Jean de Suarez d'Aulan

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Aviator Jean d'Aulan

Jean de Suarez d'Aulan (20 November 1900 – 8 October 1944) was a French aviator, auto racer, bobsledder, businessman and soldier.

Background[]

The ‘de Suarez’ name originates from the Spanish aristocracy which held the title Duke of Feria,[citation needed] whilst the ‘d’Aulan’ (of Aulan) name originates from the French family seat of that name which is attached to the titles of Marquis and Count. Moran Suarez, from which the Suarez d'Aulan are directly descended, was one of forty knights who captured the city of Xores (Jerez de la Frontera), on the Moors, in 1266.

Jean d'Aulan was the son of Marquis François de Suarez d'Aulan (1864–1910) and his wife Madeleine de Geoffre de Chabrignac, and grandson of Marquis Arthur de Suarez d'Aulan (whose second wife was the American heiress Norma Christmas, of Natchez, Mississippi).[1]

Bobsleigh career[]

As a bobsledder, d'Aulan won a bronze medal in the four-man event at the 1934 FIBT World Championships in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Competing in four Winter Olympics, his best finish was fourth in the four-man event at the 1924 Winter Olympics in Chamonix.

Auto racing career[]

d'Aulan drove an EHP in the 1925 24 Hours of Le Mans race with , finishing 14th.

Aviation career[]

As an aviator, d'Aulan won rally events in Egypt in 1937 and in France in 1938.

Military career[]

During World War I, d'Aulan fought in the 5th battalion in the infantry, enlisting in 1918. After France fell in 1940, d'Aulan fought for the Allies as a fighter pilot as a Second Lieutenant. He was killed over (Germany) during World War II when his Republic P-47 Thunderbolt was shot down by a Messerschmitt Bf 109.[2]

Personal life[]

d'Aulan married Anne Marie Yolande Kunkelmann in 1926. They had four children. Francois (10th Marquis of Aulan), Catherine (married with Claude Taittinger), Guilaine (married with Count de Poix) and Philippe.

The Marquesses d'Aulan resided during the summer at their ancestral estate, the Château d'Aulan, in the Department of Drôme, in the Southern of France, and in the winter season they occupied their elegant town residence in the fashionable precincts of Paris.

References[]

  1. ^ Norma H. (born 6 July 1855 near Louisville, Kentucky) was the daughter of Richard Christmas and Mary Elizabeth Phillips. Richard Christmas was an extensive landowner in Issaquena County during the antebellum times. His plantation, Shiloh, was located on the Mississippi River. Richard Christmas was a wealthy man of his times owning thousands of acres of land throughout Mississippi. The 1860 Issaquena County Federal Census shows the value of his Issaquena property at $390,000 (which in the years 2003–2004, would be nearly $8 million dollars). The slaves schedules show that his Issaquena County plantation, at the end of the American Civil War, was home to 166 slaves and the plantation consisted of sixty slave houses. After the death of Richard, his widow, Mary Elizabeth and his daughter, Norma H. lived in New Orleans, Washington DC, San Francisco and New York City. They also spent considerable time in Europe. On 17 March 1886, Norma H. married the Marquis de Suarez d'Aulan in Paris.
  2. ^ "Olympians Who Were Killed or Missing in Action or Died as a Result of War". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 24 July 2018.

External links[]

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