Talk:History of the Armée de l'Air (1909–1942)

message: This is a lovely page!  I'm so glad people have taken this ball and run with it.
:Agreed ... vy interesting indeed.  I had always wondered about the role of the FAF during the Vichy period.Mikeo1938 (talk) 07:55, 22 October 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Untitled

message: I'd beware the claim Fonck scored 75; I've seen 73 & 76 cited.  Also, I'm less than sure Allied airforces in WW1 kept official tallies.  Trekphiler 11:20, 2 December 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Corrections?

message: Is there a page for French Air Force units?  If not, I recommed we start one.  For instance, include Deuxieme Groupe de Chasse, the famed Storck Squadron (so named for the stork symbol).  On that subject, what about a page on side/nose art, that would include the Storck, the Cavallino of Baracca, the Hat in the Ring (USAAS 17h Aero Sqn?), & so forth?  Trekphiler 11:22, 2 December 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Links?

message: Ths article, while very good overall, could use some cleaning up. Only reading the mere part from 1918 to 194, I think that the article tends to be 
* needlessly lyrical : "This certainly added meaning to the French phrase, Drôle de guerre, which was referred to by the English-speaking world as the “Phoney War”, except that it referred to the period in western Europe between the outbreak of war and the invasion of Belgium, Luxembourg and France. That “Phoney War” was well and truly over."
* takes very hard short-cuts into perhaps more subtle realities: "When war inevitably did break out, the Armée de l'Air would suffer greatly as a result of the total chaos that was reigning within government"
* Sometimes to the point where it is downright misleading: "The doctrine of the German armed forces was Blitzkrieg – “lightning war” – very modern, geared solely for fast-paced attack, while the doctrines of the defenders were hopelessly out-of-date and based heavily on the events of the 1914-1918 war, even if Hitler had allegedly said years earlier that the next war would be very different from the last. Whereas the Luftwaffe had their infamous “Stuka” dive-bombers, the western Allies had absolutely nothing like it in their inventories."
** For what I read, the “Stuka” was always a rather vulnerable aircraft whose main interest was terrorising civilians on the run; suggesting that it was a capital weapon seems to me like an exageration.
** Blitzkrieg tactics were largely improvised on the spot by local commanders. See Battle of France, which offers perspectives into this subject beyond the usual clichés
* Some things do not really make sense: "The lack of modernity in strategy, tactics, aircraft, weapons and even in communications equipment - not to mention the unbelievable lack of availability of much of the hardware owing to “technical problems” - on the part of the French was to become only too apparent when the Germans advanced swiftly through France and decimated, almost with contemptuous ease, all opposition, including British army and RAF units." (The lack of modern equipment of the French is the reason why the British were wiped out like the French themselves ? Come again ?) 
* Cryptic allusions which obstructifate the text: "Yet a certain event that took place on 3 July 1940, would help to change the German attitude towards France still having armed forces, even as a conquered nation." (which event, for Goodness shake ? I do not even know myself !)
* The whole discussion about Mers-el-Kébir as nothing to do here. It should be at most a link.
Rama 13:16, 16 January 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Improvements to the article 

message: Balloon (aircraft)#Balloons in the military says that the French army had an aeronautical corps from 1794 to 1799. Should this be mentioned in the article? 195.92.40.49 17:08, 6 June 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  French military aviation before 1909 

message: This piece omits any details on the air combat in Syria against British and Commonwealth (mainly Australian) forces in 1941.  There was quite a bit of aerial combat over the course of the six-week campaign, and Armee de L'Air gave quite a good account of itself, actually winning air superiority at various times before finally being forced out of action due to the exhaustion of fuel stocks.
75.37.22.108 05:34, 9 October 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Air combat in Syria 

message: I have started work on the Air commanders of World War I. Any help that editors can offer in the French section, or elsewhere, would be greatly appreciated. Greenshed (talk) 21:08, 8 January 2009 (UTC)
thread_title: Request for help

message: This article is taking shape nicely but can't we get some citations in place sooner rather than later?  It's so difficult to "repair" a article at a later stage ... one just doesn't know where the information has come from. Mikeo1938 (talk) 12:58, 18 January 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Lack of citations