Marinovitch enlisted at seventeen, earned his pilot's licence the same year, and a journalist called him the youngest of the aces: fourteen aircraft shot down before his twentieth year, the Legion of Honour at nineteen. He survived the war. It was in September 1919, performing aerobatics above a Belgian airfield, before King Albert, that he was killed. The tally of victories carved on the stone exceeds that of the records.
The story
Made a knight of the Légion d'honneur six days before his twentieth birthday: Pierre Marinovitch had been flying a fighter for two years, and the journalist Jacques Mortane had already nicknamed him “le benjamin des as”, the baby of the aces — the youngest of the great French pilots of the war.
Born in Paris on 1 August 1898 to a Serbian father and a Russian mother of Polish descent, grandson of Jovan Marinovitch, prime minister of Serbia in 1873-1874, Pierre Marinovitch spoke English, Russian, Serbo-Croat and German. He enlisted at seventeen, on 12 February 1916, qualified as a pilot on 15 November and joined Escadrille 94, near Châlons-en-Champagne. His first victory came on 8 September 1917; he would end with twenty-one confirmed, and five probables that were never credited.
A second lieutenant in October 1918, awarded the military medal and a croix de guerre with fourteen palms, he survived the war. On 2 September 1919, at Evere aerodrome, he gave an aerobatic display before King Albert I and Queen Elisabeth of Belgium. His aircraft crashed; he died the same day in the military hospital in Brussels. He was twenty-one.
His stone claims twenty-five official victories where the official tally confirms twenty-one — the gap between the official tally and the family's tribute is carved in the granite. It ends on a phrase that says nothing of aerobatics: “Victim of his courage and of his love for his country.”
The grave
A military inscription that inflates the tally a little: “SLT Pierre MARINOVITCH, pilote aviateur, Benjamin des as de la grande guerre, 25 victoires officielles, légion d'honneur, médaille militaire, croix de guerre, 14 palmes, né le 1.8.1898 à Paris, mort le 2.9.1919 à Bruxelles. Victime de son courage et de son amour pour le pays.” — Second Lieutenant Pierre Marinovitch, aviator, youngest of the aces of the Great War, twenty-five official victories, Legion of Honour, Military Medal, Croix de guerre, fourteen palms, born 1.8.1898 in Paris, died 2.9.1919 in Brussels; a victim of his courage and his love for his country. The official tally credits him with twenty-one victories, plus five probables: the gap between the carved figure and the official one is four. He did not die in combat, but in an aerobatic display, before the King of the Belgians.
On site, do not miss
The stone announces “25 victoires officielles” — twenty-five official victories — and “14 palmes” when the official tally credits him with twenty-one. It ends: “Victime de son courage et de son amour pour le pays” — a victim of his courage and his love for his country.
Visitors' questions
Where is Pierre Marinovitch's grave?
In Division 92, avenue Carette, first row. The epitaph calls him the “Benjamin des as de la grande guerre”, the baby of the Great War aces, and claims twenty-five confirmed victories, where the official tally allows twenty-one, plus five probables.
Victor NoirHow many victories did he win?
Twenty-one confirmed — plus five probables that were never allowed — of which fourteen before he turned twenty. His stone carves twenty-five: the gap between the official tally and the family tribute has never closed.
The Nieport brothersWhy “the baby of the aces”?
It was the journalist Jacques Mortane who gave him the name: he enlisted at seventeen, had brought down fourteen machines before his twentieth birthday, and was a Knight of the Legion of Honour at nineteen.
Guillaume ApollinaireHow did he die?
At peace, and in front of a king: on 2 September 1919 he was giving an aerobatic display over the airfield at Evere before King Albert I and Queen Elisabeth of the Belgians. He had survived the whole war, and was twenty-one.
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