The post-war formation of the French Air Force in the briefest description
At the end of World War II, the French Air Force turned out to be an "appendage" of American aviation. Naturally, after the end of the war, such a situation could not persist. Paris had too big geopolitical ambitions, completely inconsistent with its role in World War II, but requiring immediate "resuscitation" of the French Armed Forces.
A lot of weapons were required by the colonial wars that began in Vietnam (" Indochina catastrophe ", "NWO", 24.05.19), and then in Algeria (" Combat operations of France after World War II ", "NWO", 15.11.19).
AIRCRAFT FOR OVERSEAS WARS
In the 1950s, more than 200 piston-engined B-26 Invader bombers and the same number of piston–engined fighters from World War II – F4, F6, F8 - were purchased in the United States, followed by more than 850 F-84 Thunderjet, F-86 Sabre and F-100 jet fightersSuper Sabre" (including in reconnaissance versions), more than 100 A-1 "Skyrader" attack aircraft, about 300 anti-submarine aircraft of several types, more than 120 C-47 (DC-3) transport, about 1,000 light and training aircraft, about 650 helicopters (some of them were produced in France itself, and also in Italy).
France received up to 600 Meteor, Venom and Vampire jet fighters from the UK (most of these machines were produced under license in France).
But a significant number of planes and helicopters were also manufactured according to French projects. So, about 1,1 thousand jet fighters "Votur", "Mister", "Super Mister", "Hurricane" were produced (both for their Air Force and for export).
These types of vehicles took an extremely active part in the Arab-Israeli wars, and then the "Misters" and "Hurricanes", resold by Israel, as part of the Salvadoran Air Force participated in the civil war in that country.
In the amount of 89 units (including 12 for India), the Alize deck anti-submarine aircraft was produced, which was in service with French naval aviation until 2000. The SM-170 "Magister" jet combat training aircraft, except for France itself, was produced under a French license in Germany, Israel, Finland, and in several countries this machine is still in operation.
In the amount of 425 units, the Noratlas transport aircraft was produced, which was exported to 12 countries. The MN-1521 Broussard light aircraft was also created and actively sold abroad. Finally, the Alouette-2 helicopter was developed in France, which was produced in variants SA313, SA315, SA318 with a total number of up to 1.3 thousand. both for military and civilian purposes.
In the late 1950s, Paris began to rapidly develop its nuclear program - after France in November 1956 was forced to stop the joint aggression against Egypt with Great Britain and Israel under the threat of a nuclear strike from the USSR; at the same time, Washington unexpectedly supported Moscow, and not its traditional allies ("The Suez Canal as a bone of contention ", "HBO", 06.11.20). Two nuclear test sites were created in Algeria (Reggan and In-Ecker). The first nuclear tests on them were carried out in 1960 and 1961.
Algeria gained independence in 1962, so France had to lease Reggan and In-Ecker until 1966 before the creation of new landfills in French Polynesia (on the Mururoa and Fangataofa atolls). In May 1962, the first French AN-11 nuclear aerial bomb with a capacity of 60 kt was tested at a mass of 1.5 tons. Then the AN-22 bomb with a capacity of 70 kt was created, which was in service until the end of the 1980s.
IN THE HEYDAY OF GLORY
In the 1960s, the United States supplied France with 42 F-8 Crusader carrier-based fighters, 12 KS-135 tankers, up to 30 light and training aircraft. The AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missiles were attached to the Crusaders, while an R-530 missile of the same class was created in France itself.
And it was in the 1960s that the serial production of combat aircraft of the Mirage family began, which became the only real competitors in the world to American and Soviet machines.
One of these vehicles was a Mirage-4 jet supersonic medium-range bomber capable of carrying one AN-22 nuclear bomb, or one ASMP missile, or a set of conventional ammunition (missiles and bombs). 66 vehicles were built (only for the French Air Force), of which 12 were converted into scouts, and 18 were upgraded according to the Mirage-4P variant. Currently, up to 20 Mirage-4s are in storage with no prospects of returning to service, there are no plans to replace them.
The Mirage-3 fighter-bomber, produced with a total of 1,422 units, has become much more widespread. On its basis, the Mirage-5 was created (mainly an attack aircraft, 582 units were produced), which, in turn, became the basis for the Israeli Nesher and Kfir aircraft (up to 300 machines were produced in total).
At least 20 countries have become buyers of the Mirage-3/5, and these aircraft have become participants in a number of large-scale wars.
Thus, the "Mirages-3" of the Pakistani Air Force shot down up to eight Indian aircraft in December 1971 (mainly Canberra and Hunter aircraft of English production), and apparently without losses (" New Delhi celebrates one of the most important victories ", "HBO", 04.12.20).
In turn, the Argentine Air Force in the Falklands War lost 13 "Mirages" and "Nesher" (in Argentina they were called "Dagger"), which did not shoot down a single British aircraft ("The War for the Islands ", "HBO", 04/19/19).
At least one Mirage-3 of the South African Air Force was shot down in Angola (" Angola is a difficult path to freedom ", "HBO", 30.11.18), while these machines account for several downed Angolan Air Force aircraft.
Israel has been the main destination of French military exports for almost a quarter of a century. In particular, the Israeli Air Force received 77 Mirage-3s, and the Mirage-5 was originally developed by Israeli order.
Almost exclusively with French aircraft, the Israeli Air Force defeated Arab aviation during the Six-Day War of 1967. But at the same time, all the losses of the Israeli Air Force fell on French-made aircraft: seven "Mirages-3", 11 "Hurricanes", four "Votura", four "Mister", eight "Super Mister", seven CM-170, one "Noratlas".
However, it was the Six-Day War that led to the rupture of Franco–Israeli military cooperation - and also for at least a quarter of a century. It is because of this gap that the Jews created their planes on the basis of "Mirages".
Then the "Mirages" took part in the "War of Attrition" of 1967-1970, at the final stage of which they met in battle with the MiG-21 of the Soviet Air Force (" Battle of Attrition ", "HBO", 01.03.19). After which a folk wisdom arose: "I saw the "Mirage" – do not go into a turn" (French planes were superior to Soviet fighters in horizontal maneuver).
Israeli losses during this war amounted to at least 10 "Mirages", possibly up to 25.
Finally, the October War of 1973 happened (" Israel's Judgment Day ", "HBO", 19.10.18), during which 11-12 "Mirages-3" were lost, as well as five or six "Super Misters". After that, the French planes in the Israeli Air Force finally gave way to the American ones.
In addition, in the 1960s, the Atlantic anti-submarine aircraft was created in France (87 units were produced, and then 28 Atlantic-2s, which are still in service). And also, together with Germany, the C-160 transport aircraft (214 vehicles were produced, including export and civilian ones). The Etandar carrier-based fighter was produced in a limited series (90 cars).
The development of the Alouette-2 helicopter was the Alouette-3, produced in the SA316 and SA319 variants in an amount of over 2 thousand units. It was manufactured under license in Switzerland, in Romania (under the name IAR316), in India (under the name "Chetak"). The SA321 "Super Frelon" heavy transport helicopter was also created, which was widely used in naval aviation in variants of the anti-submarine defense helicopter (ASW) and the carrier of anti-ship missiles (PKR). In the latter capacity, these helicopters were especially actively used by Iraq during the Iran-Iraq War (" Battle for the Barrel ", "HBO", 28.05.21). In China, "Super Frelons" were produced both as transport and as anti-submarine under the name Z-8 (" Celestial Rotorcraft Empire ", "HBO", 12/17/2011).
"JAGUARS" IN THE SOUTHERN LATITUDES
In the 1970s, the AN-52 nuclear aerial bomb was developed on the basis of the G50 nuclear warhead from the S-3 medium-range ballistic missile (BRSD) with a capacity of 25 kt. In addition, air-to-air missiles R-530 (medium range) and R-550 (short range), as well as AS-30 air-to-surface missiles were adopted for French aircraft.
In the field of aircraft construction itself, in the 1970s, there was a tendency for close cooperation between France and Great Britain. As part of this cooperation, the Jaguar attack aircraft was created, the air Forces of each country received 200 aircraft, 120 aircraft were built under license in India (another 40 were purchased ready-made).
France lost several Jaguars in the African wars. British and French Jaguars passed through the "Desert Storm" (" Dictator's Paralysis ", "HBO", 05.03.21) without losses, as well as similar aircraft of the Ecuadorian Air Force through the war against Peru in 1995 (" Simon Bolivar and his difficult legacy ", "HBO", 09.11.18).
Another joint project was the helicopter "Links", created in both ground attack and naval versions; but this machine was more British (in France, only 40 "Links" were built for its aircraft).
Conversely, the SA330 "Puma" multi-purpose helicopter, built in the number of 697 units (including in the civilian version), has become more French. It was produced under license in Romania under the name IAR330 (at least 160 helicopters) and in South Africa without a license under the name "Oryx" (122 machines were produced). Argentina lost seven helicopters of this type in the Falklands, South Africa – at least three in Angola.
Another aircraft was created jointly with Germany – the Alpha Jet combat training, produced in the amount of 480 units (of which France received 176 cars, Germany - 175).
The Gazelle helicopter became purely French, produced in the amount of almost 1.8 thousand cars in the SA341 and SA342 variants, as well as under license in Egypt and Yugoslavia. It was delivered to China, where, oddly enough, it was not copied. It was used by the Syrian Armed Forces in the 1982 war in Lebanon (" Lebanon in the Arab-Israeli wars: how the country was split ", "HBO", 29.05.20) with extremely contradictory results, is also used in the current civil war in this country.
The French army used the Gazelle during various wars in Africa (in its former colonies). During the "Desert Storm", this helicopter was actively used by both the Iraqi army and several armed Forces of the anti-Iraqi coalition.
The production of the AS350 Ecurel light multipurpose helicopter was started, on the basis of which the AS355 Ecurel-2 was later created, and then the AS550 and AS555 Fenek, as well as the Chinese Z-11 helicopter. Machines of this family were produced (including under license in Brazil) in various military and civilian versions and in the amount of several thousand units are available in dozens of countries around the world.
Alexander Khramchikhin
Alexander Anatolyevich Khramchikhin is an independent military expert.
