History French Army Light Aviation

however, concept of aerial artillery support older: military aviation, appeared in first world war, , role observation, , subsequent guidance of artillery. first highlight of new weapon, contribution may have been decisive, took place on 3 september 1914, when squadron rep 15 observation airplanes, attached sixth army under maunoury), realized columns of kluck spin south-east [... ]. there can no question of serious attack paris. hope reborn in french camp, reinforced consistent reports of british expeditionary force aircraft. in hours following, airmen meticulously locate different imperial german army corps. gap formed between first army (von kluck) , second army (von bülow). reports submitted joffre, decides take without further delay of possibility. on 6 september 1914, first battle of marne began, , german advance cut short.

the use of armed helicopters coupled helicopter transport during algerian war can drop troops enemy territory gave birth tactics of airmobile warfare continues today. machines of nascent alat ones carry out considerable number of missions against algerian insurgents between 1955, when groupe d’hélicoptères no.2 (gh 2) created, , 1962 when french empire in algeria came end. gh 2 based @ sétif – aïn arnat in east of country, , equipped machines undertake transport missions, though vertol h-21c, nicknamed banane volante (“flying banana”) because of silhouette, join unit owing concerns lack of machines both defend , carry out offensive missions against insurgents. acquiring these machines lay in hands of licensee piasecki given france’s urgent need have them on account of circumstances. usually, h-21 carry 18 troops, yet local operating (as climatic) conditions decreed french army examples carry around 12 troops each. in 2 years, gh 2 received vast majority of h-21s acquired alat, consisted of 5 squadrons end of 1958. sixth squadron french naval air arm, aéronautique navale, had operated gh 2 little more year.

from 1955 1962, gh 2 took part in major battles, occurred near frontier between algeria , tunisia, including battle of souk-ahras in april 1958. helicopters, including types such h-21, alouette ii, sikorsky h-19 , sikorsky h-34, aggregated on 190,000 flying hours in algeria (over 87,000 h-21 alone) , helped evacuate on 20,000 french combatants combat area, including 2,200 @ night. time war in algeria had ended, 8 officers , 23 non-commissioned officers alat had given lives in course of duties.

after american experiments coupling attack helicopters anti-tank missiles during last phases of vietnam war, , during nato maneuvers, alat worked create specialized units in area fight against threat of armoured warsaw pact assaults.

in 1975, alat had 500 officer s, 2500 ncos , 3500 other ranks, or 2% of french army. quantitatively, fleet 1 hundred aircraft, cessna l-19 gradually retired , replaced helicopters , 560 helicopters (190 alouette ii, 70 alouette iii, 130 sa.330 puma , 170 sa.341 gazelle plus 110 sa.341 deliver.

qualitatively, after delivery of orders, there 360 light helicopters including 170 gazelle reconnaissance helicopters 180 anti-tank 110 gazelle hot (these missiles entering service until 1978 ) , 140 utility helicopters puma. alat flew 170,000 flying hours, including 11,000 @ night.