History of War – October 2019

SERVICE HISTORY

Orderedin 1938,thefirstD.520sweredelivered

in January1940,butengineoverheatingproblems

delayedintroductionintoservice.ByMay1940,only

36 of theArméedel’Air’s 542 frontlinefighterswere

D.520s,althoughover 300 weredeliveredbefore

Francesurrendered.Some 85 werelostin combat,

claimingnearly 150 Germanaircraftin return.

ProductionwassuspendeduntilAugust 1941

whentheVichyFrenchwereallowedto restart

manufacturingforthemselves,andforexportto

ItalyandBulgaria.D.520sweredeployedto Syria

(viaa lengthytransitroute)andNorthAfrica,seeing

actionagainstAlliedforcesin bothareas.Lackof

developmentmeantthetypebecameincreasingly

obsolete,andalthoughit couldtackleolderAllied

fightersandlightandmediumbombers,it wasno

matchforthelatestdesigns.Afterthefallof Vichy,

numberswereconfiscatedbytheGermansandused

astrainers,whileothersremainedin Frenchservice.

Thetypewasretiredin 1953.

DEWOITINE D.520

Images: Alamy, Mary Evans, Getty, Osprey

A line of Vichy Dewoitine D.520s on an airfield in

North Africa, with a German Ju.52 overhead

Members of a French squadron

gather around their mounts

“ALTHOUGH IT COULD

TACKLE OLDER ALLIED

FIGHTERS AND LIGHT

AND MEDIUM BOMBERS,

IT WAS NO MATCH FOR

THE LATEST DESIGNS”

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