On 12 May 1945 during a victory fly-past to mark the war's conclusion, another Tempest collided with his, and as a result an air pile-up occurred with four close formation low-flying aeroplanes of his flight involved, with three pilots being killed. Clostermann bailed out, his parachute opening just a few metres above the ground.

Did this happen? I haven't been able to locate the event or details of the three pilots killed. A flypast just four days after the EOW seems remarkable well organised...except for the deaths of three pilots.

K

p.s. let's not answer that it's Clostermann's old malarkey. I am a veteran of his stories, especially those proved to be false. But his record as a pilot is worth admiration.

Re: Clostermann and the Victory FlyPast 12 May 1945.
 

The 3 Squadron ORB records this for the 12th May 1945

Wing practice formation over BREMERHAVEN. Our squadron was lead by S/LDR R B COLE consisted of twelve aircraft and the trip lasted 1hr 40 mins. We regret the loss of F/LT W R ROBERTSON and SGT W CAMPBELL who collided in mid air over BREMERHAVEN.

Re: Clostermann and the Victory FlyPast 12 May 1945.
 

And if you search in the RAF Commands database you find the pilots and their aircraft:
https://www.rafcommands.com/database...php?qnum=38734

https://www.rafcommands.com/database....php?qnum=6973


And there was a thread on it in RAFCommands forum
https://forum.rafcommands.com/forum/...5-45#post35192

Re: Clostermann and the Victory FlyPast 12 May 1945.
 

I'm probably posting here because The Big Show's account of his time on Tempests got 14-year-old me interested in the late-war period but I now recognise that Clostermann was as gifted a journalist/author as he was a fighter pilot.

Re: Clostermann and the Victory FlyPast 12 May 1945.
 

I was a bit older (nineteen), it was 1976 and I found a copy of "The Big Show" in a second-hand bookshop in Tollcross, Edinburgh. I have just bought a copy of "Leo25...." out of nostalgia. I sold my original copy when I went to live in India in 1988. Since then I have been put off by the prices commanded for this novella but I found a cheap copy on E-Bay. As we know the hero flies Spitfires, Mistrals and Thunderstreaks before becoming a light aircraft recon pilot.

Re: Clostermann and the Victory FlyPast 12 May 1945.
 

Clostermann was obviously including details from the record of Gabriel "GeGe" Gauthier among his fictional character's career resume.