Eric de Spoelberch
Éric Antoine Ghislain Joseph,[1] Viscount de Spoelberch (15 February 1903 – 17 January 1939) was a Belgian pilot. He was born in Brussels and died in Nivelles.
Family
He was son of Guillaume de Spoelberch (1874–1947) and Colienne de Neufforge (1882–1929).[2] He married Katharine Kelso Stewart 28 April 1932, in Haverford; Katherine's mother was Elsie Foster Cassatt (1875–1931), a sportswoman from a prominent Pennsylvania family, niece of artist Mary Cassatt and great-niece of president James Buchanan. The couple had two sons, Guillaume and Jacques de Spoelberch.
Career
As a lieutenant in the Aéronautique Militaire he was one of two Belgian pilots sent to Britain to evaluate the Hawker Hurricane and the Supermarine Spitfire.[3] In the following January he was killed in an air accident while flight-testing a plane.[4]
As a bobsledder he competed in the 1936 Winter Olympics in Garmisch-Partenkirchen; he finished eighth both in the two-man and four-man events.
honours
- Knight in the Order of Leopold.[1]
- Knight in the Order of Leopold II.
References
- ^ a b "Gedenkplaat Ltn Vl de Spoelberch – Hangar Flying". www.luchtvaarterfgoed.be.
- ^ "Guillaume de Spoelberch – dumontdechassart – Geneanet". geneanet.org.
- ^ Belgian Wings.be "In the summer of 1938 two Aéronautique Militaire Belge pilots (Capt. Pierre Arend and Lt. Vicomte Eric de Spoelberch) were sent on a mission to the United Kingdom to evaluate in flight the two best British fighter aircraft; the Hawker Hurricane I and the Supermarine Spitfire I."
- ^ Belgian Chamber of Representatives • Session of 19 May 1939 "... a été causée par le malheureux accident dont a, été victime, le 17 février, le regretté pilote Eric de Spoelberch; il n'était pas démontré que cet accident ait été dû à un défaut de construction de l'appareil. J'aurais voulu pouvoir lire à la Chambre des extraits d'un rapport d'experts, dont le ... experts désignés par le juge d'instruction de Nivelles, — et qui-concluaient d'instruction de Nivelles, — et qui-concluaient... "
- 1903 births
- 1939 deaths
- Belgian Air Component officers
- Test pilots
- Aviators killed in aviation accidents or incidents in Belgium
- Belgian male bobsledders
- Spoelberch
- Bobsledders at the 1936 Winter Olympics
- Olympic bobsledders of Belgium
- Sportspeople from Brussels
- Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1939
- European nobility stubs
- European bobsleigh biography stubs
- Belgian winter sports biography stubs