French Naval Aviation (often abbreviated in French to: ''Aéronavale'' (contraction of Aéronautique navale), or ''Aviation navale'', or more simply ''l'Aéro'') is the naval air arm of the

French Navy The French Navy (french: Marine nationale, lit=National Navy), informally , is the maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the five military service branches of France. It is among the largest and most powerful naval forces in th ...

. The long-form official designation is ''Force maritime de l'aéronautique navale''. Born as a fusion of

aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and facilities for carrying, arming, deploying, and recovering aircraft. Typically, it is the capital ship of a fleet, as it allows ...

squadrons and the naval patrol air force, the ''Aéronavale'' was created in 1912. The force is under the command of a

flag officer A flag officer is a commissioned officer in a nation's armed forces senior enough to be entitled to fly a flag to mark the position from which the officer exercises command. The term is used differently in different countries: *In many countrie ...

officially titled Admiral of Naval Aviation (ALAVIA) with his headquarters at

Toulon Toulon (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Tolon , , ) is a city on the French Riviera and a large port on the Mediterranean coast, with a major naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, and the Provence province, Toulon is t ...

naval base. It has a strength of around 6,800 military and civilian personnel. It operates from four airbases in

Metropolitan France Metropolitan France (french: France métropolitaine or ''la Métropole''), also known as European France (french: Territoire européen de la France) is the area of France which is geographically in Europe. This collective name for the European ...

and several detachments in foreign countries or

French overseas territories Overseas France (french: France d'outre-mer) consists of 13 French-administered territories outside Europe, mostly the remains of the French colonial empire that chose to remain a part of the French state under various statuses after decolon ...

. Carrier-borne pilots of the French Navy do their initial training at

Salon-de-Provence Air Base Salon-de-Provence Air Base (french: Base aérienne 701 Salon-de-Provence, links=no or BA 701) is a base of the French Air and Space Force (Armée de l'air et de l'espace) located south Salon-de-Provence, Bouches-du-Rhône in southern France. ...

after which they undergo their carrier qualification with the

US Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnag ...

Aircraft inventory

, - , Bréguet Atlantique II , , France , , Turboprop , , ASW , , , , 22 , , , , , - , Dassault Falcon 10 M , , France , , Jet , ,

Utility As a topic of economics, utility is used to model worth or value. Its usage has evolved significantly over time. The term was introduced initially as a measure of pleasure or happiness as part of the theory of utilitarianism by moral philosop ...

, , , , 6 , , , , , - , Dassault Falcon 50 M , , France , , Jet , ,

Patrol A patrol is commonly a group of personnel, such as law enforcement officers, military personnel, or security personnel, that are assigned to monitor or secure a specific geographic area. Etymology From French ''patrouiller'', from Old Fr ...

, , , , 8 , , , , , - , Dassault Falcon 200 Guardian , , France , , Jet , , Patrol , , , , 5 , , , , , - , Dassault Rafale M , , France , , Jet , ,

Multirole A multirole combat aircraft (MRCA) is a combat aircraft intended to perform different roles in combat. These roles can include air to air combat, air support, aerial bombing, reconnaissance, electronic warfare, and suppression of air defense ...

, , , , 42 , , , , , - , Embraer EMB 121 Xingu , , Brazil , , Turboprop, , Utility , , , , 11 , , , , , - ,

Eurocopter AS365 Dauphin The Eurocopter (now Airbus Helicopters) AS365 Dauphin (''Dolphin''), also formerly known as the Aérospatiale SA 365 Dauphin 2, is a medium-weight multipurpose twin-engine helicopter produced by Airbus Helicopters. It was originally developed a ...

, , France , , Rotorcraft , , SAR , , , , 15 , , , , , - ,

Eurocopter AS565 Panther The Eurocopter (now Airbus Helicopters) AS565 Panther is the military version of the Eurocopter AS365 Dauphin medium-weight multi-purpose twin-engine helicopter. The Panther is used for a wide range of military roles, including combat assault, f ...

, , France , , Rotorcraft , , Utility , , , , 16 , , , , , - ,

Grumman E-2C Hawkeye The Northrop Grumman E-2 Hawkeye is an American all-weather, carrier-capable tactical airborne early warning (AEW) aircraft. This twin-turboprop aircraft was designed and developed during the late 1950s and early 1960s by the Grumman Aircraft ...

, , USA , , Turboprop , , AEW&C , , , , 3 , , , , , - ,

Mudry CAP 10 The Mudry CAP 10 is a two-seat training aerobatic aircraft first built in 1970 and still in production in 2007. The plane was developed from the Piel Super Emeraude and was born as the CP100. The name changed to CAP 10, CAP for 'Constructions Aér ...

, , France , , Propeller , , Trainer , , , , 7 , , , , , - , NHIndustries NH90 Caïman Marine , , France , , Rotorcraft , , ASW/ SAR , , , , 27 , , , , , - ,

Airbus Helicopters H160 The Airbus Helicopters H160 (formerly X4) is a medium utility helicopter being developed by Airbus Helicopters. Formally launched at Heli-Expo in Orlando, Florida on 3 March 2015, it is intended to replace the AS365 and EC155 models in the fir ...

, , France , , Rotorcraft , , ASW/ SAR , , , , 6 , , , ,

Structure

Immediately after the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, the ''Aeronavale'' only had

Supermarine Seafire The Supermarine Seafire is a naval version of the Supermarine Spitfire adapted for operation from aircraft carriers. It was analogous in concept to the Hawker Sea Hurricane, a navalised version of the Spitfire's stablemate, the Hawker Hurri ...

Mk.III ( Flottille 1F) and

Douglas SBD Dauntless The Douglas SBD Dauntless is a World War II American naval scout plane and dive bomber that was manufactured by Douglas Aircraft from 1940 through 1944. The SBD ("Scout Bomber Douglas") was the United States Navy's main carrier-based scout/d ...

dive bombers ( Flotilles 3F et 4F).

Components

The flight personnel of the French Navy falls into three categories: fighter aviation, fixed-wing aviation and helicopter aviation. Operationally the French Naval Aviation has four components: * Embarqued Air Group (''Le Groupe aérien embarqué'') of the aircraft carrier :

Rafale M The Dassault Rafale (, literally meaning "gust of wind", and "burst of fire" in a more military sense) is a French twin-engine, canard delta wing, multirole fighter aircraft designed and built by Dassault Aviation. Equipped with a wide range ...

E-2C Hawkeye The Northrop Grumman E-2 Hawkeye is an American all-weather, carrier-capable tactical airborne early warning (AEW) aircraft. This twin-turboprop aircraft was designed and developed during the late 1950s and early 1960s by the Grumman Aircraft ...

* Naval Patrol and Maritime Surveillance Aviation (''l'Aviation de patrouille et de surveillance maritime''): Atlantique 2, Falcon 50, Falcon 200 * Shipborne and Shore-based Helicopters (''Les hélicoptères embarqués et basés à terre''): Dauphin,

Panther Panther may refer to: Large cats *Pantherinae, the cat subfamily that contains the genera ''Panthera'' and ''Neofelis'' **''Panthera'', the cat genus that contains tigers, lions, jaguars and leopards. ***Jaguar (''Panthera onca''), found in Sout ...

, Caïman Marine * Support Aviation (''l'Aviation de soutien''): Falcon 10, EMB-121 Xingu, SR20,

Cap-10 The Mudry CAP 10 is a two-seat training aerobatic aircraft first built in 1970 and still in production in 2007. The plane was developed from the Piel Super Emeraude and was born as the CP100. The name changed to CAP 10, CAP for 'Constructions Aér ...

, Dauphin, EC120 Colibri

Units

Operational squadrons are known as ''Flottilles'' and normally consist of 12 aircraft : *1F to 10F are carrier based anti-submarine squadrons *11F to 20F are fighter and attack squadrons *21F to 30F are maritime patrol squadrons *31F to 39F are helicopter squadrons Shore-based training and transport squadrons are known as ''Escadrilles de Servitude'' : *1S to 19S are communications squadrons *20S to 29S are helicopters squadrons *50S to 59S are training squadrons

Retired aircraft

This is a list of retired aircraft that has flown with French Naval Aviation. * Amiot AAC.1 (Junkers Ju 52) *

Avro Anson The Avro Anson is a British twin-engined, multi-role aircraft built by the aircraft manufacturer Avro. Large numbers of the type served in a variety of roles for the Royal Air Force (RAF), Fleet Air Arm (FAA), Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) a ...

* Avro Lancaster Mk.VII * Beechcraft SNB-5/JRB-4 * Blanchard Brd.1 HB3 * Blériot-SPAD S.42 * Bloch MB.151 C1 * Borel-Odier T BO-2 * Breguet BRE.14B2/A2 * Breguet BRE.19 B2 French TBM-3E of Flotille 4F in flight 1950s

French TBM-3E of Flotille 4F in flight 1950s

* Bréguet 521 Bizerte * Bréguet 1050 Alizé *

Bréguet 1150 Atlantic The Breguet Br.1150 Atlantic is a long-range maritime patrol aircraft designed and manufactured by French aircraft manufacturer Breguet Aviation. Designed in response to a 1958 NATO specification as a replacement for the Lockheed P2V Neptune, ...

* CAMS 30E * CAMS.37A/37²/37.11/Lia * CAMS 46 Et2 * CAMS 55.1/55.2/55.6/55.10 * Caudron Cau 59 ET2 * Caudron C635 Simoun * Caudron C.445 Goéland F4U-7 NAN3-53

* Canadian Car & Foundry Harvard II * Chance Vought F4U-7/AU-1 Corsair * Consolidated PBY-5 Catalina *

Consolidated PB4Y-2 Privateer The Consolidated PB4Y-2 Privateer is an American World War II and Korean War era patrol bomber of the United States Navy derived from the Consolidated B-24 Liberator. The Navy had been using B-24s with only minor modifications as the PB4Y-1 Li ...

* Coutant RMC Type 17 * Curtiss SB2C4/SB2C5 Helldiver * Dassault Étendard IVM/P * Dassault MD 312 Flamant * Dassault Super Étendard * De Havilland 100 Vampire Mk.V * Dewoitine 7 C1 * Dewoitine D.373/D.376 * Dewoitine D.510 *

Dewoitine D.520 The Dewoitine D.520 was a French fighter aircraft that entered service in early 1940, shortly after the beginning of the Second World War. The D.520 was designed in response to a 1936 requirement from the French Air Force for a fast, modern fig ...

* Donnet-Denhaut 140/150 hp * Donnet-Denhaut 160 hp * Donnet-Denhaut 200 HP HS Triplace/RR/BB * Donnet-Denhaut 275hp * Donnet-Denhaut bimoteur *

Dornier Do 24 The Dornier Do 24 is a 1930s German three-engine flying boat designed by the Dornier Flugzeugwerke for maritime patrol and search and rescue. A total of 279 were built among several factories from 1937 to 1945. Design and development The Dorni ...

T * Douglas SBD-5 Dauntless * Douglas C-47D Dakota * Farman Lévy HB2 450 hp * Farman F60 Torp Goliath/F65 * Farman F.165/F.166/F.168 Torp * Farman F.223.4 * FBA Type C * FBA Type H * FBA Type S * FBA type 14 HE2 * FBA.17HL1/HL2/HMT2/HE2 * FBA.19HMB2 * Fouga CM.175 Zéphyr * Georges Lévy 280 HB.2 * Gourdou Leseurre ET1 Type 22 * Gourdou Leseurre LGL.32 * Gourdou Leseurre GL.810/811/812/813 HY * Gourdou Leseurre GL.832 HY * Grumman F6F-5 Hellcat * Grumman TBM-3S/E/W/UT Avenger * Grumman JRF-5 Goose * Hanriot HD.2 C.1 * Hanriot HD.3 C.2 * Hanriot HD.14 E.2 * Hanriot HD.17 E.2 * Hanriot H.41 * Junkers Ju 188 * Latécoère 290 *

Latécoère 298 The Latécoère 298 (sometimes abridged to Laté 298) was a French seaplane that served during World War II. It was designed primarily as a torpedo bomber, but served also as a dive bomber against land and naval targets, and as a maritime reconnaiss ...

* Latham 43 HB.3 * Levasseur PL.4 R3b * Levasseur PL.5 C2b * Levasseur PL.7 T2B2b * Levasseur PL.10 R3b/PL.101 R3b * Levasseur PL.14 Tb2B2 * Levasseur PL.15 T2B2 * Lévy Besson 200 hp * Lioré et Olivier LeO.7.3 * Lioré et Olivier LeO.20 Bn3 * Lioré et Olivier H.13/H.136 * Lioré et Olivier H.43 * Lioré et Olivier H.193 * Lioré et Olivier H.257 Bis/H258 * Lockheed P2V-1 Ventura * Lockheed P2V-6/7 Neptune P5M-2 Aeronavale VP-44 training NAN7-59

* Loire 130 C.l * Loire 210 * LTV/Vought F-8E(FN) Crusader * Martin 167-A3 * Martin P5M-2 Marlin * Maurice Farman Type 1910 * Morane Saulnier MoS.130 Et2 * Morane Saulnier MoS.149 Ep2 * Morane Saulnier MS.225 C1 * Morane Saulnier MS.230 Et2 * Morane Saulnier MS.406 C1 * Morane Saulnier MS.500/MS.502 Criquet * Morane Saulnier MS.733 Alcyon * Morane Saulnier MS760 Paris *

Nieuport IV The Nieuport IV was a French-built sporting, training and reconnaissance monoplane of the early 1910s. Design and development Societe Anonyme des Etablissements Nieuport was formed in 1909 by Édouard Nieuport. The Nieuport IV was a develop ...

.H *

Nieuport VI The Nieuport VI was a sport monoplane produced in France in the 1910s, a further development by Nieuport along the same general lines as the Nieuport II and Nieuport IV, differing mainly from the Nieuport IV in being slightly larger.Taylor 1989 ...

.H *

Nieuport 12 The Nieuport 12 (or Nieuport XII in contemporary sources) was a French sesquiplane reconnaissance, fighter aircraft and trainer used by France, Russia, Great Britain and the United States during World War I. Later production examples were buil ...

* Nieuport N.21/N.23 * Nieuport NiD.62 C1/NiD.622 C1 * Nord 262 Frégate * North American NAA.57 P2 * North American SNJ-3/4/5 *

Piper PA-31 Navajo The Piper PA-31 Navajo is a family of cabin-class, twin-engined aircraft designed and built by Piper Aircraft for the general aviation market, most using Lycoming engines. It was also license-built in a number of Latin American countries. Tar ...

* Potez 25 A2/TOE * Potez 452 * Potez 567 * Potez 631 C3 * Salmson Sal.2 A2 * SCAN 20 * Short Sunderland Mk.III/V * SNCAC/Farman NC.470 * SNCAC NC.701/NC.702 Martinet * SNCAN N.1001/N.1002 Pingouin * SNCAN N.1101 Noralpha * SNCAN N.1402 Noroit * SNCAN SV.4C Stampe * SNCAO/Loire-Nieuport LN.401/LN.411 * SNCASE R.82 Romano * SNCASE Leo.451 * SNCASE SE.161 Languedoc/Bloch MB.160 * SNCASE Aquilon * SNCASO/Bloch MB.175 * SNCASO SO.94/95 Corse * SNCASO SO.30P Bretagne * SOCATA MS.880 Rallye * Sopwith Sop.1 A2 * Sopwith Baby/130hp Clerget * Sopwith Triplan C.1 * SPAD S.VII C.1 French F-8E(FN) Crusader in flight over the Med 1976

French F-8E(FN) Crusader in flight over the Med 1976

* SPAD S.XIII C.1 * SPAD XIV Canon * Stinson 105 * Supermarine Seafire Mk.III/IX/XV * Supermarine Sea Otter *

Supermarine Walrus The Supermarine Walrus (originally designated the Supermarine Seagull V) was a British single-engine amphibious biplane reconnaissance aircraft designed by R. J. Mitchell and manufactured by Supermarine at Woolston, Southampton. The Walrus ...

* Tampier T.4 * Taylorcraft L-2 * Tellier Canon 200 hp * Tellier 200 hp * Tellier 350Hp * Tellier BM 400 hp CanardVoisin

* Villiers Vil.2AM C.2 *

Vickers Wellington The Vickers Wellington was a British twin-engined, long-range medium bomber. It was designed during the mid-1930s at Brooklands in Weybridge, Surrey. Led by Vickers-Armstrongs' chief designer Rex Pierson; a key feature of the aircraft is its ...

* Voisin 13,5m * Voisin Canard *

Voisin III The Voisin III was a French World War I two-seat pusher biplane multi-purpose aircraft developed by Voisin in 1914 as a more powerful version of the 1912 Voisin I. It is notable for being the aircraft used for the first successful shooting down ...

* Voisin VIII * Vought V.156-F * Wibault Wib.74 C.1

Helicopters and autogyros

Aérospatiale Alouette II The Aérospatiale Alouette II (, "lark"; company designations SE 313 and SA 318) is a French light helicopter originally manufactured by Sud Aviation and later Aérospatiale. It was the first production helicopter powered by a gas turbine e ...

* Aérospatiale Super Frelon *

Bell 47 The Bell 47 is a single-rotor single-engine light helicopter manufactured by Bell Helicopter. It was based on the third Bell 30 prototype, which was the company's first helicopter designed by Arthur M. Young. The 47 became the first h ...

* LeO C-30 * Lynx Mk.4(FN) * Piasecki H-21C * Piasecki HUP-2 * Sikorsky H-51 *

Sikorsky S-55 The Sikorsky H-19 Chickasaw (company model number S-55) was a multi-purpose helicopter used by the United States Army and United States Air Force. It was also license-built by Westland Aircraft as the Westland Whirlwind in the United Kingdom ...

Sikorsky S-58 The Sikorsky H-34 "Choctaw" (company designation S-58) is an American piston-engined military helicopter originally designed by Sikorsky as an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) aircraft for the United States Navy. It has seen extended use when ad ...

* Sud-Aviation HSS-1

References & notes

External links

{{Commons category, Naval aviation of France
French Fleet Air Arm
about French naval aviation.
(fr) Association pour la Recherche de Documentation sur l'Histoire de l'Aéronautique Navale (ARDHAN)
Association for Documentation Research on the History of French Naval Aviation.