Roland Garros

Roland Garros was a French aviator and fighter pilot of the World War-I era. In those days, there was a big problem of achieving a practicable platform for a forward-firing machine gun on combat aircrafts. Garros is known to have devised a workable installation fitted to the Morane-Saulnier Type L aircraft. Now with this device forward-firing machine gun, he was able to shoot down some of the German fighter aircrafts and was considered very important. But In 1915, his aircraft was downed for unknown reasons in the German territories.

Before he was taken a prisoner (still not clear whether he was taken a prisoner or he died in the crash), he was unable to destroy the aircraft and thus this important device fell into the hands of Germans. The German aircraft engineers led by the famous Fokker, used this tool to crate a design for the improved interrupter gear system, that led to development of “synchronization gear” , by which the gun could fire on front through the arc of the propeller without striking its blades. The result was that the German fighters were able to create havoc in the air forces of the allies and this is called “Fokker Scourge”. Garros was a Tennis Lover. In 1920s, a tennis centre in Paris was named after him and this centre was named “Stade de Roland Garros” means the Stadium of Roland Garros. This Stadium today is the venue of the French Open and that is why French Open is also called “Roland Garros” or Les internationaux de France de Roland-Garros or Tournoi de Roland-Garros.