Unit Card:
France, Aircraft , 1940
ATT inf 9/7/-
ATT veh 4/3/-
Cost 17 points
Def 4/4
Speed A
Ace
This unit ignores the -1 penalty on each attack die when attacking Aircraft. If an enemy Aircraft is placed within four hexes of this unit, this unit may make a defensive-fire attack against it.
Aircraft
Aircraft are placed during the flight phase and attack during the airstrike phase. Units attacking Aircraft use their anti-Soldier attacks and get –1 on each attack die.
Agility
This unit’s short range against aircraft is 0-2 hexes and its medium range against aircraft is 3-5 hexes.
Set - Rarity - Number
Bandits High, 6/31
Historical Background:
The Groupe de Chasse I/3 was the first unit to get the D.520, receiving its first aircraft in January 1940. These were unarmed and used for pilot training. In April and May 1940, operational units received 34 production D.520s; the type proving to be very popular with the pilots. In comparative trials on 21 April 1940 at CEMA at Orleans-Bricy against a captured Bf 109E-3, the German aircraft had a 32 km/h (20 mph) speed advantage owing to its more powerful engine. However, the D.520 had superior maneuverability, matching its turning circle, although displaying nasty characteristics when departing and spinning out of the turn repeatedly during the tests. The Bf 109, owing to its slats, could easily sustain the turn on the edge of a stall.
By 10 May 1940, when Germany invaded France and the Low Countries, 228 D.520s had been manufactured, but the French Air Force had accepted only 75, as most others had been sent back to the factory to be retrofitted to the new standard. As a result, only GC I/3 was fully equipped, having 36 aircraft. They met the Luftwaffe on 13 May, shooting down three Henschel Hs 126s and one Heinkel He 111 without loss. Four more Groupes de Chasse and three naval Escadrilles rearmed with the type before France's surrender. GC II/3, GC III/3, GC III/6 and GC II/7 later completed conversion on the D.520. A naval unit, the 1er Flotille de Chasse, was also equipped with the Dewoitine. But only GC I/3, II/7, II/6 and the naval AC 1 saw any action in the Battle of France. GC III/7 converted to the D.520 too late to be involved in any action.
In air combat, mostly against the Italians, the Dewoitine 520s claimed 114 air victories, plus 39 probables. Eighty five D.520s were lost. By the armistice at the end of June 1940, 437 D.520s had been built with 351 delivered. After the armistice, 165 D.520s were evacuated to North Africa. GC I/3, II/3, III/3, III/6 and II/7 flew their aircraft to Algeria to avoid capture. Three more, from GC III/7, escaped to Britain and were delivered to the Free French. A total of 153 D.520s remained in mainland France. One of the most successful D.520 pilots was Pierre Le Gloan, who shot 18 aircraft down (four Germans, seven Italian and seven British), scoring all of his kills with the D.520, and ranked as the fourth-highest French ace of the war.
Reviews:
Akela152
The best French fighter available. Ace is the best skill you can have for air cover, especially for a country that does not have AA guns in the game. I may be biaised but it saved vulnerables units so many times that I cannot NOT have at least one in my builds. It's more expansive then other planes that France has to offer, but also more effective.
