Normandie-Niemen fighter regiment ...

[Mark Allen M]

In 1942, the German army was at the gates of Moscow and General De Gaulle decided to create a unit of the FAFL (Free French Air Force) to fight on the Eastern Front. After leaving Scotland in August 1942, the first pilots were regrouping at the Rayak base in Lebanon and in Tehran. On November 29, 1942, the first 14 pilots and their thirty French mechanics arrived at the Ivanovo base, 250 km northeast of Moscow, and took the baptismal name of Fighter Group No. 3 "Normandy". In July 1943, Soviet mechanics replaced the French mechanics. In 1944, the pilots took part in supporting the crossing of the Niemen River by Soviet troops and on July 21, 1944, by decision of Marshal Joseph Stalin, the group took the name of fighter regiment "Normandie-Niémen".
Equipped with Soviet Yak-9 fighter planes, the three squadrons of the unit ("Rouen", "Le Havre" and "Cherbourg") carried out more than 5,000 missions in Germany and the USSR, fought more than 800 air battles and won 273 victories. These feats of arms earned the regiment the title of "Companion of the Liberation" by General De Gaulle.

On the occasion of the regiment's final return to France, Marshal Stalin donated 41 Yak-3 fighter planes to the unit.

On June 20, 1945, after several stopovers in Germany and France, a parade at Le Bourget airport marked this definitive return. This ceremony, presided over by Charles Tillon, Minister of Air, took place in the presence of a very large crowd. Also present: Mr. Bogomolov, USSR Ambassador to France, Army General Georges Catroux, French Ambassador to Moscow, Air Force General René Bouscat, Inspector General of the Air Force, General Martial Valin, Chief of the Air Force General Staff, Army Corps General Pierre-Marie Koenig, Military Governor of Paris, Colonel Pierre Pouyade, former commander of the "Normandie-Niemen" regiment, Lieutenant Colonel Louis Delfino, his successor, and the regiment's French and Soviet pilots and mechanics. The event was widely covered by the radio press in particular.

[greatgonzo]

Great pics Mark, as we are used to have from You.
I will add too. Seems unrelated, yet the pic of the model is taken in the old airbase in my neighbourhood. Normandie-Niemen stationed here in 1945.

[happymeal]

Beautiful serie ! What is the source please ?

[Michel Lemieux]

VERY nice Mr. Mark!!!!

Thank you for sharing again.

[Michel Lemieux]

VERY nice Mr. Mark!!!!

Thank you for sharing again.

[Richard W.]

Is it known what they did with the 41 Yak fighters when they got back to France?

Fly them? Scrap them? Send them home?

[StangStung]

Is it known what they did with the 41 Yak fighters when they got back to France?

Fly them? Scrap them? Send them home?

At least one is preserved in its' very own hangar celebrating the Normandie-Niemen squadron at the French Air & Space Museum at Le Bourget because I saw it with my own eyes last Christmas. It is restored on the port side and the starboard side was left as was.

No idea what happened to the rest?

[Mark Allen M]

Beautiful serie ! What is the source please ?

https://imagesdefense.gouv.fr/fr/catalo ... el=1&q=yAK

[Fred41]

Is it known what they did with the 41 Yak fighters when they got back to France?

Fly them? Scrap them? Send them home?

Les Yak 3 donnés par Staline aux pilotes ont tous été détruits. Seul celui du musée du Bourget près de Paris a survécu. Les Yak 3 ont été donné sans pièces de rechange. Ils ont volé quelques temps +/- un an. Mais rapidement, le groupe de chasse Normandie-Niemen a changé d'avion, des NC-900 (FW-190 assemblés en France).

https://www.museeairespace.fr/aller-plu ... lev-yak-3/

Les avions ont changé de peinture, participé à des meeting aériens.

[Richard W.]

Thank you Fred.