This Loire-Nieuport 401 belonging to Naval Squadron AB2 was hit by flak during an attack on the bridge over the Sambre a l'Oise Canal near Origny-Ste-Benoite and belly-landed near Villers-St-Christophe. The pilot SM Hautin was captured by the Heer troops in the area, some of which posed afterwards for yet another photo. May 20th, 1940.

Loire-Nieuport 401

A French monk, likely a military chaplain, and two US Army Air Force’s officer standing in front of a Free French Air Force’s Curtiss P-40F “Warhawk” fighter aircraft. The latter is a plane of Groupe de Chasse II/5 “Lafayette” (GC II/5 “Lafayette”), note the unit’s emblem on the fuselage, and likely the photo was taken on Casablanca Airport, Morocco, during the ceremony, 9 January 1943, of official transfer of twelve P-40F from USAAF’s 33rd Fighter Group to Forces Aériennes Françaises Libres. In reality these fighters had been handed over to the French on 25 November 1942. Victor Sierra

The monk and the fighter 

The pilot of a Curtiss P-40L of Free French Air Force’s Groupe de Chasse 2/5 “La Fayette”, or GCII/5 “La Fayette”, at Sidi Ahmed Airfield, Tunisia, Summer 1943. Victor Sierra