Regiment was active in Soviet Union assembled from French Volunteers pilots 

       

    Continuance of the series: Way to Victory 1941-1945

Creation

During the rallying of général Charles de Gaulle through the Appeal of 18 June 1940 inviting Frenchmen to join him in London, some went on to Great-Britain in order to continue the fight with the Allies. Great-Britain became the most important « Free French military base and rallying point.

Following the rupture of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact by Operation Barbarossa on June 22, 1941, representatives of Vichy were declared as Persona non grata by the Soviet Authorities and were asked to return to France. Colonel Charles Luguet, the air attaché of the Vichy Government in Moscow, changed allegiance to the Free French.

In 1942, de Gaulle, recognizing the importance of French soldiers to serve on all fronts of the war, decided to engage forces on the Eastern Front (World War II). He envisaged first to send a Mechanized Division (the future 1st Free French Division of général de Larminat) on the Eastern front, however British opposition added to the difficulties of this project and the view of général Valin, commandant of the Free French Air Forces, made him opt to send an air unit instead of a Division

Beginning in 1942, the Soviet diplomats liaising with the French National Committee, mainly Ambassador Alexander Bogomolov, announced that the Soviet Government welcomed with great care, the project initiative of sending French aviators to combat on the Eastern Front. On February 19, 1942, Charles de Gaulle designated colonel Charles Luguet and Captain Albert Mirlesse to take on practical negotiations with the USSR, under the authority of Général Valin. The Soviets studied the proposition with interest, however negotiations consumed time, Colonel Pougatchev, military chief of the mission in London, did not accept a group whom were all French, detached near the Soviet Army. In addition, parallel negotiations of Captain Mirlesse, by général Ernest Petit (French: général Petit) in military mission for Free France at Moscow and by Roger Garreau, in diplomatic mission at Kouïbychev, the Soviet alternate capital, were bungled.

Nevertheless, on February 25, 1942, a first list of pilots was communicated to the Soviets. The first commandant, Joseph Pouliquen, was designated and tasked by général de Gaulle in person to complete formation and command the future Fighter Group n°III (G.C. n°III) placed at disposition at the front, the latter would garrison in Lebanon while awaiting the green light from the Soviets. The effective creation of the Fighter Group Normandie, wasn't dated until the end of 1942 (the first date mentioned in the Marching Journal was September 15, 1942), under the designation only of « Normandie ». Joseph Pouliquen suggested the designation of Normandie for the G.C.n°III, he had preferred to designate the group on the name of his province, Bretagne, but the latter was already in use by a Bombardment Group. Accordingly, the first constitution was formed of a group of fighter pilots and French mechanics, all volunteers. The first group was composed of 14 fighter pilots and 58 mechanics. The group was also joined by 17 Soviet mechanics.

The first 14 fighter pilots of the G.C.n°III hailed from units of the Royal Air Force or from the Fighter Group Île-de-France in England (The English) and from the Alsace Fighter Group (groupe de chasse Alsace) North Africa (The Libyans). The English, eight strong, included aspirant Joseph Risso (French: Joseph Risso), aspirant Yves Mahé, lieutenant Didier Béguin, aspirant Marcel Albert, aspirant Marcel Lefèvre, aspirant Albert Durand, aspirant Yves Bizien and aspirant Roland de la Poype. The six Libyans were aspirant Noël Castelain, lieutenant Raymond Derville, lieutenant André Poznanski, lieutenant Albert Preziosi, captain Albert Littolff, and commandant Jean Tulasne.

De Gaulle officially ordered the creation of the Groupe de Chasse Normandie (GC 3) on 1 September 1942, with Commandant Pouliquen in command. Mechanics, pilots and hardware travelled by rail and air via Tehran to Baku.

After long negotiations with colonel Levandovitch, the military chargé of international relations of the general staff headquarters of the Air Ministry of the Soviet Union,[6] the Group left the Military air base of Riyaq, Lebanon, on November 12, 1942 to arrive on November 28, 1942 at Ivanovo air base (situated at 250 km, north-east of Moscow), via Iraq and Iran. At Ivanovo, a training course was given to the personnel to handle the first aircraft of the G.C.n°III, the Yakovlev Yak-1.