I regret you force me to say this is a ludicrous statement (same quality as Townsend's). Firstly the French government ordered all aircraft which had the range to fly to French North Africa - not only the fighters. This they did. This government was led by Paul Reynaud. Then Pétain took over and everything became different (but these flights were not stopped).
According to Danel and Cuny approx. 550 modern fighters were flown to N. Africa, a considerable force. Add numerous bombers and recce AC. 1,155 modern fighters were left in the UNoccupied part of France (plus many bombers etc.). Most of these didn't have the range to fly to N. Africa. Those which had (for ex. 170 Dewoitine 520s) couldn't escape for lack of a pilot, petrol or some vital part, or they had still been in the factories, many just off the assembly lines. We'll probably never know how many AC were left in the occupied part of France, most probably a few hundred plus many wrecks of destroyed AC. The Germans were not interested in the intact AC in unoccupied France, they didn't seize them but left them where they were.
Of course all AC should have been systematically destroyed by the French before their surrender but here we bump into the realities you ignore. This was tried whenever possible. Many civilian and military pilots flew AC to safety, taking great risks for themselves. Why do you think that almost all Arsenal VG-33s were in the South (Bordeaux...)? They came from Villacoublay near Paris where the factory was situated, hundreds of miles away. The German invasion was much too fast to allow systematic destruction of all remaining AC. The British army and the RAF made similar experiences. The German soldiers were very glad to seize intact British stores with enormous quantities of whisky, cigarettes etc., not to mention aircraft, vehicles etc.
After the Allied landings in French N. Africa in November 1942 Germany invaded unoccupied Vichy-France and this time seized all aircraft. In the meantime, 2 1/2 years later, they had realised that this war was not finished yet and they took whatever they could get. Thousands of French AC were used mainly for training (D.520s, Bloch 152-155s etc., Potez 63.11 recce AC) and transport (LeO 451 bombers). There was not much the French could do about this was there. All these aircraft were nearing obsolescence by now.
The agreements between Germany and Pétain according to which French factories produced thousands of AC for Germany including some German types (Siebel 204 (?), Ju 52...) as well as many aero-engines and AC parts and repaired thousands of other German AC including fighters is another matter. The Germans could force the French to do this at will, just like in Czechoslovakia and even Poland, where an important German AC production took place too but quite naturally the greater part of this production took place in France, which possessed an intact and very powerful aircraft industry.