Who is this ace ?

Can anyone a identify this man ? It was painted by Farre and dated 31 August 1917. Apologies for the b/w image - it's all I have. In case I miss the point of how to attach an image to this post (very likely), this description might suffice - Pilot (?) is wearing his flying helmet, wearing his French tunic with winged star collar insignia, Croix de Guerre with 4 palms, Medal Militaire, Legion D'Honneur and what appears to be a three ribbon bar just above his medals. He also wears a fourragere (sp?) of the Croix de guerre on hs left shoulder. I have seen many of the Farre portraits, Duellin, Herteaux, Guynemer, etc., but have never seen this one. [img]c:binuscan/ipm/done/barnes11.tif[/img] If the image does not appear here, I can email to anyone interested in any supported format (tif, jpg, gif, etc). Any help greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance, Mike

[stevedrew]

Michael,
Whilst in France recently, I purchased a two-volume set of books entitled "Les "As" francais de la Grande Guerre" by D. Porret. This may not be the most definitive book written on French Aces during the Great War (your man may not even be an Ace, nor even French!), however, it does contain pictures of most of them. If you email the pic to me, I'll try to identify him. The fact someone bothered to paint his portrait, and the awards he wears would suggest that he may be "famous" enough to appear in the records.
Steve Drew

Michael,
I would like to have a go at it myself; please email me the photo. I'll look at it from the angle of the pilot possibly being an American in the Lafayette Escadrille or the Lafayette Flying Corps... regards...

I have a ton of pictures of Pilots, aces and other to which I am writing a book about right now. Email me the pic and I'll see if I can match up a name to the face.

[Ira_Silverman]

Hi Michael:

I believe the portrait you are writing about appears on page 67 of Farre's book, "Sky Fighters of France" (Boston, Houghton-Mifflin, 1919). He is identified as Lieutenant Partridge.

Farre writes that he first met Partridge at St. Pol at the beginning of the war when "he was a mechanic with the First Escadrille, V.B. 101, in company with Mouchard."

At the time of writing, "Now he is a lieutenant and in command of the celebrated escadrille organized by his own idolized superior, Mouchard; there was no one living more entitled to that honor."

Farre writes further about his own experiences, but little more about Partridge, who, by the way, is not mentioned at all in the GOGS "Over the Front."

Hope this helps. BTW, Michael, my sister-in law sent me an article about you that ran in a New Jersey paper a few Sundays ago (Star-Ledger?). Very Impressive!

VBR,

Ira