Free French Canadair Sabre Mk.4

[comrade harps]

Canadair Sabre Mk.4
a/c 340037, GC 2/9 "Auvergne", Armee de l'Air
Aïn Oussera, Algeria, 10 November, 1954
Personal mount of Lieutenant Léo Dubois



The Mahgreb Revolution began on 1 November 1954. A civil uprising accompanied by a coordinated Red Army invasion of Algeria, Morrocco and Tunisia, the UN was forced to withdraw from the coast and retreat into the northern fringes of the Sahara Desert. As the UN lost control of the mountainous coastal regions, the airfield at Aïn Oussera, Algeria, became a major hub of operations. It would remain so until July 1956, when the UN evacuated the area following a joint Armée de Libération Nationale (ALN) and Red Army siege of the airbase and nearby town.




Léo Dubois was a 17-year-old Pied-Noir living in Algeria at the time of the European Red Revolutions in 1950. An anti-communist Catholic with an interest in aviation, Dubois joined the Armee de l'Air in July 1950 and was selected for pilot training. He was sent to Canada for jet training in 1952, initially flying RCAF de Havilland Canada Vampire T.55s before converting to the Sabre Mk.2 for advanced fighter training. Despite his desire to immediately join a combat unit, Dubois was retained in Canada to serve as an instructor pilot before finally, in October 1954, being assigned to GC 2/9 "Auvergne" in Alegria. Flying the Sabre Mk.4 (identical to the North American F-86-30), he made his first combat mission from Aïn Oussera on 27 October; it was an uneventful armed reconnaissance patrol over the Algerian interior seeking ALN guerilla fighters.




On 1 November, Lieutenant Léo Dubois was awoken early in the morning as Aïn Oussera came under attack from the ALN. Then came the Red's Badger A bombers, and although most missed their targets, the runway and fuel dumps were damaged and the base wasn't secured and sufficiently repaired for operations until mid-morning. A fighter-bomber unit, GC 2/9 was tasked with attacking the Red invasion fleet massed off Algiers. This would be his first true combat mission, the first time that he engaged the enemy.




Flying several missions a day, by 10 November, Dubois had accumulated 21 bombing missions (against both land and sea targets) and shot down two Red aircraft. His first aerial victory was against a Red Italian Mig-17F Fesco C flying from the island of Formentera in the Spanish Republic (the pilot ejecting and briefly being taken POW before escaping). That was on 3 November and on the 9th, Lt. Dubois was credited with a second kill, a Beagle bomber from the French Revolutionary Socialist Republic (2 crew members killed, 1 taken POW).




Léo Dubois would go on to achieve 37 confirmed victories and rise to the rank of Colonel before being grounded for health reasons in 1961 ("too many ejections" he said). By then, the Armee de l'Air was a shadow of its former self, with most of the Free French colonies now independent with only a scattering of small territories remaining. His last victory came on 7 August 1961, when, flying a Dassault Canada Super Mystere B.2 as an exchange pilot with the RCAF, he shot down a Moroccan Fluffy J fighter near the northern border of Western Sahara (the pilot ejecting and evading capture). As Colonel Dubois was making this kill with cannon, another Moroccan Fluffy J pilot was firing an Atoll air-to-air missile at his aircraft. This would be Dubois' 4th ejection, and his last. He remained in the Armee de l'Air, going on to be promoted to the rank of General and serving in several Free French, RCAF and UN staff, command and advisory positions until retirement in 1987.

[Dizzyfugu]

That's nice! 

[comrade harps]

That's nice! 

Thank you.

A nice and quick 4 day build. Hobby Boss F-86F-30 1/72nd. $11.99 purchased just a few weeks ago. I've been itching for a while to do something WW3 Free French.

[PR19_Kit]

Very smart, it suits that scheme very well indeed. 

[DogfighterZen]

 

[The Rat]

Very nice! 

[su27rules]

 

[zenrat]

Tres bon mon ami.

[ysi_maniac]

Very nice! 

Totally agreed!

[NARSES2]

Very smart, it suits that scheme very well indeed. 

Does, doesn't it