Date of birth:

October 30th, 1917 (Niort, France)

Date of death:

July 16th, 1943 (region Krasnikovo, Orel, Oriol, Soviet Union)

Nationality:

French (1870-present, Republic)

Pre-war and battle of France

Born in Niort in Deux-Sèvres on October 30, 1917, Noël Castelain joined the air force in 1936. When war broke out, he was stationed at 702 Avord Air Base where he was a sergeant at the hunting school . During the German advance in May 1940, he decided to leave for North Africa and embark with a small group for Morocco. But when he arrived in Casablanca, he and his comrades realized that the French troops in Africa risked siding with the Vichy regime. They therefore decide to re-embark again, this time to join England. After a stopover in Gibraltar, she reached London at the beginning of July 1940.
North Africa

Engaged in the Free French Air Force at the St Athan camp (en) where he befriended Albert Littolff, he was then sent to an Operational Training Unit at Sutton Bridge (en). Eager to fight in Africa, he was assigned to the Mixed Combat Group No. 1 of Lieutenant-Colonel Lionel de Marmier. Embarked aboard the Pennland, he took part in the Battle of Dakar in September 1940 then landed in Douala. At the beginning of 1941, he was moved to Ismailia and was one of the six pilots forming the brand new French fighter squadron n ° 14. Engaged in the Desert War, he won an aerial victory over Tobruk but was hit in turn on April 23, 19414. Managing to reach his base, he was seriously injured when he landed and hospitalized in Tobruk. Once healed, he was assigned to an air liaison unit and then in June 1942, he joined the ranks of the 'Alsace' Hunting Group.
Eastern front.
In October 1942, following Albert Littolff, he volunteered to join the 'Normandy-Niémen' Hunting Group destined to fight on the Eastern Front. Promoted to second lieutenant, he took part in operations in Russia in the spring of 1943 and obtained six new aerial victories, making him an aviation ace like his friend and mentor Albert Littolff. This complicity continued until death since on July 16, 1943, during an attack on a group of bombers, the two men disappeared at the same time above Orel.

Noël Castelain totaled 1,100 flight hours and 129 war missions when he died.

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• Photo: Noël CASTELAIN | L'Ordre de la Libération et son Musée
  
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