Dewoitine D.520 in Free French Service
A very small number of D.520s were briefly operated by Free French Forces for training purposes. Along with three examples that had flown to Britain in June 1940, two other Dewoitines were recovered from retreating Vichy forces in Rayak, Lebanon. These D.520s were flown by pilots of the Normandie-Niemen unit before it was sent to the USSR, where they flew the Yakovlev Yak-1 that had many similarities with the French aircraft.
By late 1942, only 153 Dewoitine D.520 fighters remained with French forces in North Africa after units formerly under Vichy aligned with the Allies. Although they flew limited patrol sorties in the Tunisia campaign, their combat value was marginal: they were technically outclassed and burdened with radio systems incompatible with Allied communications. Consequently, from early 1943 the type was shifted almost entirely to instructional use at the Meknes fighter school. Operational squadrons progressively transitioned to more capable equipment, notably the Supermarine Spitfire and Bell P-39 Airacobra.
During the 1944 liberation of France, several abandoned D.520s were recovered from Luftwaffe stocks as the Allies advanced. Approximately 55 such airframes were made serviceable and grouped into ad hoc formations for tactical ground-attack and close air support roles. Under former test pilot Marcel Doret, one unit conducted strafing missions against German defensive positions at Royan and Pointe de Grave, and furnished fighter cover for Allied bomber strikes against those coastal pockets. Following the formal reconstitution of the French Air Force on 1 December 1944, Doret’s contingent was designated G.C. II/18. It retained the Dewoitine for several months—even as an anomaly alongside modern Allied fighters—before receiving Spitfires on 1 March 1945.
