My Young years in the French Air Force.( 10)
My years as a pilot. Active Duty in Squadron, my first assignment. The SASM 99 in Boufarik (Algeria) Once again, appointments to active units are in ranking order. As always, I chose a far and exotic place. There are two positions in a squadron equipped with four engines aircraft based in Boufarik (Algeria). My friend Xavier Poidvin decides to join me. The opportunity to fly these big airplanes is rare to be overlooked even if this means more learning as copilot. As we are leaving French soil, we are allowed to use the remainder of our vacation days. On January 16th 1955 we board a plane in Marseilles to Algiers. We are proud to join a squadron so unique as much by the planes themselves, as by the type of missions we will perform. The planes are four engines Languedoc. Ex Air France civilian airliners handed down to the Airforce, they have been modified for Sea Search and Rescue missions. As newbies, we are only copilots and fly long training missions. Although the squadron is based at Boufarik, planes are always detached in Oran (Western Algeria) and Istres (South of France). Before leaving Avord, I sold my Renault 4CV to a friend. He held this transaction against me later as the car turned out to rust prematurely. In fact the rust had been painted over before I bought it. Thinking that I would be stationed in Boufarik for a while, I started to look for another car. I found a used Citroen 'traction Avant 11 Normale'. This was a step up for the previous one. Unfortunately, I didn't get much use out of it as my assignment was to be short lived. My friend Xavier and I were selected, after three months only, to go to Indochina (newly renamed Vietnam). This was part of a military aid France provided to South Vietnam already at war against the communist North. Not knowing the details of my assignment, we quickly pack to head back to France and then Saigon. In the haste, there is no time to sell the car so I ship it back by boat to Marseilles. I pick it up there and take it to Chateaurenaud and leave it in my brother Paul's garage. After a short leave, we meet in Toulouse where awaits the plane that will take us to Saigon. The machine is a superb four-engine SE.2010 Armagnac. Originally built for Airfrance, the airline didn't want it because of its cost. Only a handful were built and used by SAGETA C° for the French Army . Our refueling stops for this trip were Beyrouth(Lebanon), Karachi (Pakistan) Calcutta (India) and finally Saigon.	All pictures on the same theme...
	Bloch Languedoc airplane. On the background, the foothill of the Atlas mountains..
	The young new certificated pilot, standing proud in front of "his" airplane.
	The interior of the cabin with the rescue containers.
	The cockpit. The co-pilot is in the right seat. .
	It is very high, up there!
Previous Next