15 July 1944: The Lieutenant Roland Bulard of the GC 3 "Normandie" in front of his YAK-9 a bit before the begining of the moving of the group from Doubrovka to Mikountani. Few minutes after this photo was taken, one of the most tragic event of this squadron will happen.

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I finally drew my fursona! :D
So, who is he? Here's a bit of his background before I finish to write his story:
Born in French Algeria a bit after the beginning of the First World War, his father will be sent on the front as a Zouave, in 1916, he changed of corps, he entered in the all new aviation corps as Nieuport pilot. Wounded in the early 1918, he's sent back at the familial house at Arris where he continued to serve as a customs officer. Roland and his older brother, Pierre, had grew with the few war stories that their father accepted to count.
At the age of 17 years old, Roland began his studies of medicine as his parents wanted him to do at the university of Algiers but he wasn't really interested in that and has quickly discovered a new possibility of studies when he discovered the airfield of Algiers. For his second year of studies at the unversity, Roland had missed all his courses for learn to fly without telling a word to his parents because he knew that they would not accept it in front of the risks that represented the aviation at this time.
When his parents learnt that he did not come to his courses, they made him come back at their home, in Oran, where his father was affected. he continued to fly there and passed differents qualifications such night flights and it's from the 30 March to the 2 April 1931 that he has been witness of one of the world's most important aeronautical event of the decade, Jean Mermoz and Antoine Paillard had broken the world's distance record in closed circuit with the Bernard 18 that they flew during 59h14. This event and the meeting with the both pilots gave to Roland an admiration for the Aéropostale, the society where Mermoz became famous for his adventures.
Few times after this event, Roland took the train for Tanger, Morocco, where's the nearest office of the Aéropostale where he applied for a job of pilot, the company, in despite of the fact that it's about to go bust, engaged him but let him serve only on the line Toulouse - Dakar, they let the Atlantic and the South American part to the most experienced pilots. On March 1933, after an engine failure, he was forced to do an emergency landing between Cap Juby and Villa Cisneros on board of his Latécoère 26, he passed two days in the Moroccan desert before to be found. And it's on 31st May 1933 that the Aéropostal was bought by the SCELA which didn't kept Roland.
During several months, he tried to work in another company, Air Afrique, but the atmosphere was totally different, he left the company on December 1933 for pass two months at his parents' house at Oran.
Rejected by the SCELA, now called Air France, and disappointed by the atmosphere of Air Afrique, he saw only one other "company" which could give it the possibility to make of the flight his job, it was the French Air Service.
He enlisted in the Air Service in June 1934 and was sent in France, at the Air Academy of Versailles before to enter in the CIC (Centre d'Instruction de la Chasse - Fighters Pilots Instruction Center) of Montpellier on November 1936. In the middle of 1938 he was integrated to the 5e GAA (Groupe Aérien Autonome - Autonomous Aerial Group) based on the BA 156 of Sidi Ahmed, in Morocco.
In November 1939, the group was moved in France for the Battle of France, it took the name of Groupe de Chasse III/1 the 13 November 1939. The Adjudant-Chef Roland Bulard served in the 1ère Escadrille (equivalent of a RAF A Flight) of the GC III/1.
And I stop there as the rest of his story will be related in the story that I write. :)

Ps: "On peut faire la guerre sans l'aimer" (We can do war without loving it) is a quote of Roland de la Poype, an ace and a survivor of the GC 3 "Normandie" who died in October 2012 in the shadow of the stupidity, actually, the medias in France prefered to talk about the visit of the Prime Minister at Airbus or the risks that GMO can have on the health more than pay the tribute to the great person who was de la Poype, aviator and inventor, only the Russian medias talked about him at his death.

2nd Ps: "Vaincre ou Mourir" is the writing on his fuselage, it can be translated as "Win or Die"