Aeroplane – June 2018

BELOW:

Two captured

Junkers Ju 88s on

the strength of

the ‘Groupe Dor’,

Mazières’ final flying

unit. F. ST ARROMAN

AEROPLANE JULY 2018 http://www.aeroplanemonthly.com 71

drop. I write on a piece of paper the

different headings to follow.

“The engines run. I tune the

propellers — the run-up is perfect!

A last wave to say ‘bye’. I get my

machine guns ready, in case we meet

the Germans. I would love to shoot

at them.

“I begin to pull the throttle.

The aircraft starts rolling, and

progressively goes faster. I take off,

change the pitch, put the gear up. I

fly low over the airfield and head in

the direction of Châteaudun, which is

crowded with refugees. The cloudbase

is at 800m and a light haze hides

the ground. We go down to 100m to

observe. Here’s the road we have to

follow. I fly over it, zig-zagging.

“Lassègues cannot recognise where

we are: ‘I think we are lost’. We turn

back. Here is Châteaudun again. We

fly around the city and over the road,

the right one this time. The road is

quiet, except for a few refugees who

hide in the haystacks when they hear

the noise of the aircraft. We arrive at

the end of the first area to observe:

there is nothing to mention. I turn

back and go to the other area. I watch

the sky, the ground, the engines. I fly

lower. We are at 2,300rpm, which is

the standard power setting. There is

nothing on the road.

“Here is Dreux. We have another 4

or 5km to fly and then we will go back.

If only I could shoot at something. I

have revenge to take. Ah! The sky gets

clearer! A big blue hole is over Dreux.

I look up and in front, and above me

nine Dornier aircraft are slowly coming

towards us. They are probably going to

bomb Dreux. I don’t say anything and

watch the sky. The Dorniers are not

dangerous, but are they accompanied

by fighters or not? This is the question.

But what happens? The Dornier on

the right leaves the group and heads

towards me, zig-zagging. He nosedives

towards me.

“He wants to attack me! But this

guy is crazy! I am more manoeuvrable

and better-armed than he is. Let us

open our eyes.

“This is, frankly, bad: in the blue

hole, I could see shadows approaching,

and they are flying in all directions.

Messerschmitts! Ah, the bastards, I

knew they would come! I can count a

dozen of them, flying towards me.

“The attack is taking shape! Can I

take advantage of the low visibility to

shoot at one of them? Be careful! They

are getting ready to attack, all together!

Thanks, but they are outnumbering

me. Twelve against one. Seventy-two

guns against eight. The fight is too

unbalanced. I was not given the order

to attack. They are getting closer to us.

Too bad. I yell to Grosjean, ‘Look at

the Dornier!’ I turn sharply, nosedive,

and barrel-roll. I pull up and I rush to

the south. Lassègues turns his head

in all directions to watch them. I fly a

metre above the ground at 2,300rpm

— more would be dangerous. Grosjean

tells me, ‘The bad guys have seen us’.

The bad guys are the Messerschmitts. I

tell him, ‘Keep an eye on them and let

me know if they come too close.’

“I pull the throttle to maximum

power and I turn at very low level at

360km/h. If we were not in wartime,

I would get punished and confined to

barracks. I dive behind the hills and I

hide behind the line of trees. This low

visibility is helping me.

“Sometime, Grosjean tells me,

‘They’ve lost us’. So much the better.

Out of sight, out of mind. But where

are we? Ah! Here is the road to

Châteaudun.

“Here is the airfield. Landing

manoeuvres. I come over the trees,

but I am too fast. After levelling off,

I realise it, pull up, go around, flying

very close to the trees. I pull back on

the stick and with a loud noise I touch

the ground. I taxi back, I brake and

throttle back the engines. Here are

our friends.

“We have been lucky again today. I

switch everything off. The captain is

here and we have a discussion. It was

my last wartime flight.”

GAO 456 deployed progressively

southwards as German forces

advanced: on 15 June it was in the

Cher area of the Loire, on the 17th

it had moved to Limoges, and on the

21st the aircraft landed in Pau. The

group was disbanded on 14 July 1940.

For Pierre Mazières, a long period

of inactivity began. He worked for a

time at the Potez company founder’s

estate, but no longer flew. He and his

wife had two children in 1943 and

’44, a boy and a girl.

In 1943, he joined the

French resistance and became a

communications agent. When the

south-west of France was liberated

during the summer of 1944, he went

to meet his former chief, Cdt Saget,

who was setting up a unit with ex-

German Junkers Ju 88 bombers that

had been captured in Toulouse. The

plant at Saint-Martin-du-Touch near

Toulouse (where the Dewoitine D520

was built) had performed maintenance

and repairs on Ju 88s. When the

Luftwaffe fled, many aircraft and spare

parts were left and put into French

service. The Armée de l’Air would

therefore fight against the Germans

with repainted D520s operated by

the so-called ‘Groupe Doret’ and the

Ju 88s of ‘Groupe Dor’, named after

their respective commanding officers.

Mazières joined the latter.

As of 13 November 1944 he had

flown just four hours since June 1940.

Nevertheless, he wanted to fight. With

fellow crew members Cne Marius

Oberty, Adj André Galland and Adj

Lucien Nicol, he was taking off from

Blagnac in a Ju 88 with French serial

6 when an accident occurred. Here is

the full story, from Pierre Dumollard’s

book Junkers 88 et 188 français.

“On Monday 13 November, three

aircraft had planned to go to Cognac

Châteaubernard: aircraft number 2 of

Cdt Dor for a reconnaissance flight,

number 5 of Cdt Saget for a meeting

with Col Adeline at headquarters, and

number 6 of Cne Oberty to receive

instructions and continue to Royan.

68-73_AM_Potez_July18_cc C.indd 71 04/06/2018 07:16