WILLY COPPENS 1892-1986 AKA Willy Coppens d'Houthulst

WILLY COPPENS Collection of Dave Lam, 2-20-05

 

Jan Olieslagers, Max Olieslagers, and Willy Coppens d'Houthulst      The latter was a Belgian Air ace and close friend of Jan Olieslagers.      The picture was taken at Antwerp Airport, at the Stampe and Vertongen works, in 1929 on the occasion of a meeting organized for Jan Olieslagers 20th anniversary of his first flight (in 1909).      In the background is a Stampe Vertongen technician. Contributed by Dirk Buytaert, 7-23-11

 

ONLINE RESOURCES      If you search for "Willy Coppens", using the Google search engine, (2-22-05), you will find about 241 links! The one cited below is a good place to start. As time permits, you may want to sample some of the other links.

Knights of the Sky Willy Coppens Blue Devil      This page, which is a machine-translated version of the orginal story in French, offers a readable and very interesting revue of his life and career.      You can access the page by clicking on the title above. If you read French, you might prefer to access the original page by clicking on: Les Chevaliers du Ciel

 

Who's Who: Willy Coppens      This page on The First World War.Com website offers a nice revue of the career of Coppens. It covers some of the highlights of his life. According to the information on the website, "He was Belgium's highest-scoring fighter pilot during the First World War, scoring 37 victories by the war's close."      You can access the page by clicking on the title above.

 

WILLY COPPENS Collection of Bob Salsman, 11-16-06

 

Willy Coppens died on 21 December 1986 aged 94. from the First World War.Com website   If you have any more information on this pioneer aviator please contact me. E-mail to Ralph Cooper

 

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