I hope I don't interrupt any translations in prosess. Olife, you tought me something new today! Really appreciate that mate. Hope you will apologise me for interfering as I found a cpl of posts to shed some light on the mission by the french Farman. The plane itself is a new accuaintance to me
The French Farman 220 series (222.2, 223.3 and 223.4) heavy bombers were ugly and slow, this was typical of France’s pre-modernization Air Force of the mid 30's. A total of 28 in metropolitan France, 2 in Indochina and 3 in Senegal were available on May 10, 1940.
The Farman 222.2 was a long range bomber (2,000 km with 2,500 kg bombs) and carried up to 4,195 kg bombs (generally 20x 200 kg, 40x 100 kg or a combination of 200 kg, 100 kg and 50 kg bombs). The aircraft was armed with 3x 7.5mm MAC 1934 MGs in single mounts in the nose turret, dorsal turret and ventral gondola. This Farman 222.2 was an "advanced" version of the Farman 221/222 and had retractable gear, but showed otherwise little improvement over its predecessor. It had a maximum speed of 320 km/h at 4,000 meters. Its service ceiling was 8,000 meters. This bomber had a crew of 5 men: pilot, co-pilot, nose gunner/navigator/bombardier, ventral gunner and dorsal gunner.
For the Farman 223.3, the armament consisted in 1x 7.5mm MG in the nose and 2x 20mm guns in the two rear-facing turrets, 4,185 kg bombs and a range of 2,400 km.
The Farman 222.2, 223.3 and 223.4 bombers of the French Air Force and French Navy dropped at first leaflets over Germany (e.g. December 22, 1939 over Munich) and Czechoslovakia but this aircraft was also the first allied plane to bomb Berlin (Siemens factory) on the evening of June 7-8, 1940. This very first raid over Berlin was a mission flown by the French Navy with a single Farman 223.4. It was a former civilian Air France plane named '
Jules Vernes' under modification and modified for military use. It was painted in black and had not yet a bomb bay. 80 explosive and incendiary bombs of 10 kg were dropped after a flight of more than 2,000 km. The Farman flew from Bordeaux-Mérignac up to the English Channel, skirted the Dutch coast, crossed Denmark and the Baltic Sea and attacked Berlin from the north). The 'Jules Vernes' safely returned to Mérignac after a 13.5 hour mission. From June 13 to June 16 the 'Jules Vernes' flew 12 additional raids over Germany.
The Farman 222/223 bombers also bombed other cities like Rostock - Heinkel factories -, Hamburg, Münich and Köln. They also took part to the bombings of rail-roads and crossroads in May and June 1940, like in Aix-La-Chappelle, Maastricht, Flessingue and Middelburg, in order to delay the German troops.
After Italy declared war to France, these bombers dropped leaflets, spending hours leisurely over Rome, Turin and other cities. They also bombed fuel refineries in Porto Maghera and Livourne. It prompted the creation of an impromptu night fighter unit in Italy (3x Fiat CR.32s) as well as having a squadron of Italy's better fighters stationed near Rome to prevent a repeat.
Only one Farman was lost during the Battle of France - and that was an accident. Vichy and the Luftwaffe used them as transports through 1944.
Other French bombers like e.g. the Lioré & Olivier 451 were also involved in bombing againt Germany.
http://twovoyagers.com/blinkynet.net/wwii/verne.html
Please forgive the intercept...
