Mascot of aviation sub-lieutenant Adolphe Pégoud

This stuffed penguin, made with feathers, fur, and velvet, is a unique and unusual piece in the collections of the Musée de l'Armée. It belonged to French aviator Pégoud.
During World War One, soldiers adopted real animals as their mascots, for example, stray dogs who came to forage around their kitchens (Parasol in the SPA 3 squadron, Mémère in a battalion of foot chasseurs, and Dash in the 222nd Overseas Infantry Battalion of the Canadian Expedition Corps. However, dogs weren't the only animals that kept them company. Many of them kept crows, jays, or hedgehogs, and there was even a lion mascot (Whiskey, of the American N 124 squadron). Aviators also adopted artificial animals, which became their good luck charms. This is how Adolphe Pégoud came to adopt this stuffed animal that he kept by his side right up until his death. It may have been a nod to the tie between his surname, Pégoud, and its similar sound to the French word for penguin.
Licensed by the Aéro-club de France on March 7, 1913, Pégoud was enlisted as a trial pilot by Louis Blériot. A pioneer in aviation, he was the first man to parachute jump, sacrificing his plane and a looping with a Blériot XI. Mobilized from the beginning of the war, he was assigned to defending Paris with the MF 25 squadron. He secured his first five airborne victories with the MF 25 and MS 37 squadrons and joined the MS 49 squadron in April 1915, after its creation on April 18. On July 11, he achieved his sixth airborne victory over a German Aviatik (reconnaissance plane). On August 31, 1915, sub-lieutenant Pégoud took off from the Fontaine Airdrome with his Nieuport No 210 and his mascot attached to the hood. He was defeated in aerial combat by the Unteroffizier Walter Kandulski in the sky over Petit-Croix, to the east of Belfort. His lucky charm still bears the marks of this final combat in the form of burns.
Sub-lieutenant Pégoud was buried on September 3, 1915, in Brasse, close to Belfort. On August 20, 1030, he was officially buried in Montparnasse Cemetery (4th division)