The Rise and Fall of the French Air Force (Hardback)
French Air Operations and Strategy 1900-1940
Pages: 288
Illustrations: 32 pages of b&w plates
ISBN: 9781781556443
Published: 28th February 2018
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On 10 May 1940, the French possessed one of the largest air forces in the world. On paper, it was nearly as strong as the RAF. Six weeks later, France had been defeated. For a struggling French Army desperately looking for air support, the skies seemed empty of friendly planes. In the decades that followed, the debate raged. Were there unused stockpiles of planes? Were French aircraft really so inferior? Baughen examines the myths that surround the French defeat. He explains how at the end of the First World War, the French had possessed the most effective air force in the world, only for the lessons learned to be forgotten. Instead, air policy was guided by radical theories that predicted air power alone would decide future wars. Baughen traces some of the problems back to the very earliest days of French aviation. He describes the mistakes and bad luck that dogged the French efforts to modernise their air force in the twenties and thirties. He examines how decisions made just months before the German attack further weakened the air force. Yet defeat was not inevitable. If better use had been made of the planes that were available, the result might have been different.
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“That the French lost the war in such dramatic fashion is still shocking today. This book explains one of the big problems they faced in great detail whilst still being an entertaining read."
Amazon Review
"An exceptionally detailed discussion on why the French air force failed in 1940. This work complements Baughen's preceding volumes on the flaws in RAF strategy but sometimes reads as a horror story in its own regard."
Amazon Review
“This is the best book I have read on the French air force of the 1920s and 1930s. It also discusses the preceding Word War I air force evolution. The book discusses all the issues: government leadership, Air Force and Army generals, and aircraft designers."
Amazon Review
“Very good and enlightening read on why the French Air Force was good in the 1st World War and sadly unprepared to fight in the second war. I recommend it as I could find so little on the air war over France in 1940.”
Amazon Review
“Greg Baughen has written a comprehensive analysis of why French military aviation went from being the world’s largest air force at the end of the First World War, to an air arm that was easily bested by the Luftwaffe… A five star book which can be recommended to any student of French aviation.”
Amazon Review
“Finally it made sense! I have been a WWII aviation enthusiast and book nut for over 30 years. This is by far the best book in English that finally gave the complete picture, rather than the usual all encompassing "Bf109E was superior to Ms-406" explanation of failings of French AF in 1940. … In short, if you want to get a lot of new information, and remove myths from your system, certainly buy this book. Highly recommended”
Amazon Review
“The French Air Force has often been just as poorly served by history and writing about it as it itself was served by fate in history, which is why The Rise and Fall of the French Air Force: 1900-1940 by Greg Baughen makes for such a thoroughly brilliant reversal of the previous trend with a scintillating and superbly done book about the development, doctrine, operations, and employment of the French Air Force, magnificently covering its development in a lengthy and consistent narrative from even before the first aircraft took to the sky to its defeat over the battlefields of France in Spring 1940… For anybody interested in understanding general French air force strategy, aircraft design, operations, production, and general doctrine in the Battle of France and the Interwar period, and even to some extent the First World War, this book is without doubt the best on the subject”
HubPages June 2019
“I learned a lot from this account, namely that some explanations put forth to explain the French defeat do not make sense - most prominent being the French tried to fight the Second World War using methods from the First World War. Baughen demonstrates conclusively that this adage does not apply to the French Air Force given it performed exceptionally well during 1914 - 1918…. While few recent WW2 books can lay claim to using previously untapped sources of information, THE RISE AND FALL OF THE FRENCH AIR FORCE can do so because Baughen has clearly relied on French sources to include archival records to develop his narrative. I take my hat off to the author as that must have entailed a tremendous amount of effort.”
Amazon Review
“This study is the point of departure for Greg Baughen’s authoritative and very welcome reappraisal of French and British air policy in the 20th century…. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, which establishes the groundwork for Greg Baughen’s later work. …. Recommended.”
Amazon Review
“A very interesting and enjoyable read for WW2 aviation buffs”
Amazon Review
"This is a book that I've been wishing would appear for a long time, as this is the best examination I've seen of how the interaction between strategy, doctrine, technology, and industrial policy produced the French air arm that was thrown on the scales in the Spring of 1940; and has ever since been found wanting…this is a major advance forward in our understanding of why May 1940 played out the way it did and I highly recommend this monograph."
Goodreads
"This work, as hoped from Baughen, was an incredible and eye-opening read. …It was an edge of chair and saddening read as failure became more and more inevitable when at each turn a different decision might have made enough difference. …thank you to the author for such a wonderful book."
Barnes & Noble review, 13 January 2020
“After 78 years, we finally find out what the French Air Force did in the May, 1940 Battle of France campaign. The book gives a good overview of the action, with thoughtful analysis of the aerial activity in May and June, 1940.”
Amazon Review
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