Village Honors WWII French Bomber Squadrons

A local community has paid tribute to the thousands of military personnel who were stationed within its bounds during World War Two. From 1944, for a period spanning nearly two years, two French bomber squadrons operated from RAF Elvington, situated close to York. On Remembrance Sunday, a ceremony took place in the village to commemorate the 2,500 air crew members of squadrons No 346 (Guyenne) and No 347 (Tunisie). An additional service was conducted later that afternoon at the Yorkshire Air Museum & Allied Air Forces Memorial. Jerry Ibbotson, a spokesperson for the museum, informed the BBC that the airmen were “ordinary guys who did an extraordinary thing”. Attendees at Sunday’s events included representatives from the French and Canadian defence attachés, the Australian and New Zealand defence forces, and personnel from the RAF. Mr. Ibbotson remarked that it was “very special” to witness individuals from various nations uniting to render their tributes. During World War Two, the location now occupied by the museum functioned as an RAF base, exclusively staffed by foreign personnel. The French aircrews reached Elvington in May 1944. Just weeks thereafter, on the eve of the D-Day landings, they engaged in operations, piloting Halifax bombers for an assault on a German gun battery situated at Grandcamp Maisy in Normandy. These landings, occurring on 6 June, signified the commencement of the effort to liberate north-west Europe from Nazi control. Over the 18-month duration of the French aircrews’ deployment at Elvington, nearly half of their members perished in combat. Mr. Ibbotson stated that the crews were required to undertake “at least 30 operations,” but typically, they would complete “eight or nine operations before going down.” He further commented, “It’s a grim figure.”