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Volume 17 - N° 11 - Novembre 2012

EDITORIAL

s I was preparing the excellent article Asent by Stéphane Duchemin, about one of the Normandie-Niemen mechanics, Guy Leloup, the terrible news about the death of arrived. Decidedly, life is full of those happy or dramatic coincidences… So I changed my plans about this edition of our Newsletter and wrote a modest article intended to pay tribute to a very great man whose popularity was due to his huge modesty, to his great intellect, to his creative spirit, and to his uncountable acts of bravery during the Second World War. Roland de la Poype has joined General Risso, , and all the members of the Neuneu who have already disappeared, pilots, mechanics, and every man and woman who accomplished their tasks conscientiously in the name of GOOD BYE ROLAND DE LA POYPE Honor and the defense of Freedom.

ou will not find any news about the work Yin the hangar this month because illness hit the two main actors of this project, Roger Gouzon and myself. The other volunteers also became rather rare because of their professional and personal occupations, but I hope that they will be more available soon. The list of things to do is still very long. You will find it on the new French Wing web site in the part restricted to members.

his web site is progressively built by TBertrand Brown, Stéphane Duchemin, and myself, but if some members feel like helping with the elaboration of its contents, they will be very welcome. inally, I hope that among those who AÉROPUCES 2012 VERSION Fhaven't replied to my calls for their participation in our General Assembly, will decide to join us for such an important french wing GENERAL ASSEMBLY : annual meeting which will allow us to decide what activities the French Wing will adopt in PLEASE CONFIRM YOUR PARTICIPATION 2013. in this annual MEETING AND / OR THE Bernard DINER if you haven't done it yet !

1 NEWS

ROLAND DE LA POYPE 1920 - 2012 It's with great sadness that we heard Cadet Officer, shot down an Me 109 about Roland de la Poype passing on in March 1942, and another one on tuesday October 23, 2012. August 22.

It is thanks to his friend and He then volunteered to join the mechanic Georges Marcelin that Normandie group which was being we had been able to have the great created. After a long journey which honor to welcome him during our took him through various african General assembly in 2008, and that countries, he arrived in Russia on we were able to appreciate the hero November 28, 1942. Brave amongst and the admirable man that he the braves, he fought throughout the was. war, ending with a total of 18 victo- ries (16 + 2 probable), and the high- Born on July 20, 1920 in Pradeaux est French and Soviet distinctions, (Puy de Dôme), he soon became becoming, in particular, one of the fond of aviation. In 1939 he joined rare foreign soldiers to get the title of the Armée de l’Air and got his pilot Hero of the . licence in February 1940. The follow- ing month, he started his fighter pilot As soon as he arrived, he volunteered Roland De La Poype decided to leave training in Étampes. to serve in the Free French Air Force the Air Force in 1947 and to start (FAFL). he then took part in the oper- a career in industry, specialized in In May, obeying the orders to retreat, ation in Dakar and Gabon as a gun- composite materials. First producing the student pilots moved to La ner in the Groupe de Bombardement hoses, he specialized in plastic pack- Rochelle. Then came the Armistice. GRB-1. agings. A brilliant inventor, he cre- Hearing the call of General De Gaulle, ated the small personal shampoo dose Roland De La Poype decided to go to Back to , he resumed his named Dop which was produced for England. In secret, he boarded a pol- training in the RAF and was posted more than 15 years. He also created ish boat, the Ettrick, about to leave to Squadron 602 based in the south the Mehari, a plastic car produced by for England. of London. He was promoted to Citroën, and, finally, the Marineland in Antibes (South of ), a famous marine zoo.

The entire French Wing, which was represented by its Unit Leader during the funerals, presents its sincere con- dolences to his widow, his relatives, and his friends for the loss that hit them. His passing leaves a gap which nothing or anybody can never fill. Left, Roland de la Poype during our General Assembly in 2008, together with his faithful me- chanic Georges Marcelin, member of the French Wing. Au revoir Roland de la Poype ! 2 FRENCH WING ANNUAL GENERAL ASSEMBLY

The French Wing annual general assembly will take place on November 17, 2012, in Ermenonville, in Roger Gouzon's home, from 2 to 6 PM. We have to know who, among our members and friends, will take part in this important annual meeting.

That's why we ask all late participants to let us know, as soon as they receive this Newsletter, if they will attend this general assembly, and if they also intend to stay on for our annual dinner with the names of the guests they may like to invite.

You must confirm this reservation by sending us a check of 15€ per guest, for you and your friends.

To get to Roger Gouzon's home, follow the red arrows on this map. Park your car on the square. For those who use a GPS or might get lost, here are Roger's coordinates :

Roger Gouzon 2 La Prairie Souville 60950 Ermenonville Tél : 03 44 60 11 47

2012 FRENCH WING if you don't take part in this GA, We can only suppose that the ELECTION you will receive, by mail or by CAF general assembly did take email, a ballot which you will place in Midland on October 12, This year’s election is about the need to print, fill in, and mail 2012, because, to this day, no position of Adjutant Officer. back to the French Wing before information whatsoever about November 30, 2012. this meeting and the discussions If you wish to apply for this position, that took place have been please do so, in writing, before 2012 COMMEMORATIVE published by the CAF, one way November 2nd by mail, fax, or email, AIR FORCE ELECTIONS or another. sent to our President (Address on the last page). If you are a member of the CAF The CAF web site, and the as a Regular Colonel or Life "Members' only" web site, remain We remind our members that Member, and if you have asked for totally mute and empty !… voting by proxy is not allowed for a ballot, you must have received members who cannot attend this the latter and sent it back with Therefore, we can only wait for general assembly. The only legal the name(s) of the candidate(s) the result of this election which way concerning the French Wing you wish to elect, the limit date should be published around is by mailing a ballot. Therefore, being November 10, 2012. November 23.

3 LATEST PAINTING FROM ROY : "SABRE TO THE RESCUE"

September 28, 1952. American is soon a fireball on a hillside below. F-84s are attacking targets in North This is Chick's 4th confirmed kill at Korea, about 30 miles south of the the time. With the MiG leader gone, Yalu River. Lt. "Chick" Cleveland is the other two MiGs bolt for home. leading the close cover with four F-86 The action was fortuitous as the F-84 Sabre jets at Angels 7. Undetected pilot was able to limp home with his out of nowhere, the Americans are badly damaged jet to Kimpo to fight jumped by a flight of three MiG-15s another day. determined to get to the F-84s. Chick yells "Drop tanks and go buster," and Lt. Cleveland will complete his tour the fight is on! Cleveland accelerates of duty in Korea with 4 confirmed and gains to close range on the lead victories and 2 probable. It would MiG, who is scoring hits on an F-84 take more than 50 years and research that is scoring hits on a truck convoy! in Soviet archives to finally confirm Chick fires his six .50 cals, and the that one probable on September MiG leader is instantly riddled, 21 was in fact a confirmed victory, slowing, and on fire. Firing again to making Chick the 40th Korean War ensure the victory, Cleveland's MiG Jet Ace.

The release of the book "Roy Grinnell, Painter of the Aces", published by Éditions Bamboo, in the "Grand Angle" collection, has been pushed back one week, i.e. on November 21, early enough for Santa to get a good amount of them and to make as many aviation lovers happy ! 4 The banner printed above is the and has been replaced by comments and can only be used within the header of the new French Wing web to which we will react if they call activities of our Association. site welcome page. It was designed for an answer, and a part of the web by Stéphane Duchemin's daughter, site has been restricted to the Wing The Newsletters can also be found in Magali Beltran, whom we thank members. this members-only part of the site. for her help and congratulate for You can read them, download them, her talent. With this composition, To get your access codes all you and print them as you wish, but you Magali was able to include, in just need to do is to click on the must NOT send them to anyone a few square inches the whole true "Espace Membres" title. This will who is not a French Wing member CAF spirit. open a window which includes a without the written authorisation request form. Once you receive of the Unit Leader. If you haven't connected yourself them, these access codes will allow to this new web site, please go to its you to read the latest confidential This web site is yours. You can be address which is unchanged : news about the French Wing. part of its evolution by helping us Obviously, you must NOT give reviewing the articles that we simply http://www.caffrenchwing.fr/ your codes to anyone. transferred from the old site, by writing new articles, by helping us In addition to the new aspect of this The French Wing Phone-Book translate the texts, and by suggesting welcome page, you will notice other which you will find in this new ideas. If you feel like helping, important differences : New menus members-only part of the web please do contact the webmaster and sub-menus, the forum has gone site must also remain confidential Bertrand Brown.

AÉROPUCES 2012

This year's Aéropuces definitely showed some moroseness despite the numerous booths. The current economy crisis is, by far, the main reason for this result. The visitors were numerous but they were not very inclined to spending large amounts of money.

The PX sales dropped by 30% in comparison with last year, which is bad when one considers the cost of the booth space, the work required before, during, and after this event, and the tiredness for those who took part in it : On saturday, Bertrand Brown, Patrick Pierre-Pierre, and Delfino. And, finally, the location of Aéropuces did not give us any reason Bernard & Fumiko Delfino set the place allocated by the organizers to be happy, and we will discuss these up the booth, and Fumiko looked was not the best that we have had points with the organizers who don't after it the whole day. On sunday, in the past (To say the least !) which seem to make any difference between three members were present : Roger did not help our sales. In short, as professional shops and benevolent Gouzon, and Bernard & Fumiko you probably guessed already, these Associations…

5 GUY LELOUP NEUNEU MECHANIC

Article : Stéphane Duchemin

Fifteen years ago, a handful of the then Helped in this project by Yves Donjon, his- dinary man whose career was long and French Supporter Squadron members, torian of the Normandie-Niemen Memo- eventful... decided to collect the memories of World rial, by the Association of the members of War Two French veterans, in order the Groupe Bretagne, by the Fighter Pilots I remained a personal friend of Mr. and to pass the lessons of the past onto the Association, and the Vieilles Tiges Associa- Mrs. Leloup who now live in a retirement younger generations, and respect our tion, their work was in a perfect line with home. Mister Leloup was very sad to not be goals. the CAF objectives, and, especially, the able to be part of the 70th Anniversary of American Airpower Museum's Oral His- the "Neuneu", and the recent passing of his They contacted veterans associations, met tory program. friend Roland de la Poype can only increase and talked to senior people, interviewed the effect of the numerous dramatic and them, and collected their stories, career, and It was on this occasion that I met Guy vivid memories that he still dreams about anecdotes. Leloup on October 12, 1998. An extraor- and perturb his sleep.

I was born in a small town of the there will be a takeoff and a water license. I was quite surprised and Ile de France region, called Haute landing. Would you be interested ?". asked the clerk the reason behind Isle. Haute Isle is located next to La Of course, I said yes and climbed the examiner's questions. He an- Roche Guyon, where Field Marshall aboard, happier than ever ! I will swered that this was quite normal Rommel was stationed for a while. always remember coming in to and that the examiner was trying This is where he supervised the op- land very fast and seeing the bridge to push me to see how I'd react. I erations late in the war, but not the right in front of us. I thought we laughed... Normandy Landing. He had left to would never make it. Of course, I join his wife and give her a pair of took a good beating from my fa- With my license in hand, I joined small locally-made shoes. ther because of this, as everyone the French fleet air arm in 1938 knew and spoke to each other at in Poulmic, in the Finistère region I lost my mother when I was four that time and place. (Brittany). Anyone with a pilot's years old. My father remarried and license could apply to the fleet air we moved to Argenteuil. At the The Lorraine-Dietrich company arm or the air force. I chose the time, Argenteuil was the most im- had employees, pilots, mechanics, navy because I knew that the guys portant place in aviation. etc. Among them was a very devot- in the air force mostly had cleaning ed person who had created a flying chores, and not much of anything school for the young ones. I studied else ! I joined the navy on Septem- there and got my license in 1937. ber 3, 1938. Exactly one year later, But my examiner had asked me: World War Two started.

- You're flying and a fire starts. What And then, the Phoney War began ! do you do ? We patrolled the harbor. Some - I pull the fire extinguisher rings. time later, the Krauts visited us and - That doesn't work. What do you dropped magnetic bombs. Since do ? most of our aircraft were made Among others, major companies - I try to land as quickly as possible. of aluminium instead of steel, no such as FBA, Schreck and the en- - There's nowhere to land, what do losses were sustained. On the other gine manufacturer Lorraine-Die- you do next ? hand, two small fishing boats were trich were based there. I went to - I bail out. hit. Then the war began in ear- school there and during the holi- - Your parachute doesn't open. What nest. Brittany was invaded from days, I would hang around the do you do ? the south. As we were about to get Seine riverside, which was only I was so exasperated that I an- trapped by German forces, I seized a short distance from my home. swered : the opportunity to board a fast Several light Schreck FBA aircraft - I'll get another one from the store ! launch going to England. were based there and, after ask- ing and begging, a mechanic told That was all, and the questions We were superbly welcomed in me : "If you absolutely want to fly, stopped. I was called in to get my Liverpool. Everyone waved their

6 arms at us. I told one of my com- rades "What a welcome !". When we moored our ship, I stumbled about a French-speaking Eng- lishmen. He asked me if I had any idea why people were wav- ing at us. I answered negatively and he replied "That's because you sailed right through the mine- field !"

It was a wooden launch, so the only metallic part was the engine and the rest was made of bronze, which is not magnetized. See how curiously lucky we were ?

From there, we were sent to the St Athan regrouping center. After that, we went to London. We were stationed in a very pretty car park A sailors' song On October 8, we landed in with a helical shape, called « Em- Douala. The group was set up and pire Hall ». This is were I formally On the 31st of August quickly nicknamed « James Squad- joined the FAFL, signing on 26 The 31st of August, ron » because there wasn't enough June 1940. We saw approaching downwind food and we mostly ate bread and An English frigate ...jam. The GRB1, which later be- We left St Athan for Odiham. This Dashing through the sea and waves came the GB1, was created. But was a large airbase where aircraft prior to that, the ship could not were being tested. We were given Hats down to the British for the sail up the Buri. The Buri is the Blenheims, a small but fantastic humorous coincidence ! river whose mouth is in the port aircraft. At the time, they called it of Douala. The river was too shal- the "short nose" as it had a short, September 14th. Freetown. Now low so we had to remove the crates pointed nose. Since it wasn't very that was something ! We tried to go from the Penn Land, load them on comfortable, they gave it a lon- to Dakar but we were chased away makeshift barges and bring them ger nose and it became the "long quickly. They didn't hesitate : We to the docks. From there, we used nose". With this they achieved were renegades, and sentenced to flatbeds which came out of no- fantastic results, with the result- death. No questions were asked. where to transport them to an air- ing aerodynamic improvement We stayed three days in Freetown field which had a few small aircraft adding an amazing 36 mph to the before being sent to Douala. and a tiny hangar where we were to aircraft's top speed. After receiv- ing the aircraft, we trained on them for a month. We didn't have a clue as to where we'd be sent. One day, we learned that we had been sentenced to death by the Vichy French, German and Ital- ian governments. The date was July 29, 1940.

The next day, we left by train for Liverpool. We boarded a Dutch cargo ship called « Penn Land ». On the 31st of August, we sailed for Af- rica. Does the date ring a bell ?

7 set up. We then had to take the air- ing himself and destroying a plane". and dig your own grave. In some craft out of their shipping crates, He was the first Free French to die, cases, we had to dismantle the assemble them and mate the en- and in a silly way it must be said. trucks in order to pull them out of gines and wings. We began with these sand traps. One had to have the engines only, as the hangar was October 1940. We drove to Tchad a strong will to keep going, let me too small. Only at the last minute by truck and were stationed in Fort assure you ! would we push the aircraft out of Lamy on November 11, 1940. It the hangar to attach the wings. We was quite a ride, I assure you. On On December 27, 1940, we settled then tested them and we also took December 15, 1940, we left for down in Ounianga, which is a small this opportunity to rebuild two Ounianga-Kebir in small trucks. fort bordered by three lakes, only Dewoitine 520 fighters. Our com- In the meantime, we had replaced one of which provided fresh drink- manding officer was Lieutenant- the valve springs on all aircraft as ing water. The two other ones had Colonel De Marmier. the British had found them to be poisonous water. On one of the defective. We had to travel nearly lakes, there were so many flies that The aircraft came out and Lieuten- 700 miles and had to carry the it looked as if there was a black ant Feuillerat boarded one, intent trucks on several occasions. There ring on the shoreline. This was very on giving us a nice flight demon- was sand up to the undersides of noticeable from the air. They were stration. I had to throw myself to the trucks, a nasty kind of white there and didn't move ! In this re- the ground ! He made three or four sand called Fech-Fech, the local great low passes. Then he made an name for flour. When you drove inverted pass and tried to half-roll on top of it, the upper part made back to a normal flight attitude. a sort of crust on which you could Unfortunately, he was too slow and drive. But if you broke through when he pushed the stick, nothing that upper layer, the wheels would happened. The engine pushed the plow into the soft undersurface

gion, daytime temperatures were usually between 28 and 35° C, but at night it was between 0 and -5° C. This was the desert, close to the Libyan desert.

On December 31, 1940, we flew our first mission to Koufra with two squadrons. One came from Douala. I forget where the other flight came from but they also had had to reassemble their aircraft on- Above : A Dewoitine D-520 bearing the base. Both squadrons regrouped at aircraft into a dive. He was barely Croix de Lorraine. Ounianga. able to avoid hitting the hospital Below : The D-520 wreck after Lieutenant for which he Feuillerat's crash. On February 5, 1941, four Blen- was headed. heims took off to bomb Koufra. He was our first casualty. I On February 15, after all of these remember De operations, we returned to Fort Marmier's ex- Lamy. We had to overhaul my air- pression when craft which greatly needed it, as he realized what my windscreen had been shot out was happening : by flak. I'd created a replacement "What a bloody windscreen with what was avail- fool ! He is kill- able.

8 In March 1941, we left for Eritrea and Abyssinia. At that time, Rayak in Lebanon and on March 1, Karthoum, which was quite a dis- we had plenty of work, with one or I was assigned to the Damas airbase tance away ! We landed in El Facher two aircraft leaving on a bombing in Syria for training. One day, I was to refuel. The crew was composed of mission every day. about to test-fly a Blenheim which Grasset, the pilot, Petain, the naviga- had been troublesome. I was ready tor who hated his name and insisted Dropping leaflets was our main to leave, the engines already brought on being called Petrus, and Delcros concern. We dropped large quanti- to temperature, when a big fellow (radar operator). One hour into the ties of them, hoping to bring peo- tapped my shoulder. "Get down, flight, we ran into a problem. The ple to join our cause. The crews had we'll take it". I answered : "I can't, I right engine temperature gauge was some experience and wrote the fol- must test-fly it". "Leave it, there are indicating 0° C. After investigating lowing message : « Don't cut them four parachutists who just arrived it, I realized what the problem was. off, leave it to us ». You can imagine and they want to make a reconnais- Instead of a needle, the British used the meaning of this... sance flight". I let them have the a feather stem which had the advan- aircraft. It was about 11 AM. They tage of being very light and needed On October 20, 1941, we left for took off and everything was fine. no counterweight. This feather ran Libya. These were the missions to They made a low pass and headed through the gauge's axle and was Gambout, Tobrouk and the famous towards Damas flying low, too low. glued into place. Unfortunately, the Halfaya pass. Halfaya was very tough We saw it fly over the gardens in British apparently hadn't thought as it was a crack in the hills, with a Damas and them "BOOM !". We about the fact that the tempera- steep downwards slope. The Italians later learned what had happened. ture in the aircraft sometimes rose had set up there with plenty of flak At 11:30 AM, the ground tempera- up to 70°C. At this temperature, to protect Tobruk. We had to drive ture is very high and as a result the the glue would no longer hold the them out of there and that cost us air density is very low. As they were feather in place. It wasn't a problem two crews. We couldn't attack going flying low, when the pilot pulled as I figured this out quite quickly downwards as that was to difficult. on the stick, the aircraft touched and I could see the engine was run- The only other option was to go the the ground and was completely de- ning smoothly. But after two and a other way, but the upward slope stroyed. There was nothing left of half hours of flight, the oil pressure meant we flew slower and were more the crew to be found. I should have dropped to zero. That was an entire- vulnerable to Triple A. been on board that flight. ly different problem ! I checked the engine : It was still running well and Something horrible happened in On October 1st, 1942, I was as- not emitting any smoke. I checked Gambout. Our base wasn't really signed to the "Normandie" group. the engine again and realized that it an airfield but rather some sort of was the exact same problem all over platform. In front of us were New- On November 12, 1942, we left for again, with the feather becoming un- Zealanders and Australians. Dur- the Soviet Union. We flew in air- glued. I can assure you my heart was ing a scramble, both units took off craft which were similar to Dako- pounding. We were in the middle of facing each other. You can imagine tas, except for the engines. I never nowhere, and I don't know where what happened next. We lost three understood how these guys could we could have landed in case of an aircraft and four men, and they fly. Taking off from Teheran was al- emergency. lost six aircraft. They weren't We finally made it to Khartoum, c o m p l e t e l y and set upon servicing the aircraft. d e s t r o y e d , We were assigned to an airfield but damaged called « Gordon's Tree », located enough to be of some 12 miles out of Khartoum. no operational There was only a paved road lead- use. That was ing to the town. The location was a hard blow, somewhat odd as I believe it was especially on initially designed as a transit point Christmas Eve ! for units on the move. It did how- ever had some facilities in which we In February set ourselves up. We stayed there for 1942, I went a while, during the operations in to the base in Lisounov L-2 (A licensed-built Dakota with russian engines)

9 ready a challenge, as there is a large mountain a short distance away. After that, you had to fly very low over the Caspian Sea to avoid enemy fighter patrols. The whole trip was made at zero altitude, hopping over trees after leaving the Caspian Sea. We landed in a place called Ouralsk. Now picture this : being French, we wore ties and everything... When we disembarked, we only had thin silk socks and light shoes on our feet, but we were greeted with 10 inches of snow. What I never did figure out was how the pilots found the airfield and landed on it. Those who came to greet us had to use flashlights to find us !

The weather made things very dif- ficult. Once, it took me a consider- able amount of time just to tighten a small bolt. After finishing this, I was about to head back in when a Russian soldier waved me towards Guy Leloup working on the Polikarpov U-2, a liaison plane flown by Jean de Pange (Below) him. I complied and when I got to him, he grabbed some snow and In early spring, snow melted and the problem. He would sit on the rubbed it in my face. I didn't find turned into a large pond. We had horizontal stabilizer and just wait. this very amusing but refrained no airfield, just a spot in the mid- One day, Risso had to scramble from doing anything stupid as we'd dle of nature. When the aircraft and started his take off roll with been ordered to be on our best be- were taxiing, they moved around Carrel still sitting on the aircraft haviour with the Soviets. We'd al- slowly. But if they got into a hole, tail. This went on for a while until ready had our share of problems the pilots would try to get unstuck Carrel realized he had to jump off. with the British ! The following day, by applying power and this would Since he was quite a sportsman, he I met a Soviet colonel who spoke lift the tail off ! As a result, we had held on with his belly on the stabi- superb French. I told him what had to stay with them to prevent that lizer's leading edge. He eventually happened and he explained that from happening. We would lift let go and slid beneath the tail- the soldier had noticed that I was the wing to carry the aircraft away. plane. He rolled a few times but starting to freeze. When you begin One of my comrades, named Car- was only slightly bruised and quite to freeze, your mouth and nostrils rel, had found a simpler solution to scared by the ordeal ! Talking of turn brown. The Carrel reminds rubbing was only me of an anec- meant to reheat dote that hap- me and stop me pened in Lib- from freezing ya. The Krauts more. The colo- had taken the nel explained habit of vis- that one must iting us each pinch one's nose morning and to find out if one dropping four is freezing. If bombs. We the nostrils stay had large fuel closed, then you depots and are freezing ! our accom-

10 "Come on, f…ing German !". He came back with cuts and bruises despite his best attempts to ex- plain to the Aussies that he was a Free French soldier. His English was quite bad, so it took him quite some time to prove his identity before they called to say we could come and pick him up.

On September 30, 1943 I was sent back to the Rayak airbase.

On January 1, 1944, I was assigned to the SLA of BE 325 on n°2 air- base.

On March 16, 1944, I was once again reassigned, this time to the Middle East air depot. I unfortunately spent the remainder of the war in Rayak at the workshops of the Ateliers Indus- triels de l'Air, where we were con- fined to a small sector. The mess was quite small and we practically never had any contact with other units. We lived in a closed world. One day, the colonel had me summoned. He said : "Soon you’ll put on your dress uniform". I asked him what was go- ing on. He replied : " will soon be liberated !".

That was at the time of the Allied Left to right : Bernavon, P. Pouillade, G. Léon, G. Leloup, et J. Mathis landings.

Mr. and Mrs. Leloup photographed on December 31, 2010 (© S. Duchemin) modations were on the ground, covered only with tents. One day, only three bombs were dropped, not four. Why? I couldn't tell. Anyway, they paid us another visit later in the morning and strafed us. Carrel had already been the target of strafing attacks in France and completely panicked. One of our comrades, a rugby player, had to restrain him. He would completely lose his nerve when we were be- ing strafed. One evening, we were strafed again. He was so scared he disappeared into the countryside. He was picked up by Australian troops who were guarding the area and mistook him for a German.

11 NEW PX ITEM

LA FERTÉ-ALAIS 2012 WING’S PROJECTS

PATRON COMPANIES SUPPORTING THE FRENCH WING

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SPIRIT OF LEWIS DONORS SPONSORS 2012 Fabien GRASSIER Lucienne FARNAULT Famille MANOUKIANS Noël BARANGE Bertrand BROWN Jacqueline CLERC Flying Sponsors Cédric CHANU Louis-Jean GIOUX Cédric MALHAIRE CD Rom made of 110 photos taken du- Hugh Alexander III Bertrand BROWN ring the 2012 La Ferté-Alais air show. Gilles Avenel Marie-Françoise LE CORNEC Michel Baloche Gaël DARQUET Images 1600 pixels jpegs for your computer wall Stéphane DUCHEMIN paper or private printing. (10 € incl. P & P, 8 € for Eric Bellebon Christian WANNYN our members) Rémi Bellet Gaël DARQUET Jean-Yves Cercy Camille MONTAIGU Gaël Darquet Didier CARDINAL ANONYME Bernard Delfino Michel FLEURY 2012 FRENCH WING Claude Gascon John FRANCIS Louis-Jean Gioux Alain JIMENEZ ANNUAL ELECTION Roger Gouzon Jim LUX Lilian AYARS Roy Grinnell Guy ROBERT Th e o b j e c t o f t h i s 2012 a n n u a l Irene Grinnell Lewis BATEMAN William DAVIES e l e c t i o n i s t h e p o s i t i o n o f Ad j u t a n t Marc Miglior John Roeder Jean-Yves CERCY Of f i c e r . If y o u ’r e t e m p t e d b y t h i s Arnaud CHATTON Claude DE MARCO p o s i t i o n , a s t h e d a t e o f t h e Ge n e r a l Restoration Sponsor Roger GOUZON As s e m b l y i s No v e m b e r 17, 2012, Michel PERRIN Jean-Pierre JOB y o u m a y s e n d i n y o u r a p p l i c a t i o n b y Hugh Alexander III Jean-Christophe DEBUISSON w r i t i n g t o t h e Fr e n c h Wi n g ’s h e a d Bunty Bateman Henri BOURRASSIER o f f i c e b e f o r e No v e m b e r 2n d , 2012. Cédric Chanu Hugh ALEXANDER III Michel Fleury Sandy SANSING Regis URSCHLER Maurice Girard George CHANDLER Georges Marcelin Matt SIMEK The CAF French Wing is a non-profit Michel Perrin Guy BORTOLUS Association ruled by the 1901 law, and registered Patrick PIERRE-PIERRE under number 2473 of the Journal Officiel dated Eric BESANÇON 10 July 1996. Supporting Sponsor Jean BARBAUD Shirley BATEMAN Unit Leader : Col Bernard DELFINO Anonyme 1 David & Eileen BOTTLEY Tél/Fax : 01 48 69 04 57 - Mobile : 06 80 36 17 17 Anonyme 2 Marie-Françoise LE CORNEC email 1 : [email protected] Philippe DUFLOT email 2 : [email protected] Bertrand Brown Christian FALENTIN Didier Cardinal Barbara & Aubrey HAIR Executive Officer: Bertrand BROWN Jean-Christophe Debuisson Claude REQUI Tél : 09 50 19 58 62 - Mobile : 06 16 97 55 06 Fumiko Delfino Kim TOLFREE email : [email protected] Eric JANSSONNE Danielle Duflot Christophe BASTIDE Barbara Hair David PRICE Finance Officer : Claude GASCON Fumiko DELFINO Tél : 03 29 86 71 00 - Mobile : 06 77 69 01 75 Aubrey Hair Marcel Ledoux Bernard DELFINO email : [email protected] Haruo TANAKA Jim Lux Eric REARWIN Adjutant Officer : Noël BARANGE Colette McAlester Yves DONJON Tél : 01 30 96 68 53 - Mobile : 06 84 92 90 08 Georges Marcelin Roy & Irene GRINNELL email : [email protected] Jean-Claude Miniggio Bunty BATEMAN Marcel FRANCISCI AIRSHOW is a publication of the French Wing of Camille Montaigu Dominique DEUDON the Commemorative Air Force, Inc. - Any partial Tadao Nomura John & Anne ROEDER or complete reproduction of the articles and the Michel Perrin Ronald WRIGHT illustrations published in this monthly Newsletter Léon MANOUKIANS is forbidden without the agreement of the FW. Haruo Tanaka Aviation Club de France Please write to the Association at the following Regis Urschler Georges MARCELIN address : 19 rue de Cannes 93600 - Aulnay sous Semaan SOUEID Bois - FRANCE. Ron Wright 12