La pensée du jour

Roland Adrien Georges Garros, né le 6 octobre 1888 à Saint-Denis de La Réunion, est un aviateur français, lieutenant pilote lors de la Première Guerre mondiale, mort dans un combat aérien le 5 octobre 1918 à Saint-Morel (Ardennes), la veille de ses 30 ans.

Sa célébrité est d'abord venue de ses exploits sportifs en aviation, et surtout de la toute première traversée aérienne de la Méditerranée, qu'il effectue le 23 septembre 1913. Il a mis au point une technique permettant le tir à travers l'hélice d'un avion de chasse.

Aujourd'hui, son nom reste associé au tournoi des Internationaux de France de tennis, car il se déroule dans le stade qui porte son nom depuis sa construction en 1928.

Swiss engineer Franz Schneider, working for Luftverkehrs Gesellschaft, designed and patented a synchronizer in 1913. French aircraft designer Raymond Saulnier built and patented a practical gun synchronizer in April 1914, having borrowed a machine gun from the army for testing. No design was developed to the point of being operational in the field, one significant problem being the inconsistency of ammunition propellant resulting in hang fire rounds.

Saulnier pursued a simpler method using armoured propeller blades. In December 1914, French pilot Roland Garros approached Saulnier to arrange for this device to be installed on his aeroplane but it was not until March 1915 that he took to the air with a forward-firing Hotchkiss 8 mm (.323 in) machine gun mounted on his Morane-Saulnier Type L.[1] In addition to the armoured blades, Garros's mechanic, Jules Hue, attached deflector wedges to the blades. While this reduced the chance of a dangerous ricochet, the wedges diminished the propeller's efficiency.

On 1 April 1915, flying for MS26, Garros shot down his first German aircraft, killing both the crew. On 18 April 1915, having shot down three German aircraft, Garros' plane was forced down in German territory.[1] Before he could burn his aircraft, he was captured and the gun and propeller were sent for evaluation by the Inspektion der Fliegertruppen (Idflieg) at Döberitz near Berlin.

Fokker's team [...]aircraft, with factory serial number (or Werknummer) 216, for the Fokker E.I — was demonstrated on 19–20 May 1915 and shipped to the Western Front on 30 May 1915.