Original French WWI Nieuport 11 Biplane Skin Painted Angry Rooster Insignia Original Items

Original Item: One-of-a-kind. Cut from the tail section of a Nieuport 11 Biplane, this is the skin or canvas fabric used to line the body of the airplane. This Angry Rooster insignia section was reportedly cut away from a crashed Bébé that was shot down during the Great War. The reverse side is marked in handwritten pencil;
Nieuport
22-4-18[signature]

Aircraft skin section measures 28″ x 24 1/4” and is offered in very good condition.

The insignia of the angry rooster or fighting cock was associated with Escadrille (Squadron) BR 216. It originated with Ace Paul Albert Pierre Tarascon who was born in Le Thor, France on 8 December 1882.

Tarascon joined the French military in 1901; upon his release from active duty, he was assigned to the 4e Regiment d’Infanterie Coloniale. He became interested in aviation after his release, and decided to learn to fly. In 1911, while learning to fly, he crashed so badly that his right foot had to be amputated. This would spark his later nickname: l’as la jambe de bois (the ace with the wooden leg).

Despite his handicap, when World War I began, he volunteered as an aviator and was accepted. He completed military training, receiving Military Pilot’s Brevet No. 1741 on 14 December 1914, and became an instructor in January 1915. He requested a combat assignment, and was sent to Escadrille 31 on 6 October 1915, to Escadrille 3 on 1 May 1916, and shortly thereafter to Escadrille 62.

Flying a Nieuport fighter, he scored his first win on 15 July 1916. By 17 November, he had run his total to eight victories in Nieuports. Before he resumed scoring on 6 April 1917, he had changed planes to a Spad. He scored twice more in mid-1917, then one final time on 15 July 1918. Tarascon’s personal insignia of a black fighting cock had become adopted by his squadron.

Tarascon survived the war, and rose to the rank of colonel. He fought in the French Resistance during World War II.

Paul Albert Pierre Tarascon died on 11 June 1977.