Dassault MD 450 Ouragan Dassault Mystère IVAs
Escadron de Chasse 1/2 Cigognes was operated by what between Aug 1953 and May 1955?
Escadron de Chasse 1/2 Cigognes Escadron de Chasse 1/2 Cigognes ( Fighter Squadron 1/2 Cigognes ) is a French Air and Space Force ( Armée de lair et de lespace ) fighter squadron currently stationed at BA 116 Luxeuil - Saint-Sauveur Air Base , Haute-Saône , France . It inherits the traditions of three notable World War I units : SPA 3 of the famous ace Georges Guynemer , SPA26 , SPA 103 of René Fonck , and SPA 12 . Heir to Escadrille 3 ( the Cigognes Escadrille ) EC 1/2 Cigogne was created on November 1945 , by reorganizing No . 329 Squadron RAF , which the latter was constituted by pilots of Groupe de Chasse 1/2 Cigognes after the armistice of 1940 . The latter was deployed to French Indochina , and combat engaged on Supermarine Spitfire , with Escadrille SPA 3 stationed in Saigon and the SPA 103 stationed in Hanoi . Upon its return to mainland France , the squadron converted to the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt in 1948 . History . Before and during World War I . Following a decision taken by the French Army General Council , in June 1912 , the first flights of the French air arm were formed . One of these was established at the army camp of Avord , in Cher . Its designation , B.L . 3 , arose from the aircraft type with which it was equipped , the Blériot XI . Once established , the flight moved eastward , towards Alsace . The sight of this migration led to comparison with the storks which are harbingers spring in Alsace . So the name Cigogne came to be associated in peoples minds with B.L . 3 . Alsace had been part of France until 1871 but in 1912 was part of Germany . The association therefore touched French pride . It was not until 1916 , under the pressure of the Great War in which aircraft numbers grew rapidly , that the association between the emblem and the unit became official . So that aircrews should be able to recognise other members of their own flight , in order to regroup after dispersal during fighting , the command of the Somme Combat Group , of which flight.3 was then a part , ordered that clear symbols be painted on aircraft . By this time , the flights had been grouped into squadrons . The squadrons commanding officer , Commandant Felix Brocard , chose to make reference to the Alsatian storks by using a white stork with lowered wings as the emblem on the Nieuports of no . 3 flight . He then ordered the other flights of the squadron to choose emblems using storks in other postures . The modern emblem of the squadron bears three storks at three points in the wing-beat cycle . They represent respectively Flight 3 ( wings low ) , Flight 103 ( wings high ) and Flight 12 ( wings spread ) . See also Escadrille 3 , Escadrille 26 , Escadrille 103 , Escadrille 12 World War II . Having distinguished itself during the Battle of France in 1940 , the squadron was disbanded in August . However , it was re-formed in July 1941 and equipped with Dewoitine D.520s . In 1942 , it was sent to North Africa where it took its opportunity , with other units , to join the Free French Forces and was shipped to Ayr , in Scotland . There it was given the British designation No . 329 Squadron RAF . On 6 June 1944 , it took part in the Normandy landings and from 19 August , was again based in France , at Sommervieu , Normandy , under Captain Ozanne . At this period , it specialized in ground attack but aerial combat was still part of the job and in December 1944 , the squadron was faced with its first Jet-propelled opposition . In July 1945 , fifteen aircraft of the squadron took part in the victory fly-past . Post World War II . In November 1945 , the squadron , EC 1/2 Cigognes was re-established as a unit of the French Air Force . In June 1946 it left for French Indochina where it flew the Supermarine Spitfire , with the SPA 3 flight stationed at Saigon and SPA 103 at Hanoi . On its return to Metropolitan France in 1948 , it was reequipped with Republic P-47 Thunderbolts . In 1949 , EC 1/2 Cigognes moved to its present base at Dijon-Longvic , at the same time reequipping with De Havilland Vampire jets , followed by the Dassault MD 450 Ouragan , then Dassault Mystère IVAs . It was in this aircraft that the squadron was engaged during the Suez Crisis in 1956 . Notably , it became the first unit of the French Air Force to deploy an indigenous Mach-2 fighter , the new Mirage IIIC , on 7 July 1961 . In 1968 these were replaced by Mirage IIIE . In 1984 , the Storks moved onto the Dassault Mirage 2000C . On September 9 , 1994 , it received a third flight : the SPA 12 . At the end of the 1990s , the squadron moved to Dassault Mirage 2000-5F . Escadrille SPA 12 was dissolved on September 3 , 2009 and replaced by SPA 26 ( a traditional escadrille of Escadron de Chasse 1/5 Vendée , dissolved in 2007 ) . On Friday 29 July 2011 , the squadron moved to Luxeuil - Saint-Sauveur Air Base . This put an end to the presence of the Cigognes on Aerial Base 102 Dijon-Longvic . The squadron has played a role in NATOs response to the 2014 Russian military intervention in Ukraine , providing a pair of Mirage 2000-5F ( along with a pair of Mirage 2000C fighters from EC 2/5 ) which arrived at Polands 22nd Air Base on 2 June 2014 . Designations and successive denominations . The squadron has known during the course of history , the following designations : - Groupe de Chasse I/2 ( G.C I/2 ) with escadrille SPA 3 and SPA 103 from 1 September 1933 until 20 August 1940 attached to the 2 Escadre de Chasse between 1 September 1933 and 1 May 1939 . - Groupe de Chasse I/2 with only one escadrille SPA 3 from 1 July 1941 until 1 January 1944 - No . 329 Squadron RAF was attached to the Royal Air Force between 1 January 1944 and 1 November 1945 . - Groupe de Chasse I/2 Cigognes ( G.C I/2 Cigognes ) with escadrille SPA 3 from 1 November 1945 until 1 April 1946 attached to the 2nd Fighter Wing . - Escadron de Chasse 1/2 Cigognes ( E.C 1/2 Cigognes ) with Escadrilles SPA 3 , SPA 103 from 1 April 1950 until 9 September 1994 part of the 2nd Fighter Wing - Escadron de Chasse 1/2 Cigognes ( E.C 1/2 Cigognes ) with Escadrille SPA 3 , SPA 103 and SPA 12 from 9 September 1994 until 3 September 2009 . - Escadron de Chasse 1/2 Cigognes ( E.C 1/2 Cigognes ) with Escadrille SPA 3 , SPA 103 and SPA 26 as of 3 September 2009 . The Escadron/Squadron was attached again to the 2 Escadre de Chasse on 3 September 2015 . Flights . In 2015 , the Escadron 1/2 Cigognes is composed of three escadrille - SPA 3 Cigognes , known as Guynemers - SPA 26 Cigognes , known as ( dite ) Saint-Galmier - SPA 103 Cigognes , known as Foncks Escadrille SPA 12 Cigognes was attached to the 1/2 Cigognes between 9 September 1994 and 3 September 2009 . Bases . - BA 702 Avord Air Base ( formation 1912 ) - Châteauroux-Déols Air Base ( 1941–1942 ) - North Africa ( 1942–1943 ) - 1944-1945 see Free French Forces RAF service - Koblenz ( 1948–1949 ) - BA 102 Dijon Air Base ( 1949-2012 ) - BA 116 Luxeuil - Saint-Sauveur Air Base ( 2012- )