Added book: Le GC (Groupe de Chasse) IIII/3 en 1939/1940: Condors et Pirates au combat, LELA Presse, by Bernard PHILIPPE and Bertrand HUGOT.
"Histoire des Unités" series, Item N°13.
Location of GC III/3 at Beauvais-Tillé airfield (my hometown):
GC III / 3 (28 MS 406 fighters) from 10/04 until 10/05/1940 then from 17 until 21/05/1940.
Created in spring 1939 the Fighter Group III/3 will barely have time to train as the declaration of war will make him leave Burgundy to return to his field. A tragedy during this transfer will amputate the group of 6 of its pilots, killed or seriously injured. Reconstituted in Salon-de-Provence, the III/3 reaches the East of France and will spend the Funny War in Ochey (Meurthe-et-Moselle). Their first success on 30 September 1939 boosted their morale, but the successive missions until April remained mainly escorts of reconnaissance and surveillance aircraft. The arrival of Captain Richard in January 1940 at the head of the group brings a new state of mind but his premature death shortly before the shock of May 10, 1940 could be one of the causes of his relative "media" discretion. And yet, his successes (and losses) won in Belgium or Picardy aboard Morane before being transformed squadron by squadron on Dewoitine 520, will rank him 11th for the number of his victories. The GC III/3 managed to switch to AFN but was dissolved in August 1940 after 482 days of existence.
Although few official documents have survived to this day, authors can recount this journey with the help of wonderful archives kept in families. We invite you to discover the history of this unit of the Air Force and its airmen through these 208 pages, 300 photos, 4 maps, 27 profiles from Yann Le Gal.