French Aircraft Of WW2

Free French Hawker Hurricane Mk. IIc 1945

A French pilot at the controls of his Morane Saulnier MS.406 fighter at Rayak airfield in the Bekaa Valley, home to the 1st Fighter Group of the 7th Squadron (Groupe de Chasse I/7, GC I/7). February-March 1940

French Morane-Saulnier MS.230 trainer aircraft prepare for takeoff from Kasba Tadla airfield. August 1943

A French pilot in front of his Morane Saulnier MS.406 fighter at Rayak airfield in the Bekaa Valley, home to the 1st Fighter Group of the 7th Squadron (Groupe de Chasse I/7, GC I/7). February-March 1940

A French Morane Saulnier MS.406C1 fighter is unloaded from a truck after being delivered to Rayak airfield in the Bekaa Valley, where the 1st Fighter Group of the 7th Squadron (Groupe de Chasse I/7, GC I/7) was based. February-March 1940

American-made Vichy Air Force Curtis H-75A Hawk fighters of GC 1/4 fighter group in flight near Dakar. 1941

French aircraft – Potez 631 heavy fighters and Bloch MB.210 medium bombers – undergoing major repairs in the summer and fall of 1940 after the capitulation of France. 1940

After the capitulation, 112 Potez 631s remained in the unoccupied zone. A small number of these aircraft also made it to North Africa.

The Germans allowed two P.631 night fighter squadrons—ECN1/13 and ECN3/13 (actually the former ECN4/13)—to remain stationed in Nîmes. In June 1941, ECN3/13 was transferred to Gabes in Tunisia.

As of November 1, 1941, the Vichy government's air force had 82 Potez 631s.

Some Bloch MB.210s continued to be used by the Vichy government's air force, primarily in the colonies. Moreover, some of them again saw combat, this time against their former allies—the British.

10 July 1939. First flight of the Dewoitine D-720 at Toulouse-Francazals, piloted by Marcel Doret. French, three seat, army cooperation aircraft prototype. Powered by two 500 hp Renault 12R-00 engines.

10 July 1939. First flight of the SNCAC NC-410. French twin engine torpedo bomber prototype, piloted by Lucian Coupet. Powered by a pair of 890 hp Gnome-Rhône 14Knrs/ors 14-cylinder radials, mounted on the upper wing surface. Initially as a landplane, later converted to floats.

7 July 1945. First flight of the Arsenal VB.10-01. French fighter prototype with a second Hispano-Suiza 12Z Ars-15/16 engine behind the cockpit driving a second propeller, coaxial with and counter-rotating to the propeller driven by the engine in the nose.

Caudron-Renault CR.714C1 of the GC I/145 'Varsovie', Dreux, France 1940

The impressive armament of the 1945 "Arsenal VB-10" heavy fighter, featuring four 20 mm cannons and six machine guns in the wings.

US 1942-033016 A-20C 1944 to RAF BX261 Douglas Boston MkIIIA to France 🇫🇷

French Air Force pilot Lieutenant Hutter with his Morane-Saulnier MS.406C fighter at Tong airfield. Lieutenant Hutter was the only French pilot shot down, first by the Germans in 1940 and then by the Japanese in Tonkin. 1941

Curtiss H-75A-1

On 22 June 1940, France signed an armistice with Germany in Compiègne. For the air force of the Armée de l’Air, this meant the end of the battle for France and the accelerated departure of Allied personnel, including Czechoslovak pilots, to Britain and North Africa.

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