Albert Deullin

Capitaine Albert Louis Deullin (24 August 1890 – 29 May 1923) was a French World War I flying ace credited with twenty aerial victories. He served for the entirety of World War I. By war's end, he had risen to command of a fighter wing. He died in a postwar flying accident.

Early life

Albert Louis Deullin was born on 24 August 1890 in Épernay, France. He joined the French military and was a non-commissioned officer on inactive status from the Dragoons by October 1912. The outbreak of World War I saw Deullin mobilized in his old unit. He was commissioned as a Sous lieutenant in December 1914.

Aerial service

Deullin transferred to aviation duty in late April 1915. After pilot's training, he earned Pilot's Brevet No. 2708 on 14 June 1915. On 2 July 1915, he was assigned to fly two-seater Maurice Farman reconnaissance aircraft for Escadrille MF62. He scored his first aerial victory on 10 February 1916 while on a long reconnaissance flight behind German lines.

Postwar career

After the war, Deullin served as chief pilot of CFRNA (Compagnie franco-roumaine de navigation aérienne; French-Romanian Company for Air Transport), employing many veterans pilots from former GC 19. Flying old Salmson 2A2 from military surplus, the company opened aerial lines from Paris to eastern European cities, including Istanbul. In 1923, the company flew on the early commercial airplanes such as the Caudron C.61.

Albert Deullin died in a flying accident at Villacoublay on 29 May 1923.

Honors and awards Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur "Pilot with exceptional initiative and sang-froid, endlessly seeking battle against enemy planes. Wounded on 2 April 1916 during the course of aerial combat, he returned to his Escadrille before being completely rehabilitated, and since his return has had twelve auspicious combats. On 30 April 1916, he attacked point blank an enemy plane and downed it in front of our trenches. Already cited twice in army orders."(Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur citation, 4 June 1916)