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Concept
Jean de Selys Longchamps
Summary
Baron Jean Michel P.M.G. de Selys Longchamps DFC (31 May 1912 – 16 August 1943) was a Belgian aristocrat and RAF fighter pilot during World War II. He is chiefly known for his single-handed attack on the Gestapo headquarters in Brussels in German-occupied Belgium.
Baron Jean de Selys Longchamps, DFC was born into Belgian nobility, historically residing in Longchamps Castle (now a gîte) in Borgworm near Liège. He inherited the title of baron from his father, Baron Raymond Charles Michel Ghislain de Selys Longchamps. He dropped out of the Catholic University of Leuven and then started his professional career as a bank clerk.
At the outbreak of the war, Selys Longchamps was drafted into the Belgian Army, in which he was commissioned as a cavalry officer with the 1er Régiment des Guides. He managed to escape with the British forces from Dunkirk, only to return to France shortly after and be faced with France's capitulation. He tried to join the allies again by way of Morocco, where he was arrested by the Vichy French authorities and sent into internment in Marseille. He escaped and traveling via Francoist Spain, was able to reach Britain, where he - after purporting to be younger than his age of 28 - was accepted for flight training with the RAF. He was posted to No. 609 Squadron RAF and flying Hawker Typhoons quickly made a name as an able and aggressive pilot.
Immediately upon the fall of Belgium on May 10, 1940, the Gestapo commandeered Résidence Belvédère, a luxurious Art Deco apartment building located at 453 Avenue Louise in Brussels as its headquarters, and tortured prisoners in its cellars.
Longchamps' father had died under torture at the hands of the Sicherheitspolizei (SiPo).
Longchamps devised a plan to strafe the building, which RAF command repeatedly declined.
On January 20, 1943, Longchamps completed an approved railway strafing mission over Ghent, then ordered his wingman (flight sergeant André Blanco) back to base and set out without approval for Brussels, some to the south-east.
Official source
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