Roland Garros

Born on Réunion in 1888, Garros taught himself to fly and earned his licence in 1910. After setting altitude records and winning air races, he claimed international attention in 1913 by making the first non-stop flight across the Mediterranean - southern France to Tunisia in a Morane-Saulnier. When war broke out he enlisted as a reconnaissance pilot, then helped develop the first forward-firing machine gun mounted on a combat aircraft and shot down three German planes in April 1915. Engine trouble forced him down behind enemy lines that same month. He spent nearly three years as a prisoner, escaped in early 1918, and returned to fly again. On 5 October 1918, one day before his 30th birthday, he was shot down and killed in the Ardennes. A decade later Paris named a tennis stadium after him; the tournament held there became the French Open.