Vichy French Air Force

The Vichy French Air Force (French: Armée de l'air de Vichy) was the aerial branch of the armed forces of Vichy France - the government of France that collaborated with the Axis powers following the defeat of France by Germany in 1940.

The Vichy French Air Force existed between December 1940 and December 1942 and largely served to defend Vichy French territories abroad.

After the defeat of France, Marshal Henri-Philippe Pétain signed the armistice with Germany on 22 June 1940. This was however not the end for the French Air Force. The branch was soon split into two camps: those who escaped from France and joined the Free French Forces (Forces Françaises Libres) and those who stayed and flew for the French Armistice Air Force on behalf of the Vichy government. Initially the Germans wanted to disband the air force completely, and all personnel were to be demobilized by mid-September. However, on 3 July 1940 the British Royal Navy attacked the French fleet anchored in the Algerian ports of Oran and Mers-el-Kebir. Angered, the French broke all connections with the British. The Germans now agreed to the forming of a Vichy French air force.

In a parallel of what had happened to Germany after World War I, the French government, now with its seat moved to Vichy, agreed to accept German terms for a reduced army and navy, both of which would be only strong enough to maintain order in France and in its colonies. Germany ordered that military aircraft that had survived the Battle of France, including those now stationed in Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco, were to be surrendered either in whole or else already disassembled, or destroyed altogether – again a parallel of what befell Germany's air force in 1919.

However, Vichy's air force was spared (for the moment) from non-existence owing to the consequences of an event, which would damage, if not completely change, the relationship between occupied France and free Britain. Winston Churchill had no intention of allowing French Navy capital ships to remain intact so long as there was any chance of them becoming adjuncts of the Kriegsmarine (German navy).

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