Markings and serials for Andre Legrand Vichy H-75

[focusfocus]

Oups! sorry,right, it's magazine"avions hs n°25"(exellent) about french "aces"

[Rémi Baudru]

Bonjour,

More than twenty years ago, I made extensive reaserches on the « Groupe de chasse » II/5 (1940/1942 periode). I meet and interviewed more than 50 pilots and mechanics (including Legrand himself). I have in my files enough material to write a new book on this unit.

All the H75 of the group II/5 involved in the 8th november combats were wearing the last markings imposed by the german « Commission d’Armistice » to first line aircrafts of the french « Armée de l’Air » : french flag on the rudder, cocardes above and under the wings, blue-white-red strips above and under the wings and red and yellow stripes on the cowling and the tail (no cocarde or white stripe on the fuselage). See examples of this scheme on the planes of the two photos of the page 333 of « Les Curtiss H75 de l’Armée de l’Air » written by Lionel Persyn.

The n°37 was wearing the markings the « sioux » escadrille = the indian head on the fuselage beetween the motor and the cockpit (see photo of the « 12 » page 332 of the same book). The individual code of this plane was white seven. A very fine black strip surrounded the white code number.

Camouflage : all the published profiles I know are wrong.
In fact, the upper surfaces camouflage were brown and green in large strips (without grey). These colors where localy mixed to blend with the semi desertic colors of the of Moroccan landscape. The under surfaces were in light blue (again a localy mixed color, not the official blue-grey color of the french air force).

After its belly landing of the 8th november, the Curtiss n°37 was not repared. It is easy to explain the slight mistake of the page 407 of the same book where it is quoted that this plane was flying again in Kasba-Tatla in 1944/45. The few french Curtiss A4 with Wright motor received serials starting again at one…

At last, I do not want to open a can of worms but I cannot agree when i see that this discussion is in the « Luftwaffe and axis air forces ».
The 8th november the american navy opened the fire and shelled the french ships anchored inside the habor of Casablanca without any negotiation. One of the first pilots of the II/5 who took off told me that when they left the ground they did not know who was attaking the harbor ! They all had the strong feeling that they were facing an agression. The five pilots of the II/5 who were killed that day were just trying to defend and protect their fellow sailors who were beeing killed inside the harbor…

I should be very interested to trade informations or photos related these bad events.

Regards.
RB

[Stig Jarlevik]

Thanks Rémi

Excellent update!

While being interested in French aviation, and at the same time not being French speaking, has made me make the decision not to aquire every book on the subject. Books about units are among those I don't buy. Sorry about that!

Thanks for explaining the reason for Lionel Persyn making his mistake in the H-75 list. I have now updated it Also interesting it still wore the same code (white 7) when it was written off. The book lists that code when it had its accident on 29.1.1941.

Cheers
Stig

[PMoz99]

Thank you for the detailed information Remi.
At AU$170+ for the book, this is out of my reach. In any case, I don't read French ........
Just to complete the picture of No37, can you please tell me if the number 7 was on the tail or on the fuselage near the tail? I would suspect it would be on the fuselage, but I'd rather not guess if you can help me with this.
Thank you
Peter