Sgt Eagle
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Michel "MIKE" Donnet et Co .
MICHEL DONNET & LEON DIVOY
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July 5th 1941 , Clacton , suddenly out of the blue a biplane lands on the airstrip on board two flight officers wearing proudly their Belgian pilots uniform .
Who were those men, were did they come from , how did they manage to cross the channel in one piece ?
Both were immediately conducted to the British autorities .
Their names : MICHEL DONNET & LEON DIVOY .
When the Germans invaded Belgium in May 1940, Michael Donnet had just completed his training as an officer cadet in the Belgian Air Force. After a desperate one sided battle against the might of the Luftwaffe which ended with Belgium�s surrender, Donnet and his friend Leon Divoy were determined to carry on the fight, -in the air.
With an old Stampe-Vertongen Biplane they took off at Mont-Saint-Jean near Waterloo .
They flew away under the German occupier's nose .
The biplane was the old plane wich was flewn by an ancient Belgian combat pilot of the 2nd Aeronautic regiment Thierry d'Huart .
Helped out by friends and Belgian Resistance they managed to get this old bird to fly again , the field near Waterloo had a small guards post , their first date of departure was fixed on the 30th of june but the plane wouldn't start .
Tough luck but both men continued to work on their airplane an managed to get it fly worthy again on the 4th of July , the tests are good but both won't take off that day because of the guards .
In the early morning of the 5th July they take off Leon Divoy is at the commands of the plane , first they head to Gent were when they fly over the city German Flak opens fire ,but so unprecisely that they manage to ge trough .
To finaly cross the channel and rejoin their fellow country men already flying in the RAF .
But the story did not end with the arrival in England. Donnet and Divoy both became Spitfire pilots in the Royal Air Force and though Divoy crashed in spectacular circumstances and became a prisoner of war for the second time, Donnet became one of the leading RAF fighter pilots of the Second World War. Taking part in fighter operations from continuously from 1942 until VE Day.
Michel Donnet would become -after joining the 350th squadron -in March 1944 CO of this squadron .
Donnet was a fine pilot and good tactician, Divoy also was, both men died several years ago .
WITH THIS I PAY A TRIBUTE TO TWO DARE DEVILS WHO DID WHAT THEY HAD TO DO TO FIGHT BACK ON THE ENEMY ,NOW MORE THAN 60 YEARS AGO .
Sgt Eagle
Source : book:The Belgian Aviation History
Last edited by Sgt Eagle, 4/30/2004, 10:17 am
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From this day till the ending of the world we in it shall be remembered ,we Band Of Brothers Henry V-W.Shakespear
Eendracht maakt Macht !
GO Belgium
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4/30/2004, 10:15 am
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