Roland Garros, the man behind the name

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If you are a bit of a tennis fan, you know Roland Garros as a tournament. If you are a bit into old-time aviation you may have heard about Mr. Roland Garros. And because you are reading PreWarCar you have certainly heard of him, if only of the Bugatti that bears his name. Although the Paris Tennis Stadium was named after him, Roland Garros was not a tennis champion. During World War I he was an aviator in the prestigious "Storks" squadron when a few days before the Armistice his plane crashed. Five years before his death Roland Garros was the first to cross the Mediterranean in his plane, flying from Fréjus in France to Bizerte in Tunisia. Also an enthusiastic automobilist, he became close friends with Ettore Bugatti who gave the name "Roland Garros" to the 5-litre Type 18 Bugatti Roland ordered in 1913, and later named his youngest son Roland after his friend's death. Next year it will be 100 years ago that Roland Garros made his historic flight across the Mediterranean and to celebrate this fact, Rétromobile will exhibit the actual plane, a type H Morane-Saultier, plus the actual Bugatti (which later became known as 'Black Bess') on loan from the Louwman Collection. The 38th edition of Rétromobile will be held from 6 to 10 February 2013.

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