1 / 2 Escadron de Chasse Cicogne The Escadron de Chasse 01 . 002 " Cigogne " ( English language : " 1 / 2 fighter squadron " Storks " " or " l ' EC 1 / 2 " ) is a French Air Force fighter squadron , currently stationed in 116 Luxeuil - Saint Sauveur Airbase . It inherits the traditions of three notable World War I units : " SPA 3 " of the famous ace Georges Guynemer , " SPA 103 " of René Fonck , and " SPA 12 " . 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 people ' s 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 squadron ' s 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 Nieuport s 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 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 . 520 s . 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 designated as No . 329 Squadron RAF . On 6 June 1944 , it took part in the D Day Landing 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 , celebrating an honourable end to the Second World War . 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 Thunderbolt s . 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 IV As . 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 , EC 1 / 2 Cigognes moved on to the Mirage 2000C . In September 1994 , it received a third flight : the SPA 12 . At the end of the 1990s , the squadron moved to Mirage 2000 - 5F .