French aircraft late 1940s
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French aircraft late 1940s
Bit of a discussion about a casualty in 48. Anyone know what we sold or gave to the French to help build up their airforce? The family insist we sold them some death traps.
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Meteors and Vampires - and Sud Est built quite a few Vampires as Mistrals.
French Navy took 19 Sunderland flying boats. They outlasted those in RAF service, ending in 1962. Both the Hendon and Duxford museum aircraft are from this French fleet, masquerading as RAF ones.
French Air Force had a few Avro Yorks as well. One was De Gaulle's personal aircraft.
French Air Force had a few Avro Yorks as well. One was De Gaulle's personal aircraft.
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The also had Lancasters in a maritime recon role I believe. One of them now resides in the Museum of Transport and Technology in Auckland, NZ. Gifted by the French in the '60s
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Victorgolf, Just Jane is indeed a former Aeronavale aircraft.
Apparently we also supplied some Canberras to France, never knew that!
Apparently we also supplied some Canberras to France, never knew that!
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Apparently we also supplied some Canberras to France, never knew that!
Four B.6s and two B(I)6s ordered by Armiee de l'Air in 1954. Used for trials work, the first three aircraft were diverted from RAF orders, F763 (ex-WJ763), F779 (ex-RAF WJ779) and F784 (ex-RAF WJ784). The remainder were new-build airframes, F304, F316 and F318.
Picture shows preserved F763 in 2004 at MAE Dugny.
Source CANBERRA FOREIGN OPERATORS
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Apparently we also supplied some Canberras to France, never knew that!
And then produced the Mirage...After Mirage. After Mirage. After Mirage. Bt the 000s.
What a scandalous, unbelievably irresponsible screw-up!
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And then had to fly the Bristol 188 (?)
Peter Twiss and the Fairey Delta it was...
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The French Army requisitioned Bristol 170 freighters from Air Vietnam for use during the battle of Dien Bien Phu, they were needed due to the lifting capability to take Chaffees tanks into the besieged valley
Quote from "Chaffees at Dien Bien Phu"
The tanks, transferred to Dien Bien Phu, were dismantled at the Gia Lam base in Hanoi by the men of the 2nd Armor Repair Company of the Foreign Legion (2e Compagnie de Reparations d’Engines Blindés Legion Etrangére), who managed to separate them into 180 pieces. In order to transport the largest pieces, the French had to borrow Bristol 170 Freighter planes from Air Vietnam – these were the largest planes, capable of landing at Dien Bien Phu. In the end however, it turned out that even so, the hull of the Chaffee was 150kg heavier than what the Freighter could carry – in order to actually fly over the mountains in the Tonkin region, the plane was stripped of all the unnecessary parts. They made it, but just barely. The operation to transfer the tanks was called Rondelle II and begun on 16.12.1953. In order to get the tanks going as fast as possible, the men of the 2nd ARCFL (reinforced by specialists from 1er Battalion de Réparations du Materiél from Saigon) did set up their shop straight at the Dien Bien Phu air strip. Two days later, first two tanks landed – albeit disassembled – on the Dien Bien Phu strip and their assembly was initiated immediately. Transporting the tanks took until the end of December 1953, for each tank, 2 Freighter trips and 6 C-47 trips were needed.
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Thanks chaps, it's a daughter who's father died when she was 18months. She is about 70 now. Fairly sure it was 3december 1948. Family legend is that uk sold some frames that weren't renowned for reliability. I believe that he spent time in Morrocco at the outbreak but it's hard to get fact from family fiction.