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Willy
de Houthulst (Willy Coppens)
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| Country: |
Belgium |
| Born: |
06 July 1892 |
| Place of Birth: |
Watermaal-Bosvoorde |
| Deceased: |
21 December 1986 |
| Rank: |
Major |
| Service: |
Belgian Air Service |
| Units: |
1ère, 4me, 6me, 9me |
| Victories: |
37 |
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| Coppens joined the army in 1912,
serving with the 2nd Grenadiers before transferring
to the Compagnie des Aviateurs in 1914. At his
own expense, he and thirty nine other Belgians
enrolled in a civilian flying school at Hendon,
England. After additional training in France,
Coppens began flying two-seaters in combat during
1916. The following year, he was assigned to
single-seat fighters and soon became an expert
at shooting down enemy observation balloons.
After downing a balloon, Coppens would often
perform aerial acrobatic displays above the enemy.
On one occasion, the balloon he was attacking
shot upward and Coppens actually landed his cobalt
blue Hanriot HD.1 on top of it. Switching off
his engine to protect the propeller, he waited
until his aircraft slid off the top of the balloon,
then restarted the engine and watched as the
German balloon burst into flames and sank to
the ground. On the morning of 14 October 1918,
his days as a fighting pilot came to an end near
Thourout in northwestern Belgium. Just as he
began the attack that would culminate in his
37th victory, Coppens was hit in the left leg
by an incendiary bullet. Despite a severed artery
and intense pain, he shot down his target and
managed to crash land within the safety of his
own lines. His badly shattered leg had to be
amputated. Before he retired from the army in
1940, Coppens served as a military attaché in
France, Great Britain, Italy and Switzerland. |
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