Yesterday I was fortune enough to attend the dedication of a permanent memorial at York Minster - dedicated to the only two French bomber squadrons within the RAF which were based at RAF Elvington, York: 346 Guyenne Sqdn and 347 Tunisie Sqdn.
These squadrons withdrew to North Africa after the Battle for France and only in 1943 that they were reformed and shipped to the UK where they were retrained and eventually equiped with Handley Page Halifax heavy bombers operating from Elvington. Their first sortied were in support of the D-day landings. Nearly 3000 sorties followed, and the squadrons lost 41 aircraft and 216 flightcrew during active duty over Europe.
The event was attended by many veterans and relatives, dignitaries and serving officers from both UK and France, including the French Ambassador. It was a very moving event, and particularly poignant was "La Marseillaise" being resoundingly belted out within the minster by the congregation- surely a unique moment for an English cathedral - I was standing near a number of veterans and I really can't adequately describe how it felt.
For anyone with interest in this subject, Elvington is now the home of Yorkshire Air Musuem and the Allied Air Forces Memorial and if you are in the area it is well worth a visit!
This modest picture was taken during the subsequent flypast- the Avro Lancaster B.1 overflying York Minster, topped by a tricolor...
http://halifax346et347.canalblog.com/archives/2011/08/24/21858415.html
