather is clear, the
spring sun shines. It’s just the weatherFlying the Potez 63.11 reconnaissance aircraft, a type that sustained
notably heavy losses during 1940, Armée de l’Air pilot Pierre Mazières
was fortunate to survive the Battle of France — only to lose his life in
a subsequent flying accident. Thankfully, his diaries and photo albums
provide a unique and powerful insight into life on the front line
68-73_AM_Potez_July18_cc C.indd 69 04/06/2018 11:01