Diary March 29, 1940

War Diary, 03-1940, Diary WW2, Year 1940 / 1 minute of reading

The excellent light bomber Bloch 174 suffered from its French industrial and political environment and none reached the Armee de l’Air until 19 March 1940. The first operational sortie took place on 29 March and combat experience was outstanding, and the loss rate was even lower than for the equally fast American Douglas DB-7 (which was also in French service).

Diary for Friday, March 29, 1940:

Air War

Capitan Antoine de Saint-Exupery flies first recce sortie over West Germany in the Bloch 174 (max. speed 530 km/hour).
Air Marshal Portal appointed AOC, RAF Bomber Command.

Sea War

Atlantic: French cruiser Algerie escorts two US ships from Halifax with cargoes of American-built warplanes.

Home Fronts

Britain: Prince Alexander Obolensky, famous rugby player, killed landing RAF aircraft in East Anglia, aged 24.

About The Author

Kretaner

My name is Norman 'Kretaner' and since my childhood I am interested in history and strategy games. Later, I have learned programming and the development of computer games, and finally with the Internet, also web design. I'm in the fortunate position to combine all my interests with my work and to live on a place of my choice, on Crete. All information, figures, specifications and statistics used here had been compiled from a variety of sources and the large, over decades collected, library of the author about military history, WW2 and weapons.

Air War

Sea War

Home Fronts

About The Author

Kretaner

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