COLD WAR

After the defeats and divisions of WWII, the Armée de L’Air struggled for aircraft and a role for them. Ironically, breaking away from NATO united the force behind a single aim

- 

At the end of the Second World War the Armée de L’Air, like the French nation itself, was deeply damaged and divided. Parts of the Armée de L’Air had gone into exile with the Allies, some serving with the Soviets, but the majority flew with the Free French Forces in Western Europe. More had stayed in France under the Vichy Government, who had initially remained neutral (while defending their air space against Allied intruders) and later fought openly against the Allies in North Africa, Madagascar and the Middle East. The rifts between the different factions were slow to heal. Rapid demobilisation and re-organisation was needed to merge the former factions into a coherent whole, but political instability further undermined reconstruction. The air force would go through more than a dozen major reorganisations in 15 years as they struggled to re-establish France’s place in the world.