The Free French Naval Air Service (Aéronavale française libre) was the air arm of Free French Naval Forces during the Second World War.
The Free French Naval Air Service supported Free French Naval and Allied forces in overseas fronts (North Africa, Middle East, etc.) and later supported the Free French Navy during Allied advances into French territory after the Battle of Normandy.
The markings of the Free French Naval Air Service were regular French roundels overpainted with an anchor on the fuselage, and the French tricolor on the rudder.
It operated all the French naval aircraft, seaplanes and flying boats, that escaped from German-occupied France after the Battle of France, together with naval aircraft from the French colonies that declared allegiance to de Gaulle's Free French Forces, and aircraft donated by the British and Americans. It carried out Marine patrols and operations against Axis forces in France during 1944-45. It formed the basis for the postwar French Naval Air Service.
Read more about Free French Naval Air Service: Aircraft of The Free French Naval Air Service
Famous quotes containing the words free, french, naval, air and/or service:
“He who is upright in his way of life and free from sin.”
—Horace [Quintus Horatius Flaccus] (65–8 B.C.)
“Salad is roughage and a French idea.”
—U.S. grandmother. As quoted in “Once a Tramp, Always ...,” by M.F.K. Fisher (1969)
“It is now time to stop and to ask ourselves the question which my last commanding officer, Admiral Hyman Rickover, asked me and every other young naval officer who serves or has served in an atomic submarine. For our Nation M for all of us M that question is, “Why not the best?””
—Jimmy Carter (James Earl Carter, Jr.)
“The air was so elastic and crystalline that it had the same effect on the landscape that a glass has on a picture, to give it an ideal remoteness and perfection.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“This was a great point gained; the archdeacon would certainly not come to morning service at Westminster Abbey, even though he were in London; and here the warden could rest quietly, and, when the time came, duly say his prayers.”
—Anthony Trollope (1815–1882)