Free French Flight

Free French Flight refers to three specific fledgling units in the FAFL which were created in the Middle East on 08 July 1940.

*Free French Flight N° 1CUNIBIL. 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."] - its designation later changed to Escadrille N° 2 de Bombardement. Subsequently it became the Nancy squadron of GB Lorraine

*Free French Flight N° 2 - its designation later changed to Première Escadrille de Chasse (E.F.C. 1). It was hierarchically a part of 33sqn, and the unit later had a dual designation of C Flight, 73 sqn. Subsequently it became Groupe de Chasse Alsace.

*Free French Flight N° 3 - its designation later changed to French Transport Flight.

In addition to these units, there were some units formed in the UK:

*Topic - six Blenheims. Along with "Jam", there was a redeployment to Chad. Both units were merged into the "Groupe réservé de bombardement n°1 " (GRB1), which subsequently became the Metz squadron of GB Lorraine.

*Jam - Official designation "Groupe de combat n°1" (GC1). It consisted of four squadrons.

*French Fighter Group - this unit's small complement of D520 fighters [ [http://www.csd.uwo.ca/Elevon/baugher_other/d520.html Dewoitine D.520 ] ] became part of E.F.C. 1 (see above), and its Blenheims became part of GRB1.

Independent of the hierarchy of the RAF, there were aviation detachments in Chad, Cameroon, and Equatorial Africa.

ee also

*No. 327 Squadron RAF
*No. 340 Squadron RAF
*No. 341 Squadron RAF
*List of RAF squadrons

References

Aircraft of the Free French Flight

*Potez 63.11
*Dewoitine D.520
*Morane-Saulnier M.S.406
*Martin 167A-3 Maryland
*Bristol Blenheim
*Westland Lysander
*Hawker Hurricane

External links

* [http://www.senlisaeromodele.fr/articles.php?lng=fr&pg=4147 Article on the presence in Chad of French Air Forces (in French)]
* [http://wp.scn.ru/en/ww2/f/346/9/0 Two images of the Potez 63.11 in the markings of Free French Flight N° 2]
* [http://www.fronta.cz/seznam-leteckych-jednotek-svobodne-francie Table of French allied Air Force units in WW2 (in Czech language)]
* [http://wp.scn.ru/en/ww2/f/346/9/0 An image of a 1/72 model MS-406 in the markings of Free French Flight N° 2]
* [http://www.faflenkit.fr/HTML%20PAGES/la%20galerie.html Models of Free French aircraft, including some Free French Flight aircraft (in French language)]