{"id":1594688,"date":"2023-11-10T17:20:03","date_gmt":"2023-11-10T16:20:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/armahobbynews.pl\/?p=1594688"},"modified":"2024-07-22T09:13:35","modified_gmt":"2024-07-22T07:13:35","slug":"boy-du-vivier-and-his-hurricane-years-40006-70054","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/armahobbynews.pl\/en\/blog\/2023\/11\/10\/boy-du-vivier-and-his-hurricane-years-40006-70054\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cBoy\u201d du Vivier and His Hurricane Years"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Belgian Fighter Pilot<\/h2>\n

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\nBefore ending up in the British Isles and flying on the Hurricane, Daniel Albert Raymond Georges le Roy du Vivier \u2013 nicknamed \u201cBoy\u201d by his comrades-in-arms \u2013 managed to gain some experience as a fighter pilot. In September 1939, while serving with the 2e R\u00e9giment d’A\u00e9ronautique and defending Belgian neutrality, he clashed in the air with a British Whitley; during the encounter, his Fairey Firefly received several hits. On 14 May 1940, flying the same fighter type (number Y-71), he was actually shot down, and by his own artillery to boot. At that precise moment he could not possibly have described his career as a success, all the more so as Belgium was under occupation, while France, where he had evacuated together with his Groupe \u201cCocottes\u201d, signed a humiliating truce with Hitler after just a few weeks. Like many other Belgians and Frenchmen, he did the right thing and deserted. He made his way to Britain \u2013 the last hope of free men in Europe \u2013 by sea, via Gibraltar.<\/p>\n

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On 9 September 1939, du Vivier underwent his baptism of fire on a Fairey Firefly IIM identical to the one in the photograph. On 14 May 1940, while flying an aircraft with the designation Y-71, he was accidentally shot down by Belgian forces near Antwerp. A photograph of Y-71 can be found on the very interesting website of Daniel Brackx <\/em>www.belgian-wings.be<\/a>, from whose collection the above picture has been taken<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

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The Fiat Cr.42 was the primary fighter of Groupe des \u201cCocottes\u201d at the time of the German invasion on 10 May 1940. As many as seventeen of the twenty-seven that were in service were destroyed or badly damaged on the airfields of Brustem and Nivelles during the first day of the Third Reich\u2019s attack. The unit was forced to pull its old Fireflies out of storage. Photograph by Daniel Brackx<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

1\/48 Hurricane IIc – Galeria – Marcin Ciepierski<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n