The interval between the two world wars ought to give a real boom to the fighter command, but France wasn’t much interested in the theories propounded by General Giulio Douhet according to which victory in a war follows from supremacy in the skies. France created a fighter command which was concerned only with missions related to the protection of French national airspace. Thus when war broke out in 1939, the French air force had just a few aircraft models which were largely outclassed by the Messerschmitt 109 and 190 of the Germans. The country had to pay for the lack of foresight of its staff caught off guard by the enemy.

France paid for the lack of foresight of her staff taken unaware by war

The best fighter of the aircrafts sent to the front was the Dewoitine D 520. It had a maximum speed of 530 km/h and weaponry comprising four 7.7 mm machineguns and one 20 mm cannon which fired in the axis of the propeller. Barely 36 of this aircraft model were in service as at May 10, 1940. In the course of their career, however, they brought down 150 enemy planes at the expense of 80 machines. Production continued under Vichy’s regime until over 700 planes were made. When the Germans invaded the free zone, they seized 400 of these planes and offered them to their Italian, Romanian and Bulgarian allies.
The MB 152, named using the initials of engineer Marcel Bloch (who became Marcel Dassault upon return from the concentration camps), was indisputably inferior to the ME 109; a total of 614 aircrafts of the model were produced. After making an honourable debut during the French Campaign, it was put at the service of the armistice air force.

Fighter planes outclassed by German aircrafts 

The MS 406 manufactured by the Morane Saulnier factories, considered in 1936 as the best contemporary fighter, was clearly outclassed by German fighters and even by the Luftwaffe bombers which were faster than it. With its retractable radiator, this plane turned out to be a real flop. If the pilot chose to put full gas, the radiator had to be lowered thereby subjecting him to dragging. On the other hand, if the radiator was withdrawn, the gas had to be reduced otherwise the engine would overheat. Furthermore, the compressed air controls of the propellers and machineguns froze at an altitude of 5000 metres.

Only the best pilots managed to snatch victory   

Also worth mentioning is the Curtiss Hawk H75, designed and manufactured in the United States, which was credited with 237 victories against a loss of 71 machines. The champ of the H75 was incontestably Second Lieutenant Camille PLUBEAU who scored 14 victories in two months, despite his speed and arms handicap.
Only the bravery of those who piloted this plane made the difference. Many of the pilots who distinguished themselves flying the MS 406, D520 or MB152 had the opportunity to improve their performance during the battles in England, and at Normandy Niemen in Russia on board their Yak. 
During the brief French Campaign, a good number of pilots honourably accomplished their airspace-protection missions, though their aircrafts could not measure up with the technologically more advanced machines of the Germans.

-FNCV-