Tuesday, 11 April 2017

Martin 167F - Vichy French users

After the Franco-German armistice, l'Armée de l'Air de Vichy (Vichy France's Air Force) had some squadrons equiped with the Martin 167F, serving mainly in the reconnaissance role.
Those airplanes were notably used against the allies in the North African campaign, at the strait of Gibraltar. When Operation Torch was launched, some aerial combat against the Martin 167F equipped units took place, mainly against the Grumman Martlet (the name that the Fleet Air Arm gave to the Grumman F4F Wildcat). However the French bombers were outnumbered by the Allied's air forces and they suffered heavy casualties as they were easy targets thanks to their identification red-yellow stripes. Some of them served with the Aéronavale, the French Navy's air arm.










Sources:
1. https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_167 (translated)
2. AJ-Press - Monografie Lotnicze 96 - Martin 167 Maryland (translated)

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