Dewoitine D 520 of the French Vichy Air Force at Rayak, Lebanon, 1941, at this time the most important French air base on the Syria. The first clash of the Vichy’s fighters with RAF occurred on 8 June 1941, day of the British attack against the French Syria, when the D.520s of GC III/6 (GC=Groupe de Chasse/Fighter Group) engaged enemies fighters shooting down three of them and losing an aircraft. Victor Sierra

Rayak

French tanks

One of the Glenn Martin 167F (a version for the France of the American-built bomber knew by the RAF as Maryland) salvaged by the French Vichy Air Force after the fall of the France and transferred to “Lévant”. The aircraft of the photo, dedicated to a French aviator, is one of the “Glenns” of the Groupe de Bombardement GB I/39 based in Syria and employed during the brief Syria-Lebanon campaign against the attack of the British Empire Forces on June 1941. On 8 and 9 June 1941 the “Glenns” of the GB I/39, together some Bloch 200 of the Escadrille 111/39 raided British ships off the Lebanese coasts. The engine cowlings of this plane has the typical colors of the Vichy’s aircrafts: yellow with red strips. Victor Sierra