France planned a victory parade on the Champs Élysées on 14 July 1919 to mark the end of hostilities in World War I. The military command ordered airmen to participate "on foot", like the infantry. This was a provocation to the pilots.
On 7 August 1919, three weeks after the victory parade, under cover of secrecy and dressed in his warrant officer uniform, Godefroy took off at 7:20 a.m. from the airfield of Villacoublay in a Nieuport 27 and soon reached the Porte Maillot. Coming from the west, he circled the Arc de Triomphe twice and began his approach along the Avenue de la Grande-Armée.
He gathered speed and forced the plane down and through the Arc. He did not have much clearance – the width of the Arc is 14.50 m (47.6 ft), not much more than his aircraft's wingspan of 8.21 m (26.9 ft). He passed at a low level over a tram in which passengers threw themselves to the ground, and many passers-by ran away frightened.
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