The french fighter, Arsenal VG33. Another case of a promissing machine that arrived too late to make a diference. Place unknown, date between October 1938 and June 1940.

Arsenal VG33.

Marshal of France Phillipe Petain and Pierre Laval discuss the dismantling of the Third Republic, July, 1940.  Pétain did not like Laval who, in common with most political leaders of the late Third Republic, was a thoroughly bourgeois political fixer.  This sort of individual was not to appealing to &quot;Our Marshal&quot;, who found them rather crude and unsophisticated, notwithstanding his own fairly modest rural origins.  Pétain also adopted an increasingly autocratic - indeed monarchical - style as ruler of the &quot;État Francaise&quot;, and tended to resent interference from the activities of underlings such as prime ministers.  As a result, the relationship between Pétain and Laval was somewhat &quot;in and out&quot; for the period of the Vichy régime.  Nevertheless, &quot;Our Marshal&quot; relied on politicians - principally Laval - to ensure that the Vichy government of political eccentrics and extremists, not to mention bureaucrats with a marked variety of profiles ranging form extreme Right wingers to conservative civil servants anxious only to preserve as much of the power of the Vichy régime as possible.  After the war, unprotected by the aura of the Victor of Verdun, Laval was the most prominent of those politicians who opted to work fro Vichy to be sentenced to death and executed for treason.  Best regards, JR.

Marshal Pétain and Pierre Laval

A Breguet Br.695, a version of the Br.693 two-seat attack bomber, but powered by two Pratt & Whitney Twin Wasp Junior engines. This conversion was not particularly successful, the larger American engines increasing drag, reducing visibility and lowering performance. Nonetheless a shortage of engines and, some say, a decision by the French government that all combat aircraft had to be adapted for British and US engines allowed this aircraft to go into production. 30 were delivered, of which 2 were lost in action, some were later seized by the Germans in 1942, and handed up to the Italians which used them as trainers.