SOUS-LIEUTENANT LOUIS NOËL
An Army Order, signed by General Sarrail, describes how Lieutenant
Noël, when hardly convalescent from a grave operation, from the
effects of which he was still suffering, effected on two occasions
the bombardment of an enemy capital, and assured a long-distance link
between two friendly armies, covering 1,100 kilometres (roughly 700
miles) there and back, of which 850 kilometres (over 500 miles) were
over enemy territory.
Lieutenant Noël is an old pilot, remarkable for his address, his
bravery, his coolness, and his modesty. Numerous difficult and perilous
missions in France and in the Orient have been successfully carried out
by him, and in addition to the Cross of the Legion of Honour he has
earned the Médaille Militaire, the Croix de Guerre, and the Russian
Cross of St. George.
Describing his remarkable flight from Salonica to Bukarest, a Roumanian
journal (September 16, 1916) says: ‘Roumania received yesterday the
visit of gracious Allied winged guests, who come to us from Salonique,
from the heroic army of Sarrail, from that corner of ground which,
right in the heart of the Balkans, sinks in like a vice, to choke in
its powerful grip the Bulgars and our common enemies. As legitimate
reprisal for the cowardly attack on Bukarest by the Zeppelins, the
French aviators had received orders to bombard Sofia and reach Roumania
afterwards. Yesterday, Wednesday, at 6.20 a.m., four French avions left
Salonique. The first, a Farman biplane, was conducted by the heroic
Sous-Lieutenant Noël, one of the best aviators of the French Army,
who had already sunk two German avions in the course of seventeen
months passed on the German front. The Sous-Lieutenant Noël brought
with him Lieutenant Leseur, one of the best observers of the Army of
Salonique. The second biplane was mounted by Sergeant Lamprou and the
Soldier-Machine-Gunner Masson; the third by the Lieutenant Quillery and
an observer, and the fourth by the Sergeant Rohan and a machine-gunner.
‘At 8.40 the Noël biplane arrived above Sofia, where were to be seen
several fires lighted by one of the French avions which had just
passed. The Lieutenant Leseur let go many bombs. The aviators were
perfectly guided by the sparkling dome of the cathedral. Let us say
that the bombs thrown contained an explosive newly discovered by the
French, and of an extraordinary power of destruction. Some German
avions made chase to the French avions, which were soon able to
distance them without being touched by their projectiles. At 11.20 a.m.
the avions, piloted by the Sous-Lieutenant Noël, arrived at Bukarest,
where he descended directly in the aviation field, in the midst of the
delirious acclamation of the Roumanian aviators. The biplane Lamprou
descended at Alexandria, and the two others landed, according to
orders, at Turnu-Magaurele.
‘Six hundred kilometres in a single stage! A hundred and twenty
kilometres to the hour! The difficult crossing of the Balkans, with
their heights of over 2,900 metres (9,000 feet), their pernicious
currents, their thousand and one difficulties, effected without
encumbrance, without the least accident! What marvellous exploit of
ability, of cool blood, of this legendary and magnificent heroism
French! What new and beautiful page of glory to inscribe to the credit
of the aviation French! Salutes to you, glorious heroes of the air!
Salutes to you, well-beloved colours of France, which in these solemn
hours come to unite yourselves to the tricolour Roumanian! Roumania has
received you open-armed with legitimate pride, and from the plains of
the Danube up to the slopes of the Carpathians, and from the banks of
the Olt and of the Muresh, and from those of the Black Sea, to those of
the Thass, a sole cry sincere, but which sums up all our sentiments,
will hail you, “Vive la France! Vive l’armée française!!”’
High praise, very warmly expressed, and richly deserved!
‘The aviators,’ says one who writes with intimate knowledge of their
movements, ‘deserved thoroughly the acclamation. All the French pilots
remained for a while in Roumania except Louis Noël, who flew back alone
on the nineteenth again without landing. Owing to a head wind after
reaching the seaward side of the Balkans, he only just scraped home
without a drop of essence.’ It should be added that Lieutenant Noël
is well known at Hendon, and has been justly termed one of the most
decorated and distinguished of Hendon aviators.