armeé de l'air

In the 30s, the French Air Ministry never launched official competition for High altitude planes. This is mainly due to the fact that the purpose of technical programs was to allocate funding for research, studies, prototypes in some cases, but above all to put manufacturers in competition to...

Just published. The first volume is dedicated to European operators. An interesting page dealing with the potential C-130 production by Sud-Aviation in France in the sixties. The author, Xavier Capy, is well known for his previous books on Noratlas and Transall. More details on www.c-130.eu.

I was able to aquire this fantastic wind tunnel model / model of the CT41. It has a scale size of 1:10 (the original size was 9,79m / model size is 96cm) My question to all of you (as being much more experienced in this cases) is, if you think it is a real wind tunnel model or "just" a...

Hi everyone, I tend to be quite interested in discussing the details of a scenario where the Entente holds the front near the Franco-Belgian border in 1940 (mostly in other forums). I was now wondering what the impacts would be for the RAF. Obviously we may see fewer American aircrafts in...

I know we already discussed that in this topic, https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/threads/mirages-i-iii-5-prototypes-projects.36283/ But I want to split this subject in another thread,the tenders of that contest are, - Nord N-1540,N.1541,N.2540,N.3540,N.3541 & N.5010 Harpon - SNCASE SE.5020 &...

Hi Folks. In a list in Jane's Weapon Systems of 1982 there is a modular bomb of French origin. But this is all I know about. It is said, that it divides in three independant bombs when droped. That's all I could find out. No pictures, no further information. Does anybody know more about this bomb?

From the 70s to the end of the Cold War France deployed its own tracked vehicle launched battlefield nuclear missile, Pluton. A truck and trailer mounted replacement Hades was entering service as the Cold War ended. In peacetime Pluton and its warheads were stationed in France. However, once a...

Alexis Rocher (aka MIRAGE 4000 on SPF), current editor-in-chief of the French monthly Le fana de l'aviation, informed us a few days ago of the forthcoming release of his book on the Dassault Super Mirage 4000. He also informed us that the book will exist in an English version...

It is mentioned here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S3_(missile) Any more information anywhere?

It has always been a subject of some controversy as to why the British stuck with the rather paltry 0.303in calibre for aircraft machine guns. To address this Both BSA and ROLLS-ROYCE developed a 0.5in calibre AMG, the latter apparently quite successful (though strangely, never adopted) and the...

https://nuke.fas.org/guide/france/theater/s-4.htm https://calhoun.nps.edu/bitstream/handle/10945/26902/britishfrenchstr00bate.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

In the 80s, when the AdA withdrew its Mystère IVAs from service, some of them received somewhat special liveries !o_O It seems that one was painted in the colours of a fictitious Arab air force. Is there any picture of it ? :) View: https://www.flickr.com/photos/chaika12/34357274081

French Night Fighters Between February 1918 and July 1922 the French Aéronautique Militaire used the Caudron R.XI heavy escort fighters from the Escadrille C 46, in joint operations with the Breguet XIV night bombers of the 3ême regiment de bombardement. In 1924 a night fighter unit was...

Website is here https://www.passionair1940.fr

While the size and importance of France's armed forces in 1914 and 1939 is well understood, their importance since 1945 does not seem to be appreciated. Until the creation of West Germany's Bundeswehr at the end of the 1950s it was France that bore the brunt of providing the largest West...

So we know some time in the early 80s, France split with the UK, West Germany, Italy and Spain, and developed the ACX into the Rafale, and the others made the Typhoon. the disagreement stemmed from a carrier variant. What if in this scenario, France never left and somehow the five of them...

While some weird dudes are celebrating the epitomized image of an autocrat*, the french AdlAE discretely commemorates one of its hero pilot (Poet and novelist), Mr Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Free French air Force pilot, Croix de Guerre with palms, MIA, with the birth of its most famous...

A bit more conventional was the system of engines in tandem designed during the German occupation by the engineer Michel Vernisse. It was to power the Arsenal VB.10 fighter by using two Hispano-Suiza H.S. 12Z engines. One of them was installed in the nose of the airplane and the other in the...

This one is not really feasible but it does produce some interesting models or artwork. The USAF had its Hound Dogs in service from the Cuban Missile Crisis well into the 70s. If politics and other considerations had not got in the way, permutations of NATO Hound might have served on the...

https://www.france24.com/en/20190725-france-develop-anti-satellite-laser-weapons-minister https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-france-space-defence/france-to-launch-fearsome-surveillance-satellites-to-bolster-space-defences-idUKKCN1UK1TR?utm_source=reddit.com