Free French Flight refers to three specific fledgling units in the Free French Air Force (FAFL) which were created in the Middle East on 8 July 1940. Free French Flight N° 2 was stationed at Haifa and initially consisted of one Potez 63.11 (a second and third arriving on 14 October and 3 November 1940 respectively) and two MS 406 (a third appearing on 14 February 1941). A Miles Magister was used as a hack and was superseded by a Loire 130 on 12 March 1941. The unit diary refers to the arrival of a Potez 29 and a Bloch MB.81 (with a Salmson 9 powerplant) from Heliopolis on 28 September 1940 but neither aircraft appears in the subsequent daily unit statistics forms (RAF Form 765a). A memo dated 4 April 1941 from the RAF's Free French liaison officer to General Spears advises 'in practically every case the aircraft were unserviceable chiefly owing to lack of spares'. The port of Haifa was bombed on 6 September 1940 by the Regia Aeronautica. The four bombers were intercepted by Flying Officer Peronne in a Potez 63.11 and Warrant Officer Ballatore in a MS 406. Due to the deteriorating serviceability of the aircraft, flying hours decreased and the unit diary itself only covers September 1940. In addition to these units, there were some units formed in the UK: Independent of the hierarchy of the RAF, there were aviation detachments in Chad, Cameroon and Equatorial Africa.

Aircraft of the Free French Flight