Hello Lucien,
I did read your excellent article "Les oubliés des Antilles" published few years ago and it was very well researched, however, every research in history should be considered as a work in progress and you should not be so affirmative with that statement :
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The exact number of H-75 A-4 (H-751 in Armée de l’Air parlance) taken into account by the Armée de l’Air before France’s collapse is not know with precision.
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Actually, Lionel Persyn is probably able to make a very close statement on each case due to his own extensive research on this subject. Moreover, Louis Capdeboscq and myself had researched another part of this case which cross-checked everything he was able to find out about that shipping and deliveries question. So I'm more than confident that this case will be almost entirely resolved pretty soon and published. Take in mind that the whole question do not belong to a single document but it's based on many that are showing a barely complete picture of those facts with individual and collective evidence for each aircraft.
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- On May 1st 1940, H-751 s/n 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 left NYC on board of SS Île de France destination unknow but most probably Saint-Nazaire.
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For example, the shipping document for this particular cargo is showing few discrepancies with your list ;
Here is the following H-751s' carried, beside thirteen of the last fourteen H-75A-3 :
ILE DE FRANCE du 1er Mai 1940
N°02, c/n 13807,
N°03, c/n 13808,
N°04, c/n 13809,
N°05, c/n 13810,
N°07, c/n 13812,
N°08, c/n 13813,
All of which were assembled in Toulouse and issued to retreating units in their way to North Africa. Here comes certainly the legend that only six H-751 ever reached France.
I won't comment on all your other points as I mentioned, we'll have to wait for this to be published soon, but I can confirm that the Champlain had no H-75s' on board when she sank and that all eighty one H-751 which were on hand by the French at the time of the armistice are localized and the final fate of very few is still uncertain. More clearly, the very few that we are still trying to address the fate are part of those which were captured by the Germans.
Finally, I'll take this occasion to ask every reader of this thread some help if they are able to contribute in providing primary German sources about any H-75 captured. We will appreciate it very much !
Regards,
Olivier Bacca.
PS : Hello Bronsky !! :-)