Amoit 351/354 information

[Laurent Rizzotti]

The French book "Ils étaient là" is the best available printed source on combat losses, but is only covering losses suffered in the air by "frontline units" (except some rare exceptions). Here are the losses of Amiot 351/354:
10 May 1940: Amiot 354 n° 6, GB II/21, engine failure during test flight, 4 KIFA
14 May 1940: Amiot 354 n° 30 (shown as an Amiot 143 in Cornwell book), GB I/34, shot down by Flak, no casualty
18 May 1940: Amiot 354 n° 29, GB II/34, shot down by Flak, 2 KIA, 2 POW
24 May 1940: Amiot 354 n° 38, GB I/21, shot down by Flak, 4 KIA
28 May 1940: Amiot 354 n° 33, GB I/21, landing crash on return of mission, 4 WIA
2 June 1940: Amiot 354 n° 8, GB II/21, crash during training flight, 3 KIFA (liste on 3 June in another source)
13 June 1940: Amiot 354 n° 7, GB I/21, emergency landing on return of mission, 1 WIA
13 June 1940: Amiot 351 n° 64, GB I/21, hit a hill, maybe after Flak damage, 1 KIA, 1 WIA
17 June 1940: Amiot 354 n° 25, GB I/21, lost at sea, 4 MIA
18 June 1940: Amiot 351 n° 78, take off crash, 2 KIFA
20 June 1940: Amiot 354 n° 28, GB I/34, lost at sea, 5 MIA
22 June 1940: Amiot 351 n° 80, GB II/34, crashed in Algeria, 4 KIFA

What is lacking are all the losses suffered on the ground. For this the best source is know is the book "The battle of France Then and Now", by Peter Cornwell (a regular poster here). Here are the Amiot 35x listed in this book and not in "Ils étaient là":
24 May 1940: Amiot 354 n°34 of GB I/21 and two Amiot 354 (unknown numbers) of GB II/21 destroyed by bombs at La Ferté-Gaucher.
25 May 1940: Amiot 354 n° 37 of GB I/21 belly-landed, written off, no casualty
3 June 1940: Amiot 351 n°58 of GB II/34 destroyed by bombs at Nangis
13 June 1940: Amiot 354 n° 12 (shown as a Bloch 210 in this book, as an Amiot 354 in Cornwell's book below), GB II/21, shot down by Flak, 4 KIA

For "second line" units, the best source is the list of accidents reports in the French archives, that is now online:
http://www.servicehistorique.sga.def...B_00000363.pdf
You can find 5 accidents of Amiot 354 between February to June 1940 (including n° 6 and n°8 listed above, as this list covers all accidents of Armée de l'Air). By the way this list is covering aircraft damaged as well as those destroyed. To know the fate of the aircraft and crew, the archive files have to be searched.

There is no such list for the Vichy period (june 1940 to november 1942 for aviation purposes: after november 1942, Vichy had no more air force or army).

Conclusion:
12 sure losses in action/crashes with GB I/21, II/21, I/34, II/34 (+ two possible)
4 sure destroyed on the ground (two with unknown numbers)
3 accidents with rear area units, not sure if damaged/destroyed