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Title: Marcel Doret
Description: “The king of aerial acrobatics,” “the king of the air,” “one of the greatest . . . crack speed pilots in the world”—these are just a few of the praises admirers sang for one of France’s greatest aerial acrobats and aviators, Marcel Doret. A war hero from World War I and a test pilot for the Dewoitine aircraft company for twenty-five years, Doret wowed millions across Europe and America with his astounding flying feats. How appropriate, then, that he would be a face for the Société Yacco engine oil and lubricant company, also a leader in the engine lubrication industry. Born in Paris in 1896, Doret entered World War I at 18, joining the French artillery corps, as a mechanic. Toward the end of the war, he was transferred from the artillery to the French air arm and began to fly. During the war he was wounded, receiving multiple citations for bravery. As well, during the course of his career he earned some of his country’s highest decorations: the Légion d’Honneur, the Medaille Militaire, and seven Croix de Guerre medals. He held eighteen world records for stunt flying, and flew as Dewoitine’s test pilot for almost the entire period of the company’s operation. |
Along with the French aviator Joseph Lebrix, he made two attempts to fly from Paris to Tokyo to set distance and speed records in the early 1930’s. Both times they crashed, and tragically, the second crash killed Lebrix and their mechanic. His dream still alive, Doret would try again to make the flight in January 1937, and would crash again, this time in the Gulf of Tonkin. Both he and his radio operator survived. Undeterred, he made a fourth attempt in May of 1937, with a heartbreaking end: he and his fellow pilot crashed (and survived) in Japan just shy of their goal of Tokyo. During his career, Doret also set world auto speed records in 1925 and 1927, founded France’s biggest flying academy, the Aéro-Club de la Somme, and in 1939, headed the pilot training school at Saumur. During World War II he organized a squadron of fighters for the French Resistance, with the French pilots using captured German aircraft. Upbeat and cheerful, he was a headliner wherever he performed. He had been suffering a lengthy illness when he died in 1955. The public associated Doret with the red-striped D-series Dewoitine “parasol”-style monoplane seen in the poster. He always flew Dewoitines while working for the company, and the red stripes of his paint scheme marked him out as he zoomed out of the sky towards the ground, pulling up with only feet to spare, before rocketing back into the air to twist and turn. He would also perform a stunt involving cutting his engine while in midair, then gliding his plane to the ground and taxiing without power to his space on the airfield. The aerial abilities of these aircraft reflected the initial engineering goal of Emile Dewoitine when he founded his company in 1920: design a single-engine fighter. Yacco was also at the forefront of its field. Founded in 1919 by Frenchman Jean Dintilhac, Yacco’s technical personnel succeeded in stabilizing hydrocarbons with additives—a first in the field. This process laid the groundwork for all modern engine lubricants to follow. |
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