Marcel Pierre Vialet

Name:

Country:

France

Rank:

Sous Lieutenant

Service:

French Air Service

Units:

C53, N67

Victories:

Born:

21 August 1887

Place of Birth:

Perth, Western Australia, Australia

Lyon, France

Died:

21 September 1925

Place of Death:

Wounded in action while serving in the cavalry, Marcel Pierre Vialet requested a transfer to aviation in 1915. Receiving a Pilot's Brevet later that year, he was posted to Escadrille C53 as a two-seater pilot. After downing one aircraft and accumulating 376 hours of flight time, he was reassigned to Escadrille N67 in June 1916. Flying single-seat fighters, Vialet scored 8 more victories by the end of the year.

Médaille Militaire

"Marechal-des-Logis of the Escadrille C53. A pilot of great value who always shows his courage, audacity and sang-froid. On 28 April 1916, returning from a reconnaissance over German lines, from close in he attacked a German plane which was seen to fall disabled. On 30 April [1916] he resolutely attacked an enemy scout in order to ward it away from an airplane he was protecting. Having had his controls cut, he succeeded after a fall of 2,000 meters to stabilize his plane and save his observer." Médaille Militaire citation, 22 May 1916

Légion d'Honneur

"Marechal-des-Logis pilot of Escadrille N67, wounded twice in the cavalry, requested a transfer to aviation where he has become a pilot of the highest order, of remarkable strength and exceptional audacity. Already has the Médaille Militaire for downing two enemy planes, under particularly difficult circumstances, in March and April 1916; on 6 August [1916] he succeeded during the course of the same flight to down two other German planes sequentially one behind our lines the other near the trenches." Légion d'Honneur citation, 29 August 1916

Victories

	Date	Time	Unit	Aircraft	Opponent	Location
1	28 Apr 1916		C53	Caudron	Fokker E	Bois de Caures
2	06 Aug 1916	0900	N67	Nieuport	Aviatik	Avocourt
3	06 Aug 1916	0910	N67	Nieuport	Aviatik	Vauquois
4	25 Sep 1916		N67	Nieuport	EA	Ablancourt-Briost
5	22 Oct 1916		N67	Nieuport	EA	Mans-en-Chaussee
6	23 Nov 1916		N67	Nieuport	Two-seater	Nurlu-Moislains
7	04 Dec 1916	0750	N67	Nieuport	Fokker	Brugny
8	18 Dec 1916	1445	N67	Nieuport	Halberstadt D
9			N67	Nieuport	EA

Books

Over the Front: by Norman L. R. Franks, Frank W. Bailey / Hardcover / Grub Street the Basement (May 1992)