French aviator Charles Godefroy flies through Arc de Triomphe. Paris, 1919
French aviator Charles Godefroy flies through Arc de Triomphe. Paris, 1919. A French WWI veteran took off on a secret mission that would propel him into the record books: a daredevil flight under the monumental Arc de Triomphe in Paris. Charles Godefroy pulled off the stunt on August 7, 1919, to the astonishment of crowds gathered below on the Champs- Elysees. Dozens fled or threw themselves on the ground as the biplane whizzed just a few metres over their heads. Garros who claimed that trying to fit through the narrow 14.5-metre (48-foot) opening would lead to an untimely death, according to French historian Philippe Gras. SHOP NOW ON AMAZON Road to Surrender Three Men and the Countdown to the End of World War II But Godefroy had practised by flying under a bridge at Miramas on the Mediterranean coast and chose a Nieuport fighter plane with a wingspan of just nine metres. Like other airmen who fought during World War 1, Godefroy took offence when pilots were ordered to march...