Lionel
Quote:
Originally Posted by Petitpoucet
But i'm French, and i was not really pleased with what i read. Attacks against "the guy"becam attacks against french pilots and french Armée de l'Air.
So, for beginning, please excuse my poor english, and be sure that i don't want to be aggressive. I'd just like to answer to small points.
|
Quote:
|
_For example, when i read that french officers kept for themselves victories claimed by polish pilots, i'd like to answer by another question : what happen in other Air forces when pilots claim more victories than the aircrafts effectively destroyed ? Some are confirmed, the others no.
|
The point is not about confirming (crediting) victories, but about crediting other pilots with victories achieved by Polish pilots. There were few such cases described by the Polish airmen in reports filed for Polish authorities.
Quote:
|
One error is possible, but many polish and czech pilots became aces during the battle of France, so i cannot admit this sentence as a generality.
|
No, there were not too many Polish aces for a very simple reason. Only a few pilots were send to operational units and saw only a limited combat.
Quote:
|
_I read it and i can confirm it : there were no operationnal "Groupes de Chasse" (fighter groups) at villacoublay airbase when it was bombed in early June 1940. So, 30 fighters, all right, but how many armed, and how many operationnal pilots ? Who to give orders ? And what about the alarm, when was it given ? So many questions before concluding anything.
|
This is one single case, but there are literally dosens of such accounts. Are all of them unfounded? They were published years ago, yet nobody in France bothered with them. Certainly, there were some positive remarks, but I would say they were in clear minority.
I understand you have been in touch with Lansoy, is he still alive? A pilot of his unit, Łaszkiewicz, wrote memories, no doubt based on his personal diary, and provided a critical insight into a life of French Grouppe de Chasse. I believe it was this unit visited by Fonck, and according to Łaszkiewicz, the former was most critical about French fighter pilots. Is it anti-French propaganda?