Free French Flight refers to three specific fledgling units in the

Free French Air Force The Free French Air Forces (, FAFL) were the air arm of the Free French Forces in the Second World War, created by Charles de Gaulle in 1940. The designation ceased to exist in 1943 when the Free French Forces merged with General Giraud's force ...

(FAFL) which were created in the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

on 8 July 1940. * Free French Flight N° 1 its name later changed to N° 2 .CUNIBIL. R - Icare 1989, no128, pp. 82–93, ''L'épopée du Free French Flight no 1 dans la campagne d'Abyssinie in Les Forces Aériennes Françaises Libres. Tome 1 : Juin 1940, la naissance au Moyen-Orient.'' Subsequently, it became the Nancy squadron of GB Lorraine. It was formed around two Martin 167A-3 Maryland bombers which flew to

Mersa Matruh Mersa Matruh (), also transliterated as Marsa Matruh ( Standard Arabic ''Marsā Maṭrūḥ'', ), is a port in Egypt and the capital of Matrouh Governorate. It is located west of Alexandria and east of Sallum on the main highway from the Nile ...

, Egypt, on 19 July 1940. * Free French Flight N° 2 - its name later changed to (E.F.C. 1), and was commanded by Lieutenant Denis. It was hierarchically a part of No. 33 Squadron RAF, and the unit later had a dual designation of C Flight, No. 73 Squadron RAF. Subsequently, it became . * Free French Communication Flight N° 3 - its name later changed to French Transport Flight. It consisted of five different French-built aircraft, it was hierarchically a part of No. 267 Squadron RAF. Free French Flight N° 2 was stationed at Haifa and initially consisted of one Potez 63.11 (a second and third arriving on 14 October and 3 November 1940 respectively) and two MS 406 (a third appearing on 14 February 1941). A Miles Magister was used as a hack and was superseded by a

Loire 130 The Loire 130 was a French flying boat that saw service during World War II. It was designed and built by Loire Aviation of St Nazaire. Development The Loire 130 originated from a mid-1930s requirement from the French Navy for a reconnaissan ...

on 12 March 1941. The unit diary refers to the arrival of a Potez 29 and a Bloch MB.81 (with a Salmson 9 powerplant) from Heliopolis on 28 September 1940 but neither aircraft appears in the subsequent daily unit statistics forms (RAF Form 765a). A memo dated 4 April 1941 from the RAF's Free French liaison officer to

General Spears Major-general (United Kingdom), Major-General Sir Edward Louis Spears, 1st Baronet, (7 August 1886 – 27 January 1974) was a British Army officer and politician. He served as a liaison officer between British and French forces during both Wor ...

advises 'in practically every case the aircraft were unserviceable chiefly owing to lack of spares'. The port of Haifa was bombed on 6 September 1940 by the . The four bombers were intercepted by Flying Officer Peronne in a Potez 63.11 and Warrant Officer Ballatore in a MS 406. Due to the deteriorating serviceability of the aircraft, flying hours decreased and the unit diary itself only covers September 1940. In addition to these units, there were some units formed in the UK: * Topic - six Blenheims. Along with "Jam", there was a redeployment to Fort Lamy. Both units were merged into the n°1 (GRB1), with an official inception date of 30 March 1941, which subsequently became the Metz squadron of GB Lorraine. * Jam - Official designation n°1 (GC1). It consisted of four squadrons. * French Fighter Group - this unit's small complement of Dewoitine D.520 fighters became part of E.F.C. 1 (see above) and its Blenheims became part of GRB1.Dewoitine D.520
/ref> Independent of the hierarchy of the RAF, there were aviation detachments in

Chad Chad, officially the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of North Africa, North and Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to Chad–Libya border, the north, Sudan to Chad–Sudan border, the east, the Central Afric ...

Cameroon Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...

and

Equatorial Africa Equatorial Africa is an ambiguous term that sometimes is used to refer to the equatorial region of sub-Saharan Africa traversed by the Equator, more broadly to tropical Africa, or in a biological and geo-environmental sense to the intra-tropic ...

References

Aircraft of the Free French Flight

* Potez 63.11 * Dewoitine D.520 * Morane-Saulnier M.S.406 * Martin 167A-3 Maryland *

Bristol Blenheim The Bristol Blenheim is a British light bomber designed and built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company, which was used extensively in the first two years of the Second World War, with examples still being used as trainers until the end of the war. ...

Westland Lysander The Westland Lysander is a British Army cooperation aircraft, army co-operation and liaison aircraft produced by Westland Aircraft that was used immediately before and during the Second World War. After becoming obsolete in the army co-operat ...

Hawker Hurricane The Hawker Hurricane is a British single-seat fighter aircraft of the 1930s–40s which was designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd. for service with the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was overshadowed in the public consciousness by ...

External links

The (Free) French Air Force in 1940-1945 (Listing attempt)Article on the presence in Chad of French Air Forces (in French)

Two images of the Potez 63.11 in the markings of Free French Flight N° 2

Table of French allied Air Force units in World War II (in Czech)An image of a 1/72 model MS-406 in the markings of Free French Flight N° 2

* ttp://www.ukserials.com/serials-older-aa.htm Serial numbers of Free French aircraft, and RAF aircraftbr>Forum thread about Potez 63.11 in Free French service with the RAFMarkings of Potez 63.11 in French Fighter Flight No.2 for AX673, AX680 & AX691
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100123231524/http://www.techmod.pl/aviation-72/72145-potez-63-11 , date=23 January 2010

* ttp://www.cieldegloire.com/004_zevaco_a.php Biography of the pilot of Potez 63.11 AX673, Albert Zevaco Military units and formations established in 1940 Free French Air Forces Military units and formations of the Royal Air Force in World War II Royal Air Force aircraft squadrons History of the French Air and Space Force F

See also

References

Aircraft of the Free French Flight

External links