FP_2015_05_

46 FLYPAST May 2015

194019401940

D

espite attempts to modernise,

by the time war was

declared in September 1939,

Belgium’s Aéronautique Militaire was

largely equipped with obsolescent

types. The most modern aircraft

available were 20 Hawker Hurricane

Is and 15 Fairey Battles.

Biplanes dominated, including 22

Gloster Gladiators delivered from

August 1937 and a similar number

of Fiat CR.42s which arrived in the

spring of 1940. These four types

equipped five squadrons but the

remaining 11 operational units flew

variants of the 1920s-vintage Fairey

Fox! As late as September 1938, a

dozen updated Fox VIIIs had been

ordered from Avions Fairey at

Gosselies – the Belgian subsidiary

of the British Fairey company.

It was on these somewhat vintage

wings that the Aéronautique Militaire

was fully mobilised. Fighters of

the 2ème Regiment began border

patrols to counter any incursions

into neutral Belgium by any of the

belligerents already at war. Based at

Schaffen-Diest, northeast of Brussels,

were the 1ème Escadrille (1 Esc)

with the surviving Gladiators and

the Hurricanes of 2 Esc, covering the

eastern border.

The remaining fighters were

south of the capital at Nivelles and

responsible for policing the west.

There, 2ème Regiment comprised

3 Esc and 4 Esc with the newly-

delivered Fiats; and 5 Esc and 6 Esc

with single-seat Foxes, which the

Belgians designated Firefly IIMs.

CONSTANT READINESS

A trio of RAF Whitleys strayed

over Belgium on September 9,

OUTCLASSED

BUT DETERMINED

OUTCLASSED

BATTLE FOR BELGIUM

46-51_Blitzkrieg_fpSBB.indd 46 06/03/2015 16:51