Description

French text and captions.
This new book takes us to Algeria, to the heart of a conflict with heavy human and geopolitical consequences.
Even as the Cold War was in full swing and generating enormous military expenditure, France was trying to retain a territory conquered more than a century earlier and then largely colonized by French or Spanish immigrants. The wind of History was not going in this direction.
Very quickly, ground troop operations revealed the indispensable nature of aerial observation. The need for air support proved essential in a fight against a diffuse adversary.
Unable to acquire aircraft designed for anti-guerrilla warfare, France turned to adapting a training aircraft already in its inventory, several hundred of which would become the workhorse of new units stationed as close as possible to the fighting, as part of a profound tactical reorganization of their use.
To implement these aircraft, the principle was to detach for a few months, in rotation, pilots and technicians belonging to the “classic” squadrons, in a sponsorship formula. The 2nd Fighter Wing of Dijon thus served as a reservoir for two Light Support Aviation Squadrons (EALA): the 1/72 Barons and the 8/72 Cabots, later merged within the EALA 2/2. Prefaced by General Roland Mentré, last commander of the EALA 2/2, it is the story, day by day, of the men and planes of these two units that Sébastien Guillemin and Patrick Vinot Préfontaine tell in this work based on the official and unofficial archives of these two formations, supported by testimonies and remarkable original iconography: 217 color and B&W photos, eight color profiles of Patrice Gaubert. Alain Crosnier, Gilbert Nëel and Pierre Jarrige have contributed extensively to this work.
For the benefit of researchers, all the information collected on each aircraft put online, each member of staff (from the pilot to the Contingent conscript) is integrated in the form of tables.