Some 80 years ago today.
Between December 13 and 31, 1944 – Cognac (Charente). Maintenance and inspection of a Douglas SBD-5 Dauntless dive bomber belonging to the 4e flottille de bombardement (4e FB) of the French Navy.
Ref.: MARINE 389-7165, ECPAD
Ed Heinemann’s Douglas SBD Dauntless dive-bomber was famous in U.S. Naval service, doing everything from bombing Vichy French tanks during the Torch Landings in Algeria to the day the update went back at Midway to “scratch four flattops” from the Empire of Japan’s lineup.
SBD-5 Dauntless dive bombers Marine Scouting Squadron 3 VMS-3 Devilbirds Kodachrome. Note the distinctive grey-blue-white Atlantic Theater camouflage on the aircraft. NHHC 80-G-K-14310
Nearly 6,000 came off the assembly line during WWII and most went to serve in American hands across the Navy and Marines (SBD) and Army (as the A-24 Banshee). However, the Royal New Zealand Air Force fielded a whole squadron (No. 25) of SBDs and post-war Chile, Mexico, and Morrocco would keep the plane flying into the Cold War.
However, it may surprise you that the second most prolific user of the SBD, after Uncle Sam, was the Free French Air Force and Aeronavale.
The French Navy, whose sole aircraft carrier never really had any teeth in the form of a credible air wing, ordered 174 early SBD-3s in 1940 but the Republic fell before they could be delivered.
Nonetheless, between mid-1943 and June 1944, the Free French AF received as many as 50 A-24Bs, flown by I/17 Picardie and GC 1/18, while the Aeronavale picked up 32 SBD-5s. which would be flown by Flotilles 3FB (Lv Felix Ortolan) and 4FB (CC Raymond Béhic).
The French naval SBDs were placed under the initial command of U.S. Navy Fleet Air Wing 15 at NAS Port Lyautey.
French SBD Douglas SBD 5 dauntles de la 4F
SBD 5 of Flotilla 4.FB 166 and 174, GAN 2 Cognac winter 1944-45.
From providing air cover over the Dragoon landings to moving inland to support the Free French forces in the effort to liberate their country, the A-24s and SBDs were well used, with the Naval units, in particular, flying an average of three sorties a day per airframe towards the end of the war.
Battered French Douglas A24 crew pose with locals in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region 1945
Flying together as Groupe d’aéronautique navale n°2, the two French Navy SBD squadrons spent lots of time dopping ordnance on German pockets left along the Atlantic Wall. It sort of made sense as most of these were port units garrisoned by the Kriegsmarine, which made it, in a way, a French Navy-on-German Navy fight, albeit all conducted on land– with donated American dive bombers famous for sinking Japan’s finest.
French Douglas SBD Dauntless 4FB and 3FB at Cognac, late 1944
French Douglas SBD Dauntless 162 of 4FB Cognac, late 1944
French Douglas SBD Dauntless 3FB Cognac, late 1944, Note the star and crescent tail insignia
Crew members of Douglas SDB-5 Dauntless dive bombers, belonging to the 3FB or 4FB flotilla of the No. 2 Naval Aviation Group, returning from a mission as part of the operations to liberate the Atlantic pockets, 1945. Note the Yank and RAF flying gear mix, including British Enfield holsters and USN “Mae Wests”.
Post-war, the French AF relegated their A-24s to use as trainers Meknès, Morocco, a role they retained as late as 1953.
At the same time, the Aeronavale took their SBD act on the road, flying from them via Flotille 4FB from the light carrier Arromanches (HMS Colossus, on loan) and 3FB from the escort carrier Dixmude (HMS Biter), over Indochina in the late 1940s, ironically making the French the last folks to fly the Dauntless in combat. They converted to SB2Cs in 1949.
French Douglas SBD Dauntless of 3FB au dessus du porte-avions Arromanches.
French Douglas SBD Dauntless of 3FB on Dixmude
Dauntless de la 3.F sur le PA Dixmude en Indochine en 1947
Today, Flottille 4F, the most decorated squadron in the Aeronavale, flies Grumman E-2C Hawkeyes from the French Navy’s sole carrier, DeGaulle, and is the only non-USN carrier Hawkeye unit.
Meanwhile, Flottille 3F was dissolved in Hyères on 31 December 1954– 70 years ago today– after flying their SB2Cs danger-close at Dien Bien Phu.
And, keeping the Navy Air-Aeronavale connection in the same space, this is from yesterday’s DOD contracts, emphasis mine:
General Atomics, San Diego, California, is awarded a $41,572,260 firm-fixed-price, cost-plus-fixed-fee order (N0001925F0028) against a previously issued basic ordering agreement (N0001921G0014). This order provides for the advancement of the design of the future French carrier configuration of the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System and advanced arresting gear through the preliminary design review. Work will be performed in San Diego, California (91%); Lakehurst, New Jersey (5.6%); and Tupelo, Mississippi (3.5%), and is expected to be completed in January 2026. Foreign Military Sales customer funds in the amount of $41,572,260 will be obligated at the time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This order was not competed. Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.