French Air Force Failure

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In early June 1940, the French aviation industry had reached a considerable output, with an estimated material reserve of nearly 2000 aircrafts. However, a chronic lack of spare part crippled this fleet. Only 29 % of the aircraft were serviceable, of which 170 were bombers. To add, France’s air force was disrupted primarily because of disorganization in government. Also, this defense strategy failed because many aircrafts were experiencing shortages in equipment and components, machine guns had not been calibrated and some bombers lacked bombsights when they delivered to squadrons. Front line pilots were also responsible for ferrying new aircraft from factories to the squadrons instead of having a company do it for them. This failed the French …show more content…
They spotted the Germans with an arsenal of Panzers and supporting infantry units and later told the army commanders about what they had seen. Unfortunately, the commanders did not believe that their sightings were true, so they refused to act upon this. This turned out to be a huge mistake for the French because they were caught off guard and their defensive strategy was ultimately a failure because of this contributing factor. The French air force was at a great disadvantage to the Germans because of obsolete strategies, tactics, aircraft, weapons, communications, and scarcity of equipment. These are the reasons why the Germans advanced so quickly through the forest of Ardennes and through France. The Germans also fought back against the French by rapidly depleting their fighter and bomber strength. On May 11th, the Germans used Luftwaffe fighters and Flak to shoot down incoming French aircrafts. The French squadrons struggled to communicate with any of the French military units; therefore, the air force had a lack of support from the army because of unreliable army communications equipment being used and this strategic failure led to the French being …show more content…
On May 10 1940, the Luftwaffe aircraft attacked the airbase at Xaffevilliers and this was the first day of the German invasion and on May 15 there was only seven operational aircraft in the “ Groupe de Chasse”. Although, they only had seven operational aircrafts left, they still managed to shoot down a Heinkel and other German aircrafts with no personal losses. Additionally, they continued to have good luck when they had destroyed four enemy aircrafts for no personal losses. However, when the French air force tried getting new planes and new equipment, vital equipment was missing, including radios. France was in such a state of chaos trying to prepare the French for war and the pilots were shocked about the crucial mistake they made in designing the aircrafts, but this ended up leading to their downfall. Another massive collapse for the French was that their air force lost its second commanding officer in nine months when Commandant (Major) Borne took off on a reconnaissance sortie near Chatillon sur Seine and was shot down by the
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