The Rise and Fall of the French Air Force: French Air Operations and Strategy 1900-1940

[Orwell1984]

Coincidentally I have just finished reading this book. I'd highly recommend it for anyone interested in the development of French air power and the evolution of their aircraft leading up to World War Two. It's the best work I've found in English and the author makes extensive use of French primary sources in his work. It should be noted that this book is not primarily a history of the 1940 campaign so there is no indepth, day by day analysis of combat actions. What is does do is look at how policy and doctorine shaped how the French responded and acted in the air during that campaign, the type of aircraft they used and how they used them, how they were organized and how they responded to the changing fortunes of that campaign.