Guynemer monument Poelkapelle

High above this roundabout flies an elegant stork. The monument commemorates a hero of French military aviation, Georges Guynemer. Guynemer was a member of the famous “escadrille des cicognes”: the Stork Squadron. He flew a Spad biplane and was one of the war's leading 'aces'.

Successful fighter pilots were amongst the most popular heroes of the Great War. Newspapers kept the public informed of their latest 'scores', almost as if they were writing about a sporting competition. Guynemer was the most famous of the French pilots, equivalent to the Red Baron, Manfred Von Richthofen, in Germany. But he was not the most successful French ace; that was René Fonck with 75 victories (just five fewer than Von Richthofen). Even so, Guynemer remained the public's favourite. In two years, he shot down 53 aircraft, notwithstanding his young age.

On 11 September 1917 he took off for a mission over Poelkapelle. He never returned to his base near Diksmuide. British troops later learnt that a plane had been shot down near Poelkapelle that day. However, the whole area was subsequently bombarded, so that it could never be established whether the plane was Guynemer's Spad or not. Such was his fame that his death was even reported across the ocean in the 'New York Times'.

The photograph of the inauguration of the monument in 1923 shows a sunken tank at the corner of the village square. It remained there until the Second World War. It also played an important part in the life - and death - of Dudley White.

Vl. Toeristisch bezienswaardigheden