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Aviation History
1941
1941 - 2747.PDF
'-»~iWnPB™'-^, NOVEMBER 2OTH, 1941. FLIGHT After the first Masssaid at Damascus airfield, General Valin addressed the prisonersliberated after eight months' captivity. Above are shown some Free French bomber crews in front of oneof their aircraft. in detail. For one thing, the names of the French airmen have to be kept secret, not only because, like the R.A.F., the Free French Air Force prefers to give the names of enemy towns 01 ships that are dealt with, rather than the names of those who perform the execution, but also because the Germans are very far from being chivalrous foes, and if they have in their hands the parents of a French airman who has done good work, nothing pleases them more than to do some of their dirtiest work upon the bodies of these blameless old people. Talking of the archives of the Free French Air Force, the first entries at the end of June, 1940, were not too " encouraging. General de Gaulle had placed the airmen, like the sailors, under his trusted collaborator, Admiral Muselier, who was himself a schoolfellow and, in the last war, a comrade-in-arms of Darlan, concerning whom he therefore prefers to keep silent. Muselier found himself in command of some hundreds of resolute airmen, but they had come together, naturally, as individuals and not as specialists in the required proportions. Apart from any- thing else, their machines and the supply of spare parts formed a very random collection, so that to have this chaos rapidly organised did not seem possible. However, it was only two months before a squadron with Blenheim bombers, one of reconnaissance planes and one of Dewoitine fighters with entirely French personnel, set out for Free French Africa, to be followed, after six weeks, by a second squadron of Blenheims. A number of fighter pilots were left in Britain at the disposal of Fighter Command. It was agreed in August, 1940, that General de Gaulle's volunteers should be recognised as a French Force, with their own uniform and discipline, being the sole Allied General Valin with two of his pilots who brought downbetween them sixteen enemy aircraft. The Hurricane is called "Win.d of the Desert." force enjoying these privileges; and it may be added that they have shown themselves to be worthy of ihem. Steps had to be taken, of course, co continue the instruc- tion of those airmen who had come away from France or the French Empire in the midst of their training. Observers, gunners, radio operators and ground staff had to be prepared for the future. All this was done *vith the assistance of the R.A.F. Nearly 100 fully trained pilots have been turned out by their school in Britain, while hundreds of others are at various stages of development. The German wireless may say, if it consoles them, that no more French airmen are arriving in Britain or in British bases overseas , it knows very well that the contrary is the truth. Some little time ago, when General de Gaulle was at Brazzaville in Africa, he announced that his Air Force now comprised more than 2,000 enthusiastic volun- teers. This had permitted the creation, for instance, of a civil air line in Free French Africa, where the vast dis- tances make such a liaison indispensable. There, too, an aviation school has been established, and General de Gaulle then saw that the time was opportune to place at the head of his aviation an officer with long experience in this complex branch. He could have chosen no one better fitted than Colonel, now General, Valin, who was one of the first to understand and study the importance of night bombardments. A former cavalry officer, he went over to the Air Force as long ago as 1928. He was subsequently lent to the Brazilian Government for the organisation of their Air Force, and it was not the fault of that Government that he did not remain in Brazil. The Vichy politicians were also anxious to avail themselves of his services, offerng him excellent terms and promotion ; but he preferred to keep his honour rather than serve a Government which had appointed itself and continued to disregard the wishes of the vast proportion of Frenchmen. A Fine Record As an example of the personnel under him in Britain, we may tell of a young sub-lieutenant of the French Army who had been invalided out in 1935. After arriving in England he resumed his training and was accepted as a fighter pilot. On December 1st, 1940, he brought down his first German plane. On March 24th, 1941, he, by himself, attacked 12 of the enemy, brought one down, and got away safely. In the night of May 10th to nth, this day-fighter got the better of a plane that was bom- barding London, and on May 25th he brought down a Messerschmitt 109. Then there began for him a series of victories over France. On June 21st his victim was a Messerschmitt, and on the following day he broke an opponent literally in two parts. On July 12th he destroyed a Henschel on the ground at an airfield in the North of France, and when he was in command of a dawn patrol on July 17th he could see no hostile planes anywhere but, sooner than return with empty hands, he and his comrades attacked a mine-layer, which they sank by cannon-fire. On July 25th and 31st he further reduced the number of enemy planes, on the latter occasion shooting down first one and then another of a pair of Messerschmitts by means of a swift turning movement. By the way, all the French pilots who have been flying
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