page_title: History of the Armée de l'Air (1909–1942)
section_title: September 1939 – June 1940
hierarchical_section_title: History of the Armée de l'Air (1909–1942) / September 1939 – June 1940
caption_attribution_description: Dewoitine D.520 on display at Le Bourget
context_page_description: The Armée de l'Air is the name used for the French Air Force in its native language since it was made independent of the Army in 1933. French naval aviation, the Aéronautique Navale is covered elsewhere.
context_section_description: A re-organisation of the air force took place during September 1939. Prior to the reshuffle, the basic unit structure consisted of two Escadrilles (Squadron) forming a Groupe, extending to multiple Groupe's (normally two or more), forming an Escadre. Following the re-organisation an 'Escadre' became a 'Groupement' Groupement de Bombardement No.6 formed a part of the Bomber contingent of Zone D'Opérations Aériennes Nord or ZOAN [lit. trans. 'Air Operations North']. ZOAN was one of four geographically distinct areas of command. The others, comprising; Zone D'Opérations Aériennes Sud ZOAS, Zone D'Opérations Aériennes Est ZOAE and Zone D'Opérations Aériennes Alps ZOAA, were responsible for the Southern, Eastern and Alpine regions of the French mainland respectively. The national divisions these areas represented were drawn up to correspond to the boundaries of defence responsibility for French army groups. Zone D'Opérations Aériennes Nord was responsible for the air cover and protection of the most Northern regions of France. Two units of bomber squadrons fell within the command of Groupement de Bombardement No.6; Groupe de Bombardement I/12 and Groupe de Bombardement II/12. The Officer Commanding Groupement de Bombardement No.6 was Colonel Lefort. Headquarters were at Soissons in the Picardy Region of north-east France. The existence of the entire revised Armée de L’Air organisational structure was short-lived.
  When the war began the Armée de l'Air suffered from disorganisation in government, armed forces and industry which had led to only 826 fighters and 250 bombers to be anything like combat-ready. Many more aircraft were not ready because of shortages of equipment and components, machine-guns had not been calibrated and some bombers lacked bomb-sights when they were delivered to squadrons. The French had no comparable organisation to the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA) and front-line pilots in France became responsible for ferrying new aircraft from factories to the squadrons, temporarily depleting front-line strength.
  On 10 May 1940, the Germans had more aircraft and many aircrews were veterans of the war in Spain. French inter-service rivalry led a Potez reconnaissance aircraft crew, which had spotted a huge concentration of Panzers and supporting infantry units concealed in the Ardennes forests two days after the start of the invasion, not being believed by the army commanders who refused to act on what they called air force scaremongering.
  The Armée de l'Air was beset by obsolete strategy, tactics, aircraft, weapons and even in communications, and the lack of equipment owing to "technical problems."  Both became apparent when the Germans advanced swiftly through France and Belgium. On 11 May, nearly 20 French bombers and over 30 British fighter escorts were shot down attacking German crossings over the Meuse river. French fighter and bomber strength was rapidly depleted in May as Luftwaffe fighters and Flak shot down aircraft, which attacked the advancing Germans. Squadrons were often out of contact with any French army units that they were supposedly supporting, partly to the poor coordination of communication between the army and the air force and partly to the outdated, unreliable army communications equipment being used.
  As it became clear that the war was lost for France, the high command ordered what remained of the Armée de l’Air to French colonies in North Africa to continue the fight, such that Armée de l’Air units were stationed at places like Alger-Maison-Blanche and Oran in Algeria and Meknes and Rayack in Morocco. The Vichy government ordered the dissolution of many of the air force squadrons, including the fighter unit designated GC II/4, nicknamed Les Petits Poucets. GC II/4 had been formed at Rheims in May 1939, then moved to Xaffévilliers by the start of the war. It flew US-built Curtiss H-75A Hawk fighters, with which the unit claimed the first two French air victories on 8 September 1939, two Bf 109s of I/JG 53. Just 17 days later, it lost its commanding officer, Captain Claude, in combat, yet the p
caption: Dewoitine D.520 fighter
exif: {}