French Aircraft that escaped to Britain from June 1940

[Larry]

Has anyone ever compiled a list of the aircraft that escaped from France from June 1940 onwards to the end of the occupation?

If not I would be interested to hear from members with identity, departure point and arrival point with dates of any French Air Force aircraft that were flown to Britain to join the Free French or escape the Germans. Any supplimentry info would be most welcome.

hi,yes just the one in a book by john forman the plane crash landed in nov 40 called f a r o d ,no idea why farod ,but it contained two french men who nicked it from a german airfield,prob, nappin or beers,well bob had ended,who could blame them, gary

[Alex Smart]

Hello Larry,

I did touch on this some time ago but the thread got muddled .

One Flight of Polish Pilots flew their French aircraft to Britain, this was as I understand it the ONLY French Air Unit to Escape to Britain. I was what was called a "Chimney Flight" which was commanded by Henneberg.
A photo of his Bloch MB152 serial number 656 is in the Mushroom book "Fighters over Franceand the Low Countries". It is shown in What looks to me like hastily applied British markings.
Others also flew to Britain, a Farman 222 and a Potez 540 landed at St. Eval on June 20th 1940 followed in July by "Several" Martin 167 bombers . Wonder what became of these ?
This is taken from "Action Stations 5".
There must have been many many others , some mentioned in the Air Britain RAF Serial Books . A few of those went from on from Britain to see service in the Middle East.

It would be good to have more details about these aircraft and those Airmen and their passengers who came to britain to fight on.

Alex

[Bertrand H]

Hello Larry & Alex,


Equipment in England on 27 january 1941.

1 Caudron Luciole
5 Caudron Simoun
1 Morane 315
1 Morane 230. Could it be F-AROD s/n 333 ?
2Caudron Goeland
5 Bloch 151/152
1 Dewoitine D.520
1 Potez 540
1 Farman 222
1 Bloch 131
1 Potez 63
Some Glenn Martin

HTH

Bertrand H

hi, thanks f a r o d morane. ill check it up,
gary

[Rémi Baudru]

Hello,

I have in my files 3 Dewoitine 520 :
n° 127, 139 and 409.
These planes where flown the 26th june 1940 from Toulouse by three pilots of the GC III/7. They landed at Boscombe Down.
If some one has a photo of one of these Dewoitine in british markings, I will be very gratefull.
The Farmann 222 was the n° 19. It was flown from Saint-Jean d'Angély the 20th june (19 men where in this plane)

[Graham Boak]

Alex: can you confirm about Britain sending French aircraft to the Middle East? My understanding was that those in the ME had defected from Syria. Given the problems of maintaining and supporting such exotica, it seems unlikely to me that they would go to all the trouble of crating them up and sending them elsewhere.

Though there could always be exceptions for special purposes: Late 293s for agent deliveries, Lucioles for delivering fast talkers to convince outposts to surrender (or not, as the case may be).

[Brian]

Hi guys

As far as I am aware none of the French aircraft that reached England in June 1940 were sent to the Middle East. Those that operated in the ME came mainly from from Syria in June 1940.

However, three D.520s (I have 137, 139 and 140) and eight FF fighter pilots were put aboard the 'Westerland' for the 'invasion' of Dakar in September 1940. The vessel also carried six crated Blenheims and a dozen crated Lysanders, together with FF crews. Therefore, the D.520s never wore British markings and the French pilots were not absorbed into the RAF but retained their uniform and autonomous identity. The D.520s were later offloaded at Douala in the Camerouns, where one crashed with the death of the pilot. Another of the eight pilots had been captured at Dakar (he piloted one of the Lucioles), and the remaining six ended up in the Middle East, where they helped, albeit briefly, in the defence of Athens, and later made their mark in the defence of Tobruk (may I recommend 'Hurricanes over Tobruk' for anyone interested in their adventures)

Hope this helps
Cheers
Brian