346 “Guyenne” Squadron and 347 “Tunisie” Squadron were the only French Air Force heavy bomber squadrons of the allied air forces during World War Two. They were formed at RAF Elvington, York from June 1944 until October 1945.
Fighting from the outbreak of war in September 1939 until the end of the Battle of France and the armistice with Germany on 25th June 1940, they withdrew to North Africa until the Anglo/American invasion (Operation Torch) on 8th November 1942. In September 1943 the re-formed Groupes 2/23 “Guyenne” and 1/25 “Tunisie” were shipped to Liverpool to begin intensive re-training with RAF Bomber Command.
Their new aeroplane would be the 4-engined, Handley Page Halifax bomber. On 16th May 1944, No. 346 “Guyenne” Squadron RAF was officially formed at Elvington, followed by No. 347 “Tunisie” Squadron RAF on 20th June 1944. About 2,300 French airmen and ground crew would eventually be part of these units. “Guyenne” became operational on 1st June 1944, attacking enemy gun positions in Normandy during the night of 5th June, prior to the “D-Day” Invasion. They attacked the V1 and V2 rocket bases in Northern Europe and took part in the decisive Battle of the Ruhr.
Their last mission of the war was on 25th April 1945 making a total of 2,834 sorties in which they dropped 8,621 tonnes of bombs and ferried 165,725 gallons of petrol to the 2nd Army in Brussels. “Guyenne” and “Tunisie” returned to Bordeaux in liberated France in October 1945. Many had not seen their wives, children, sweethearts or families for over 6 years.
50% of their aircrews were killed in action during the 18 months stationed in York.
Le “346 Guyenne” et le “347 Tunisie” furent les deux seuls groupes de bombardement lourd de l’Armée de l’Air française intégrés aux Forces Alliées durant la Seconde Guerre mondiale. Ils furent stationés sur la base RAF de Elvington, dans le Yorkshire au Royaume Uni, de juin 1944 à fin octobre 1945.
Les Forces aériennes françaises combattirent en France du début de la guerre en septembre 1939 jusqu’au 25 juin 1940, date de l’armistice avec l’Allemagne et fin de la Bataille de France. Elles se retirèrent alors en Tunisie, au Maroc et en Algérie. A la suite du débarquement des Alliés en Afrique française du Nord (operation Torch) le 8 novembre 1942, les unités “2/23 Guyenne” et “1/25 Tunisie” furent reconstituées (début 1943) et apportèrent leur soutien aux Alliés. Elles furent transportées au Royaume Uni où elles prirent part à un entraînement intensif au sein du Bomber Command de la Royal Air Force avant d’être dotées d’avions modernes: les quadrimoteurs Handley Page Halifax.
Le 16 mai 1944, l’escadron “346 Guyenne” fut officiallement constitué à Elvington, suivi de l’escadron “347 Tunisie” le 20 juin 1944. Ces unités comptaient près de 2 000 français. Le “Guyenne” devint opérationnel le 1er juin 1944 et attaqua des postes de batteries énnemies sur la côte normande la veille du Débarquement du 6 juin. Pour leur première mission, le 27 juin, 11 Halifax du “Tunisie” effectuèrent le bombardement du site de lancement des V1 et V2 de Mont Candon. Les deux escadrons participèrent à la bataille de la Ruhr. Leur dernière mission eut lieu le 25 avril 1945. Au total, ils effectuèrent 2 834 sorties larguant 8 621 tonnes de bombes et convoyant 753 400 litres d’essence. Sur 8 mois ils perdirent 41 appareils et 216 hommes. De retour en France libérée en octobre 1945, ils furent affectés à la base de Bordeaux-Mérignac où les deux escadrons sont toujours réunis au sein de la 4ème Escadre Aérienne de Chasse sur Rafale aujourd’hui.
The Blackburn Mercury Monoplane is regarded as the first truly successful aircraft made by Blackburn at their factory in Leeds. The Mercury I, powered by a 50 hp Isaacson radial engine, was displayed at the Olympia Aero Show in March 1911 and made its debut flying from the beach at Filey with the newly formed Blackburn Flying School. In May 1911, it flew from Filey to Scarborough and back in 19 minutes at an average speed of 50 mph, reaching an altitude of 1200 feet.
This aircraft crashed the next day when the engine seized and the propeller flew off! The Mercury I was followed by two Mercury II aircraft powered by 50 hp Gnome engines, and six Mercury III aircraft, with a number of different engines. Sadly, a Renault powered Mercury crashed at Filey in December 1911, killing an instructor and passenger.
The Museum’s replica was built for Yorkshire Television in 1979 for the Edwardian drama series ‘Flambards’, and was taxied with a car engine. It came to YAM on 10th January 1995 and after a long period in storage it was painstakingly restored to a superb display standard, and was unveiled in June 2000 by Professor Robert Blackburn, grandson of Robert Blackburn, the aviation pioneer.
The Avro 504 first flew in 1913. In the opening phases of the First World War, it served with front-line squadrons in the Royal Flying Corps and Royal Naval Air Service for bombing and reconnaissance, but from 1915 onwards the aircraft entered the training role for which it is most celebrated.
Over 8,000 Avro 504s were built. In 1918, the Royal Air Force had about 3,000, of which 2,276 were trainers.
The Avro 504 was stationed at many Yorkshire airfields, including Tadcaster near the A1/A64 junction, where a period hangar can still be seen.
The Yorkshire Air Museum’s replica was built by apprentices at RAF Halton and appeared at the Royal Tournament in 1968 to commemorate what was then fifty years since the end of the First World War. The aircraft was refurbished in early 2015 to be transported to Thiepval, Northern France, for the Somme Centenary commemoration event, on request of the British Government. In May 2018, it was also displayed at the impressive Hotel Les Invalides in central Paris for a joint RAF / French Air Force event to mark the Centenary of the Royal Air Force and over 100 years of British and French Air Force collaboration.
