French Marylands

[Brian]

Hi guys

It is noted that two French M.167F Marylands arrived at Gibraltar late May/early June 1941. It was intended that these would be flown to Malta, but one crashed during an air test; the other was flown to Malta on 8 June. These aircraft were apparently numbered FF1 and FF2; it was the latter that reached Malta.

Does anyone know from where these two machines reached Gibraltar and their previous history; plus the subsequent history of FF2. Did it receive an RAF serial number, and what was its fate? I've now discovered that it was flown to Egypt on 17 July 1941, and swopped for another.

PS: I have being doing my own research (!) and now realise that three Martin 167Fs escaped from North Africa to Gibraltar in June 1940, when the French surrendered. These were numbered 62, 82, and 102. I presume that two of these aircraft are the ones to which I refer. It has been suggested that the aircraft flown to Malta (FF2) was formerly No.114 of GRI/22 based in Morocco.

Cheers
Brian