Eric de Spoelberch

Eric Antoine Ghislain Joseph,^[1] Viscount de Spoelberch (15 February 1903 – 17 January 1939) was a Belgian pilot. He was born in Brussels and died in Nivelles.

Family

He was son of Guillaume de Spoelberch (1874–1947) and Colienne de Neufforge (1882–1929).^[2] He married Katharine Kelso Stewart 28 April 1932, in Haverford; Katherine's mother was Elsie Foster Cassatt (1875–1931), a sportswoman from a prominent Pennsylvania family, niece of artist Mary Cassatt and great-niece of president James Buchanan. The couple had two sons, Guillaume and Jacques de Spoelberch. He is a brother of Werner de Spoelberch.

Career

As a lieutenant in the Aéronautique Militaire he was one of two Belgian pilots sent to Britain to evaluate the Hawker Hurricane and the Supermarine Spitfire.^[3] In the following January he was killed in an air accident while flight-testing the new Renard R.36 fighter.^[4]

As a bobsledder he competed in the 1936 Winter Olympics in Garmisch-Partenkirchen; he finished eighth both in the two-man and four-man events.

honours

• Knight in the Order of Leopold.^[1]
• Knight in the Order of Leopold II.