Ju-52 in the Vietnam Wars

[Marcus Wendel]

The below photo is of Ju-52 used by the French in Vietnam.


http://perso.wanadoo.fr/paqsenior/Avions1947.htm

/Marcus

[Korbius]

Very interesting indeed Marcus, also seeing the Fieseler Fi 156 Storch ( aka Morane Saulnier MS-500 french version) it gives the impression that the Germans really had sturdy aircraft designs and as we see in the link above they served in Vietnam too.

[col. klink]

I'm curious about the markings on the fuselage on the Storch. It looks a lot like the US marking or are the colors slightly different. Just wondering.

[Zygmunt]

Col. klink,
I'm pretty certain that the markings on the fuselage that you refer to are Vietnamese (specifically, South Vietnamese). I seem to remember that not only were the 'star and bar' markings used by the Vietnamese forces very similar to American ones, but furthermore that (after the partition) both Vietnams continued to use similar devices (as if that war wasn't confusing enough)!

The North Vietnamese aircraft had a yellow star on a red background. The bar it was on was (is?) red, outlined in yellow.

The South Vietnamese had a white star on a blue background, while the bar behind it was yellow stripes on red (so, like the US marking, but the white-and-red bar is replaced by yellow and red).

As far as the Ju-52 goes, I read that they were used as transports and bombers. I got this from a book called "The Vietnam Experience - Thunder from above" by John Morrocco (1984, Boston), which has a photo of a Ju-52 releasing bombs north of Hanoi in 1951

Zygmunt

[Zygmunt]

Well, it took me almost a month to bother to connect up the scanner, but what we should see below is a picture captioned "A JU-52 Junker of the French air force bombs Vietminh positions ninety miles north of Hanoi on March 5, 1951" From the book "The Vietnam Experience - Thunder From Above".
Zygmunt

[Lobscouse]

Interesting pictures, particularly the last one of the bomber.

At wars end (45-46) I lived in a small town to the north of Liverpool, and a common sight at that time, was of Ju 52s flying between Speke Airport (Liverpool) and Ireland. They were engaged in carrying milk and probably other dairy products to a severely rationed country.

It would be interesting to know just who was piloting them, and what eventually happened to them. Maybe they went on to serve the French in Indo-china.

[Zygmunt]

Apologies for the quality of that picture. It got that way somewhere in the scanning (or more likely) in the post-scanning manipulation, particularly in trying to get it to less than 800 pixels. In the event that I can get a clearer picture I'll replace it - at the moment it's difficult to see the bombs toward the bottom of the picture.
I didn't realise that air-freighting dairy produce was an economically viable transportation method. I suppose that's part of the effect of rationing.

Thanks for sharing,
Zygmunt

[Kurt_Steiner]

Zygmut wrote:

Col. klink,
I'm pretty certain that the markings on the fuselage that you refer to are Vietnamese (specifically, South Vietnamese). I seem to remember that not only were the 'star and bar' markings used by the Vietnamese forces very similar to American ones, but furthermore that (after the partition) both Vietnams continued to use similar devices (as if that war wasn't confusing enough)!

It's true. Those markings are from the SVAF, the South Vietnamese Air Force.

Best regards

[Kurt_Steiner]

In fact, the French air forces in Vietnam comprised a wide variety of planes: Ki-43, Ki-55, Spitfire, Hurricane, Hellcat F6F, Bearcat F8F, Mustang P-51, Mosquito, B-24, Ju-52/3m, C-47 y Piper L-4

Best regards

[David Lehmann]

The French Air Force (Armée de l'Air) or French Army Light Aviation (Aviation Légère de l'Armée de l'Air) during the Indochina (1946-1954) or Algerian (1954-1962) wars used several "German" planes :

- The Amiot AAC-1 "Toucan" is a French version of the Ju-52



- The Morane Saulnier MS.500 is a French version of the Fi-156



- Junkers Ju 88A4, A5 and and Ju 188E were also used





- 64 Fw190 A8/F8 have been produced in 1946, under the name NC900



- The SIPA S.111 anti-guerilla aircraft (Arado 96 remotorized with the French Argus As410 engine)




Otherwise the FAF (Forces aériennes françaises) main aircrafts : 1945-195x


• Fighter/attack
- Mitsubishi A6M2-N Rufe seaplane (1946-1948 in Indochina)
- Nakajima Ki.43 (1945-1946 in Indochina)
- Najkajima Ki.46 (1945-1946 in Indochina)
- Aichi E13A-1 seaplane (1946-1948 in Indochina)
- Supermarine Spitfire MkVIII, MkIX, MkXI and MkXVI
- Supermarine Seafire
- Hawker Tempest
- Mosquito FB.IV, FB.VI and FB.XVI
- Bell P-39N and P39Q Airacobra
- Bell P-63C Kingcobra
- Republic P-47D Thunderbolt
- Lockheed P38 (F-4 et F-5)
- F-51 Mustang
- F6F-5 Hellcat
- Chance-Vought F4U-7 and AU-1 Corsair (from 1953 to 1964)
- Grumman F8F-1 Bearcat (from 1951 to ...)
- NC900 (64 Fw190 A8/F8 have been produced for the FAF in 1946, under the name NC900)


• Bomber/attack
- Glenn Martin B-26
- SB2C Helldiver
- Amiot AAC.1 Toucan (French version of the Junkers Ju-52)
- Lockheed P2V-6 and P2V-7 Neptune
- Consolitated PB4Y-2 Privateer
- Douglas SBD-5 Dauntless
- North American B-25 Mitchell

• Recon and misc
- Glenn Martin RB-26 Marauder
- Lockheed P38 (F-4 et F-5)
- Lockheed P2V-6 and P2V-7 Neptune
- Consolitated PB4Y-2 Privateer
- Consolidated PBY-5 Catalina
- Mosquito FB.VI and FB.XVI
- Douglas C-47 Dakota
- Curtiss Commando
- Amiot AAC.1 Toucan (French version of the Junkers Ju-52)
- Morane Saulnier MS.500 (French version of the Fieseler Fi.156)
- SNCASE SE-535 Mistral (French version of the British De Havilland Vampire)

.....


Regards,

David

I have probably a few photos from the net.

[David Lehmann]

An other Toucan :

[Kurt_Steiner]

Is it true that France sold some NC900s to Argentina?

Wonderful pictures, by the way!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Best regards

[David Lehmann]

Personally no idea about NC900s sold to Argentina.

Foreign aircrafts in French service : http://www.french-airforce-sig.org.uk/D ... apage1.htm

Many photos of aircrafts under the French flag (including Do335, Do24, Me262 ...) : http://batfredland.free.fr/PresentationFAF.htm

Corsairs :
http://aerostories.free.fr/appareils/co ... page2.html
http://aerostories.free.fr/events/alger ... index.html













A LARGE CORSAIR GALLERY HERE : http://www.f4u-corsair.net/en/gallery/index.php


B26 :
http://aerostories.free.fr/events/alger ... index.html

[Kurt_Steiner]

I'm curious about the markings on the fuselage on the Storch. It looks a lot like the US marking or are the colors slightly different.

Col Klink, the foot of the pic says:

Le Morane-500 à moteur Argus AS10C3. Avion d'observation très rustique. Ceux-ci ont été cèdés aux Vietnamiens après DienBienPhu pour l'entrainement des jeunes pilotes.

So they were South Vietnamese planes.

Best regards

[col. klink]

Thanks for the information. I was familiar with the later national markings of the Air Force of the Republic of Vietnam but I had not seen markings from the 50s and they look a little like the US markings. I seem to remember that the later South Vietnam markings either included their flag or their national colors ( Gold or Yellow and Red I think).
Great pictures!