WIX Archives

French Thunderbolts

Posted by Cees Broere on Wed Dec 11, 2002 07:29:19 AM


The earlier post about the P-47 artwork made me think about the over 400 P-47's used by the French.

I quote:

Many of these French Thunderbolts were then transferred to Algeria, where they were used against the nationalist forces during the Algerian civil war. GC I/10, GC II/10, and GC III/10 were established from reserve training units in 1951. The first two were redesignated Escadron d'Entrainement a la Chasse (EEC) II/17 and Groupe d'Entrainement a la Chasse (GEC) II/17 in 1954. EEC I/7 was formed in the same year. In 1956, these operational training units were formed into the 20-eme Escradre for combat operations in Algeria. GC I/20 Ayres-Nementcha operated P-47s into mid 1950 but GC II/20 Ouarsenis operated P-47s as late as 1960. They were finally phased out of service during 1960, at about the same time that the French pulled out of Algeria.

Unquote.

Now I know that Algeria isn't the most favourable place to start looking for warbirds, but could there be a possibility that any substantial airframes are still around?
They used to get Skyraiders out of Algeria many years ago didn't they?

Cees

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