Marcel Haegelen

Colonel Marcel Émile Haegelen  (13 September 1896 - 24 May 1950), Legion d'Honneur, Medaille Militaire, Croix de Guerre, was a World War I French flying ace credited with 22 victories.

Biography
He was born on 13 September 1896.

After peace, he became test pilot for Hanriot aviation firm. He won in 1931 and 1932 the aircraft challenge Coupe Michelin with a Lorraine Hanriot LH-41/2 aircraft. On the second one, he registered world record of velocity flight on 2000 km distance with the speed of 263.900 km/h.

Mobilised as fighter pilot on beginning of World War II, lieutenant-colonel Marcel Haegelen won his 23d victory on board of a Curtiss H 75, shooting a German airplane on 14 June 1940.

Member of French Resistance, he was arrested by Germans in 1943 and jailed in Bourges.

When he died on 24 May 1950, he was Grand officier of Légion d'honneur.