''Escadrille Spa.97'' was a French fighter squadron active during the World War I years of 1917 and 1918. It was credited with destroying 17 enemy airplanes and eight

observation balloon An observation balloon is a type of balloon that is employed as an aerial platform for intelligence gathering and artillery spotting. Use of observation balloons began during the French Revolutionary Wars, reaching their zenith during World War ...

History

Existing Detachments N511 and N519 within ''II Armee'' became the basis for ''Escadrille Spa.97''. Organized in June 1917 with

Nieuport XXIV The Nieuport 24 (or Nieuport XXIV C.1 in contemporary sources) was a World War I French sesquiplane fighter aircraft designed by Gustave Delage as a development of the successful Nieuport 17. The Nieuport 24 had the misfortune to be the penulti ...

s, it was originally denoted as ''Escadrille N97''. ''Over the Front: The Complete Record of the Fighter Aces and Units of the United States and French Air Services, 1914–1918'', p. 102 Transferred from ''II Armee'' to ''IV Armee'' in July, it re-equipped with fresh Nieuport XXIVs in August. It was Cited in orders on 30 September 1917. Then it was shifted back to supporting ''II Armee''. Its new commanding officer began its refittng with

SPAD VII The SPAD S.VII was the first of a series of highly successful biplane fighter aircraft produced by ''Société Pour L'Aviation et ses Dérivés'' (SPAD) during the First World War. Like its successors, the S.VII was renowned as a sturdy and r ...

and SPAD XIII fighters. This was completed by 8 December 1918. The new brand of airplane drove a change of unit designation to ''Escadrille Spa.97''. On 10 December 1917, the squadron was one of those incorporated into ''

Groupe de Combat 15 A group is a military unit or a military formation that is most often associated with military aviation. Air and aviation groups The terms group and wing differ significantly from one country to another, as well as between different branches o ...

''. In February 1918, ''Groupe de Combat 15'' was in turn joined other units in ''Escadre de Combat No. 1''. At about the same time, the SPAD VIIs were dropped from the squadron rolls and the SPAD XIIIs retained. On 4 October 1918, the ''Escadre'' (including ''Escadrille Spa.97'') was Cited in orders. By the 11 November 1918 ceasefire, the squadron was credited with the destruction of 17 German airplanes and eight

s. Since 2012, SPA 97 has formed part of Escadron de Chasse 2/30 Normandie-Niemen.

Commanders

* ''Capitaine'' Francois de Castel: June 1917 * Lieutenant Herve Conneau: October 1917 * Lieutenant Joseph Guertiau: 3 October 1918 – 11 November 1918

Aircraft

fighters: June 1917 – December 1917 *

fighters: 8 December 1917 – February 1918 * SPAD XIII fighters: 8 December 1917 – 11 November 1918

End notes

References

* Franks, Norman; Bailey, Frank (1993). ''Over the Front: The Complete Record of the Fighter Aces and Units of the United States and French Air Services, 1914–1918'' London, UK: Grub Street Publishing. . * Sanger, Ray (2002). ''Nieuport Aircraft of World War One''. Marlborough: Crowood. .

History

Commanders

Aircraft

End notes

References

Further reading