Georges Marie Ludovic Jules Guynemer was a thin, sickly child. Turned down five times by the army and navy as physically unfit, he finally made it into the new French Air Service. But this kid, dubbed "Mademoiselle" by his fellows, went on to officially shoot down 53 German planes.

Guynemer scored his first victory in 1915. Flying a SPAD he named "Vieux Charles," Guynemer had 25 official kills by the end of 1916. Once in May 1917, he became the first pilot to shoot down four planes in one day. But his most bizarre victory occurred five months before.

Out hunting, Guynemer was surprised by an Albatros firing at him from behind. Maneuvering "Vieux Charles" away from the gunfire, he got under the German and let go ten quick shots. Then his Vickers gun jammed. Guynemer flew above the Albatros, then dove for it—for all the world like a man who was about to shoot. Keeping close behind, Guynemer chased the German toward French lines. At 300 feet, the observer on the Albatros signaled surrender and the Germans landed. It was not the first time that an airplane surrendered in the air. But it was the first time that one surrendered to an unarmed pilot!

Almost eight months after this marvelous bluff, Guynemer disappeared without a trace. A German doctor wrote that he had found Guynemer dead beside his plane. But the French people never accepted that report. Even today, French children recount the legend of the boy who flew so high he could never come down again.