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Old 28th July 2018, 14:54
Laurent Rizzotti Laurent Rizzotti is offline
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Re: Spitfire IX MH693

Concerning both lists, they are probably not complete, and should not be read as the comprehensive list of French air force accidents for the considered time periods. These PDF are digital copy of paper documents I saw 20+ years ago: the list of accident report files available in French archive. So it is possible that some accidents are not there because the report is no more available. Another possibility is that the rise in accidents was due to the Armée de l'Air increased activity due to the international situation, but 1935 accidents seem very few in number.

The PDF for 1934-1940 is 231 pages long (1934: pages 1-2, 1935: page 2, 1936: 2-6, 1937: 6-21, 1938: 21-45, 1939: 45-104, 1940 (up to 3 June): 104-231). So except 1934, we see a constant rise of the number of accidents by year.

By the way the title of document is accidents from 1st January 1934 to 22 June 1940, but the last in the PDF is on 3 June 1940, so tens if not hundred of accidents/incidents in June are missing (just for 2 June, 14 are recorded, and 17 for 1 June, with only one for 3 June). One can understand that in June 1940, French had other priorities than compiling nice accident reports.

Regarding the content of the accident report files, I read years ago reports for September 1939 to February 1940. Some are very complete, several tens of pages and several photos of crash place and wreck, while other contain only one telegram (including one case with several fatalities). The later case is especially true for crashes in colonies, but also for operational squadrons close to the frontline.
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