Callsign = Lascar
HISTORY
Aviation flight 7C3 was created in
1938 on NAS Saint-Raphaël, and in October 1938 became AC2
squadron as it moved to Hyères. It was then equipped with
Dewoitine 373/376s until December 1939. It was stationed at Calais
from March to May 1940 equipped with Potez 631s delivered in
January 1940. It moved once again, this time to
Querqueville, with Bloch 151s which were delivered in June
to back up the Potez fighters. After seeing a lot of combat
during the French campaign, it retreated to Sidi-Ahmed until
June, and was renamed 2AC squadron. It then moved to
Tafaraoui from September to December 1940. Meanwhile Its
Bloch 151, left at Hyères were replaced by Dewoitine
D 520s (delivered at Toulouse in June 1940 - then an
additionnal batch of ex-French Air Force Dewoitines was
received in Tunisia), that had been desperately needed
during the French campaign, by both the French Air Force and
the French Aéronavale. 2AC will keep these planes
until May 1944.
The squadron returned to Sidi-Ahmed during the first 2 months of
1941, and left for Lartigue until August. It came back to it’s
African home port, Sidi-Ahmed, from September to October 1941. After
assignments to several other bases in North-Africa (Lartigue,
Port-Lyautey, Agadir, Thiersville) during which it is renamed 2C
squadron on October 1st 1943, the squadron is deactivated on May 15th
1944 at Lartigue, under the command of LV Gilbert Guyon.
On August 1st 1948 at
Hyères,
2C squadron came back to life and was renamed 12F ; it’s first
CO is LV Sanguinetti. It was attached to Naval Air Wing n°2
based at Hyères. It was equipped with 18 Supermarine Seafire
Mk.IIIs, but didn’t receive all it’s planes until December
20th 1948. This new airplane is a navalised version of the famous
Battle of Britain fighter, the Spitfire. Early 1949, 12F squadron
only had 12 planes left. Faced with this serious situation, the Navy
created an inquiry commission. Eventually carrier operations were
prohibited for the Seafire and the plane was restricted to ground
based operations. In April 1950, 12F squadron
was sent to Karouba to train on the F6F-5 with squadron 1F.
In May 1951, it briefly deployed on the Dixmude and
headed for the USA, along with 4F squadron, to take over the
new French aircraft carrier Lafayette, ex CVL-27
USS Langley. The training on Hellcat took place with
VF-174 Hell’s Razors on the USS Franklin D.
Roosevelt. The Lafayette finally returned to
Toulon with 1F squadron and it’s new Hellcats on
September 11th . With the Indochina
conflict stepping
up, 12F squadron was assigned to the Arromanches, which set
sail August 29th 1952.
From October 8th to May 11th, it performed many CAS, attack and
armed recce missions from carriers or ground bases at Haïphong
and Cat-Bi. On May 16th 1953, the squadron received the War Cross for
overseas operations. On June 10th 1953 after its return to
Hyères, 12F squadron gave up its Hellcats.
In August 1953, the squadron went to
Karouba to transition onto its new workhorse: the F4U-7
Corsair. April 13th 1955, the
squadron embarked once again on the Lafayette and headed for
Indochina. Operational missions were performed from May 2nd to
November 14th. The return to Bizerte took place on December 13th. But
another theatre was opening in French
Algeria; three Corsair
squadrons including 12F were eventually deployed there and flew CAS
and attack missions. February 8th 1958, it participated in operation
Panache Blanc which consisted in bombing a village on the Tunisian
border. In July it traded its dash 7 (F4U-7)s for new AU-1s. In July
1961, it helped to defend the Bizerte
base against Tunisian forces. 12F squadron was finally disbanded on
August 8th 1963 on the Karouba base. But it was reactivated on
October 5th 1964 at NAS
Lann-Bihoué with LV
Lefebvre as CO. It received a dozen F-8E
Crusaders. The squadron’s first
carrier landing took place on April 24th 1964 aboard the
Clemenceau.
12F is officially declared operational on March 1st 1966. On
July 30th 1968 the "lascars" (12F callsign) moved to
NAS
Landivisiau with
squadrons 11F
and 15F.
April 4th 1977, ten Crouzes deployed on the Clemenceau
and headed for the Gulf of Aden for operation Saphir.
September 7th 1982, six F-8Es then deployed on the
Foch
for operation Olifant IV, until March 31st 1984. On
September 17th 1984, the new target is Colonel
Ghadafi’s Libya. On July 30th 1987, the
Clemenceau set sail for the Sea of Arabia, with
anti-aircraft frigates Suffren and Duquesne
and the Meuse support ship. In August 1989 the Foch
returned to Lebanon for a humanitarian mission. F-8Ps now
equip 12F squadron, and are often deployed on both carriers
off the coast of Yugoslavia for operations
Balbuzard.
The Crouzes flew their last combat missions between February and
June 1999 on board the Foch in the Adriatic Sea for operation
Trident over Kosovo. The 12F’s venerable workhorse was finally
retired December 3rd 1999, while 12F squadron was temporarily
deactivated. Indeed it reactivated on May 18th 2001 on NAS
Landivisiau with CF Planchon as CO. It currently operates 5
Rafale
M F1s, but n° 6-7-8 are
to be delivered before the end of this summer.
COMMANDING
OFFICERS Rank/ Name From
(dd/mm/yy) Rank/ Name From
(dd/mm/yy) LV Sanguinetti 01/08/48 LV Birot 08/09/71 LV Schloesing 02/08/50 CC Sermier 28/03/73 LV Vercken 05/02/52 LV Gaucherand 12/09/74 LV Barnouin 11/04/52 LV Witrand 28/06/76 LV Vercken 04/07/52 LV Fourreaux 11/09/77 LV Tarze 19/11/53 LV de Balmann 17/08/79 LV Besse 14/12/55 CC Deniel 31/08/81 LV Caneau 16/12/57 CC Arnault de
Guenyveau 27/06/83 LV Beauchard 20/12/59 CC Hébert 26/06/85 LV Bachelot 17/02/60 CC Bresson 08/06/88 LV Jacobi 21/01/61 CC Faugeron 05/10/90 LV Hamel de
Monchenault 06/08/62 CC Gerbier 18/02/92 LV Lefebvre 15/10/64 CC Levieux 14/12/93 LV Le Pichon 31/05/66 CC Alech 04/06/96 LV Regnault 01/07/68 CF Guillot 18/06/98 LV Argouse 01/04/70 CF Planchon 18/05/01
Source : "les commandements de
l'Aéronautique Navale" (1912-2000) - Major Norbert Desgouttes
ARDHAN 2001
How to buy patches from 12F squadron :
write to :
"Monsieur
l'officier des relations publiques de la flottille
12F" Flottille
12F Base Aéronavale Landivisiau 29400 St SERVAIS
FRANCE
or phone :
from France:
02-98-24-20-00 overseas:
00-33-2-98-24-20-00
sources - acknowledgements
:
Lucien
Morareau