I had the pleasure and privilege to spend a year of my RAF Service with the Armée de l’ Air, on the Royal Air Force Liaison Party that was at Base Aérienne 125 Istres and then moved to Base Aérienne 115 Orange-Caritat in May 1958.
It was the best year of the 13 that I served with the RAF.
Yes the French do some things differently; some of the differences were appreciated. Free and plentiful wine with lunch and dinner was but a small one. But just like RAF camps, things varied. At Istres the food was good, not so at Orange. The accommodation was better at Orange, but it was too far from Marseilles for a Saturday night out.
At Istres I was lucky enough to see the Leduc ramjet fly, at Orange there was Escadron de chasse 2/5 with Mystère IV’s. At this time their availability seemed to compare with RAF Squadrons.
I was at Orange when CDG was elected and that night I ‘supped some stuff’ with Armée de l’ Air friends. It was a night of great rejoicing. What they thought a year or two later I don’t know. His actions over Algeria were not what the military expected.
And BB was young and beautiful at this time, she decorated the newspapers with great regularity.
I for one, welcome their return to the NATO family.