French Spitfires

[hobo9]

Hi,

I'm looking for information on Spitfires used by the Armee de l'Air in Indochina. In late 1945, 273 Squadron RAF, handed over their Mk. VIII to the French at Tan Son Nhut (Google). However, later use by the Groupes de Chasse involved MK. IX's. Were these aircraft procured by local RAF assets (Burma?), or shipped out from French or British stocks in Europe? Also, what number of Spitfire aircraft were eventually used in the Indochina theater?

Thank you,

P.N.

[Old VG 33]

Hi

Some years ago on ARC Forum for a Viet-Nam war GB I posted this which could interest you :

My Indochina Spitfire

The first Spitfires the French Air Force flew in Indochina were some Mk VIII borrowed from the RAF in Tan Son Nhut (Saigon) in Cochinchine. They were used in anger on December 13, 1945 by the GC II/7. Later GC I/7 “Provence” and GC II/7 “Nice” were re-equipped with Spitfire Mk IX, this time bought from GB. The first Tonkin operation ended in March 1946 and by this time the two squadrons flew over 600 sorties, expended 150.000 ammos and dropped 28 t of bombs with only four aircraft dammaged.

In July 1946 the 2nd Escadre,with GC I/2 “Cigognes” in Hanoï and Lang Son and GC II/2 “Alsace” in Saigon, Nha Trang and Tourane (Da Nang), replaced the 1st Escadre with the same Spitfires. Obviously the squadrons moved according to the pacification campaign in Cochinchine.

The next unit was the 4th Escadre with GC I/4 “Dauphiné” and GC II/4 “Lafayette” which was deployed for Operation “Léa” against the Viêt Minh strongholds in Haut-Tonkin in September 1947.

The last unit to fly operationally the Spitfire was the 3rd Escadre when the GC I/3 “Navarre” replaced the GC II/4 in September 1948 and the GC II/3 “Champagne” replaced the GC I/4 in January 1949.

By the beginning of 1950 the 5th Escadre started operations against the Viêt-Minh with Bell P-63s ending the Spitfire era in Indochina.

Patrick

Edited September 13, 2010 by VG 33

[Colin S-K]

Hi,

I'm looking for information on Spitfires used by the Armee de l'Air in Indochina. In late 1945, 273 Squadron RAF, handed over their Mk. VIII to the French at Tan Son Nhut (Google). However, later use by the Groupes de Chasse involved MK. IX's. Were these aircraft procured by local RAF assets (Burma?), or shipped out from French or British stocks in Europe? Also, what number of Spitfire aircraft were eventually used in the Indochina theater?

Thank you,

P.N.

P.N,

All I can find is that Groupe de Chasse 7 arrived at Tan Son Nhut in December of 45 without it's Spitfire IX's, 273 Sqn 'loaned' 12 Spiftfire VIII's to them, these were supplemented by 12 Nakajima Ki 43 IIb and Ki 43 III(Oscars), all flew from Dec 45 to 6 March 46.

GC7's Spitfire IX's arrived then..

1947, GC I/4 and GC II/4 arrived1947 with more Spitfires.

No idea where they came from. Got a few pictures if you want.

Colin

[hobo9]

P.N,

All I can find is that Groupe de Chasse 7 arrived at Tan Son Nhut in December of 45 without it's Spitfire IX's, 273 Sqn 'loaned' 12 Spiftfire VIII's to them, these were supplemented by 12 Nakajima Ki 43 IIb and Ki 43 III(Oscars), all flew from Dec 45 to 6 March 46.

GC7's Spitfire IX's arrived then..

1947, GC I/4 and GC II/4 arrived1947 with more Spitfires.

No idea where they came from. Got a few pictures if you want.

Colin

Colin,

Any pictures you may have would be very much appreciated.

Thank you in advance for your time and effort,

Regards,

P.N.

[hobo9]

Hi

Some years ago on ARC Forum for a Viet-Nam war GB I posted this which could interest you :

My Indochina Spitfire

The first Spitfires the French Air Force flew in Indochina were some Mk VIII borrowed from the RAF in Tan Son Nhut (Saigon) in Cochinchine. They were used in anger on December 13, 1945 by the GC II/7. Later GC I/7 “Provence” and GC II/7 “Nice” were re-equipped with Spitfire Mk IX, this time bought from GB. The first Tonkin operation ended in March 1946 and by this time the two squadrons flew over 600 sorties, expended 150.000 ammos and dropped 28 t of bombs with only four aircraft dammaged.

In July 1946 the 2nd Escadre,with GC I/2 “Cigognes” in Hanoï and Lang Son and GC II/2 “Alsace” in Saigon, Nha Trang and Tourane (Da Nang), replaced the 1st Escadre with the same Spitfires. Obviously the squadrons moved according to the pacification campaign in Cochinchine.

The next unit was the 4th Escadre with GC I/4 “Dauphiné” and GC II/4 “Lafayette” which was deployed for Operation “Léa” against the Viêt Minh strongholds in Haut-Tonkin in September 1947.

The last unit to fly operationally the Spitfire was the 3rd Escadre when the GC I/3 “Navarre” replaced the GC II/4 in September 1948 and the GC II/3 “Champagne” replaced the GC I/4 in January 1949.

By the beginning of 1950 the 5th Escadre started operations against the Viêt-Minh with Bell P-63s ending the Spitfire era in Indochina.

Patrick

Patrick,

Thank you for getting back to me. Checked out your very informative post on ARC. Exactly what I was looking for!

Thanks again,

P.N.

[hobo9]

P.N,

All I can find is that Groupe de Chasse 7 arrived at Tan Son Nhut in December of 45 without it's Spitfire IX's, 273 Sqn 'loaned' 12 Spiftfire VIII's to them, these were supplemented by 12 Nakajima Ki 43 IIb and Ki 43 III(Oscars), all flew from Dec 45 to 6 March 46.

GC7's Spitfire IX's arrived then..

1947, GC I/4 and GC II/4 arrived1947 with more Spitfires.

No idea where they came from. Got a few pictures if you want.

Colin

Colin,

Forgot to add a thank you for your unit/aircraft information.

Cheers,

P.N.

[Enzo the Magnificent]

these were supplemented by 12 Nakajima Ki 43 IIb and Ki 43 III(Oscars), all flew from Dec 45 to 6 March 46.

sorry to dash off at a tangent... but Oscars in French markings? Now there's an interesting subject!

[Simon]

sorry to dash off at a tangent... but Oscars in French markings? Now there's an interesting subject!

http://www.hyperscale.com/2010/reviews/dec...2reviewme_1.htm

[Don McIntyre]

Is there a US source for those PT decals? Somewhere, I've seen a photo of the Ki-43 in French markings, but darned if I can recall where I saw it.

That's a cool looking Tiger moth, too!

[rafju]

On 9/13/2010 at 8:24 PM, Old VG 33 said:

My Indochina Spitfire

The first Spitfires the French Air Force flew in Indochina were some Mk VIII borrowed from the RAF in Tan Son Nhut (Saigon) in Cochinchine. They were used in anger on December 13, 1945 by the GC II/7. 

  

On 9/13/2010 at 8:33 PM, Colin S-K said:

P.N,

All I can find is that Groupe de Chasse 7 arrived at Tan Son Nhut in December of 45 without it's Spitfire IX's, 273 Sqn 'loaned' 12 Spiftfire VIII's to them, these were supplemented by 12 Nakajima Ki 43 IIb and Ki 43 III(Oscars), all flew from Dec 45 to 6 March 46.

GC7's Spitfire IX's arrived then..

1947, GC I/4 and GC II/4 arrived1947 with more Spitfires.

No idea where they came from. Got a few pictures if you want.

Colin

 

Hi  All,

Many thanks with the confirmed info about these Mk VIII  (273 Sqn) delivered to the french GC II/7.

Please, got some question about:

- Do you have some pictures of these?

- Did the French repaint a roundel over the English marking? (which would seem normal and obvious since they were used in military operations, no?)

- Were these planes returned to the 273 Sqn when the french received the MkIX?

 

In short, who knows a little more about these 'loaned' Mk VIII's?

With all my thanks

 

Raphael