René Paul Fonck, the highest scoring Allied ace in World War I, was born in Saulcy-sur-Meurthe, France on March 27, 1894. When he was conscripted in 1914, he refused to serve in the French Air Service. A year in the trenches would change his mind, and after more than 500 hours flying reconnaissance missions, he was assigned to Spa103. Flying the Spad S. VII, Fonck tallied up 75 confirmed kills, twice shooting down 6 opponents in one day.

Fonck was a professional. During engagements, he studied the tactics of his opponent and adjusted accordingly. He conserved his ammunition and flew as close as possible to his target in order to hit vital parts of their aircraft. He was such a skilled pilot that in the entire span of the war, his plane was hit with only one bullet.

Not one to let his accomplishments go unnoticed, even Fonck's friends complained of his bragging. Fonck claimed as many as 125 kills, commenting that he "put the bullets into the target as if [he] placed them by hand."

Fonck died in Paris in June of 1953.

Few people remember Fonck for the following 2 reasons :

• He wasn't killed at war : Unlike most of its fellows/foes pilots who then became legends as well as war heroes, Fonck survived and was quickly forgotten.
  Hermann Goering was the only WW1 survivor who got recognition and a "good" situation in the German army, during WW2.
• Fonck choose the wrong side during WW2 : After the debacle at Mers-el-Kabir, the Vichy Foreign Minister, Pierre Laval, declared on August 10,1940, that the French WW1 air ace, Colonel René Fonck, had organized some 200 French pilots prepared to join Germany in the fight against Britain.
  Fonck then became qualified as a traitor and got in serious troubles that "cancelled" his remaining prestige.