Early Years
Born in Brazil in 1921, the only child of a French diplomatic family the young Clostermann completed his secondary education in France. At age 16 he gained his private pilot’s licence and on the outbreak of war in September 1939 he applied for service in the Armee de l’Air, but to his dismay this was refused. As a result he sailed to a then-neutral America to become a commercial pilot, studying at the California Institute of Technology.
Alsace Squadron
In March 1942 Clostermann joined the Free French Air Force in Britain, and following training at RAF Cranwell he was assigned to an operational training unit in Wales for a two-month course on Spitfires. On completion, with the rank of sergeant pilot, Clostermann was posted to 341 squadron RAF based at Turnhouse, Edinburgh. This new unit gained fame as the ‘Alsace’ squadron, composed of Free French pilots who journeyed from far and wide to be part of this unique force. In a surprisingly short time the Alsace squadron was melded into an efficient unit and one month later was posted to the Biggin Hill Wing, south of London. It was a singular honour for so new a squadron to be selected, for prestigious Biggin Hill was the base with the highest number of victories to its credit. At this stage of the war Fighter Command was involved in mounting large-scale offensive sweeps over northern France. To counter these actions the Luftwaffe reacted strongly, notably with the Focke-Wulf 190, which was appearing in increasing numbers. Front-line RAF squadrons were being equipped with the Spitfire IX, at the time the last word in aero-technique and fairly evenly matched against the FW 190. It was during Clostermann’s second such mission that he scored his first combat victories with the downing of two FW 190s.
City of Glasgow Squadron
In September 1943 Clostermann was posted to 602 (‘City of Glasgow’) squadron based at Ashford. During the Battle of Britain this unit had played a starring role and since then had been relegated to a secondary position. It was one of the first units to be transferred to the Tactical Air Force in preparation for the eventual invasion of the continent when it would provide close co-operation with the Army. After the glamorous status of Biggin Hill, 125 Airfield gave a rather ‘country cousin’ impression and for four months the pilots lived under canvas learning to refuel re-arm and camouflage their aircraft and also defend them, leading a real ‘commando’ existence. For the moment they operated with the Spitfire V-D, a clipped-wing variant which gave improved manoeuvrability and speed at low altitudes, but with its lower rated Merlin 45 engine the performance fell away markedly above 5000 feet. Nevertheless the squadron was required to carry out further cross-Channel sweeps before the arrival of their brand new Spitfire IXs, In the meantime it flew fighter sweeps, bomber escorts and dive-bombing and strafing attacks on V-1 launch sites on the French coast.
Stratosphere Combat
In January 1944 the squadron was ordered north to Skeabrae in the Orkneys, which in a northern winter approximated conditions akin to the North Pole. Their role was to foil any attempts at bombing or reconnaissance on the part of the Luftwaffe of Royal Navy units at Scapa Flow. Apart from their usual Spitfire Vs there were four special Strato-Spit VIIs available, each capable of operating up to 45,000 feet. Their opportunity for combat came in February when Clostermann and another pilot intercepted and destroyed a BF 109 on a photo-reconnaissance mission at the remarkable altitude of 41,000 feet.
Normandy Experience
Shortly afterwards the squadron returned to southern England in preparation for the imminent invasion of Europe. It was a period of intense aerial activity involving fighter sweeps and dive-bombing of targets in France. On D-Day itself, 6 June the squadron carried out three sweeps over the Normandy area on a momentous occasion for the Allied forces involved. On II June the squadron was mobilised to spend the night in France from an improvised landing ground, which nevertheless was an emotional moment for an expatriate Frenchman to be treading French soil again. However their sojourn was relatively brief for the squadron returned to England on the following day. However on 17 June the unit returned to France where it operated from a temporary airfield (B11) near Arromanches. It was a period of hectic combat against a most aggressive Luftwaffe when Clostermann added steadily to his victory tally, but 16 months of continuous operational flying had taken its toll and on medical advice he was recalled from operations and transferred to an administrative position with Free French H.Q. in England.
Return to Operations
In December 1944 Clostermann made the decision to return to active operations, and despite a blunt refusal by the Paris-based Ministere De l’Air to permit this, it was through the influence of Colonel Coustey, O.C of French Air Forces in Great Britain that permission was eventually granted. Following a conversion course on Typhoons and Tempests Clostermann returned to operational status on secondment to No274 Tempest squadron as a supernumerary flight lieutenant in command of A flight. This unit was part of 122 Wing and for the moment was based at Volkel, Holland from where it was in constant action against a determined Luftwaffe equipped with the latest FW190s and BF109s and also an increasing number of a new generation of ME262 jet fighters. In his personal Tempest ‘Le Grand Charles’ Clostermann flew an intensive round of fighter sweeps, airfield attacks and rail interdiction missions across northern Germany over the ensuing two months.
Victory in Europe
In March 1945 Clostermann served briefly with another Tempest unit, No.56, prior to a transfer as wing commander of A flight with No.3 squadron. Following the German surrender on 5 May the Tempest Wing took part in a victory fly-past at Bremerhaven, and with it a tragedy as the Tempests in Clostermann’s section became catastrophically tangled up at less than a thousand feet. For the first time in his hectic career Clostermann was forced to bail out and despite the minimum altitude he survived; unlike three of his comrades who perished in their attempts.
Post War Career
In July 1945 Clostermann was demobilised from the RAF and in a post war era he achieved fame in a variety of pursuits, notably as an author with two best-selling books; ‘The Big Show’ a personal account of his war experiences and ‘Flames in the Sky’, a selection of heroic air combat exploits from both Allied and Axis sides. He also had a successful political career, serving eight terms as an MP in the French National Assembly between 1946 and 1969. This remarkable airman died in March 2006 and in a tribute to his return to France in 1944 at the temporary B11 airstrip a road in Longues-sur-Mer was named after Clostermann; this occurred in June 2004, exactly sixty years after that memorable event.
Credit reference ; The Big Show (Clostermann) Penguin 1951
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