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Site in French
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Historical
On May 10, 1940, the GAO
546 is attached to the 3rd Air Division of the ZOAE (Eastern Air
Operations Area) as a Reserve Group.
Staff
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Commanders
of the group
GAO 546
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| Commander
SAGET Pierre |
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Other
Members of the Military Staff
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| Captain
FOURCADE Gabriel |
Mechanic
Officer |
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Personnel
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Pilots
and crew of the Group
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Names
of crew members
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Rank
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Function
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Informations
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Civil-statut
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Photos
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Citations
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| BOUSQUET |
Lieutenant
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| CAPDEVIELLE |
Chief-Warrant
Officer
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| CECCALDI |
Captain
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Observer |
André
CECCALDI subsequently joined GR II/55 and was killed on 25 May
1940. |
Born
on 12 June 1902 in Bou-Saâda (Algeria)
Killed on 25 May 1940 in Sarton (62 - Pas-de-Calais) |
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| COMPIN
Henri |
Captain
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Observer
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On
May 15, 1940, his aircraft, Potez 63-11 No.584 was shot down
by 3 Me109. Captain COMPIN is unharmed. |
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| COURCOT
Pierre - Lucien |
Lieutenant
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Observer
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After the Armistice, Pierre
Courcot, Jacques de Stadieu and Marie Thomas de Pange boarded
a ship to join the Free French Air Force in July 1940. Pierre
Courcot fought in particular with the Lorraine bombing group.
Pierre COURCOT was killed
on 25 December 1956 during the Algerian War.
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Born on 30 September
1910 in Loon-Plage (59 - Nord)
Died on 25 December 1956 in Loon-Plage
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| DE
STADIEU Jacques - Joseph |
Sub-Lieutenant
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Observer
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Jacques DE STADIEU was
called up for military service in 1938 and attended reserve
officer courses. He qualified as an observer in 1939 and joined
GAO 546. After escaping from France on 23 June 1940, he went
to England and was posted to GRB 1 in Douala, then to Fort
Lamy. He was taken prisoner by the Italians, but managed to
escape on 25 December 1943. He was transferred to GT I/15
Touraine in 1946 before being demobilised in December of the
same year and transferred to the reserves.
Jacques DE STADIEU is
a Commander of the Legion of Honour and holder of the 1939-1945
War Cross.
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Born in Lagrasse (11
- Aude) on 17 January 1914
Died in Pontivy (56 - Morbihan) on 21 January 2010
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| GROSJEAN |
Sergeant
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Machin-Gunner
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| LAHRE |
Staff-Sergeant
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| LASSEGUES
Louis - Germain |
Lieutenant
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Observer
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Born on 7 February 1911
in Monein (64 - Pyrénées-Atlantiques)
Died on 20 April 1983 in Bayonne (64 - Pyrénées-Atlantiques)
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| LE
CORRE Mathieu |
Sergeant
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Machine
Gunner
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On 4 June 1940, his aircraft,
the Potez 63-11 No. 702, was hit by anti-aircraft fire. Sergeant
LECORRE was wounded.
After the Armistice,
in 1944, Mathieu LE CORRE joined the F.F.I. (French Forces
of the Interior) in Ploudalmézeau. He was appointed
Group Leader of the 1st Group of the 1st Section of the 1st
Company. With this group, he participated in the reduction
of the Conquet pocket until September 1944.
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Born on 25 June 1921
in Quimper (29 - Finistère)
Died on 8 December 1980 in Ploudalmézeau (29 - Finistère)
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| MATZELARD |
Staff-Sergeant
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Machine
Gunner
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| MAZIERES
Pierre |
Sergeant
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Pilot
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Pierre MAZIERES enlisted
voluntarily and joined the Air Force NCO Training School in
1936. He obtained his military pilot's licence in July 1938.
In September 1939, Pierre
MAZIERES was assigned to GAO 546. He completed his training
on the Potez 63-11 in December 1939.
In 1943, Pierre Mazieres
joined the Resistance and became a liaison officer.
After the liberation in the summer of 1944, he contacted his
former superior at GAO 546, Commander Saget. The latter was
in the process of creating a squadron composed of Junkers
JU88s within the Groupe Dor: the equivalent of the Groupe
Doret, which flew Dewoitine D520s. But on 13 November 1944,
he was killed in an accident while flying Junkers JU88 No.
6 during take-off.
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Born on 30 January 1918
in Londe-Les-Maures (83 - Var)
Killed on 13 November 1944 in Colomiers (31 - Haute-Garonne)
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| PRADELLE
Emile - Maurice |
Lieutenant
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Pilot
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Emile PRADELLE voluntarily
enlisted in October 1919. He was first assigned to the Chasseurs
à pied (light infantry) before being transferred
to the 22nd Algerian Rifle Regiment. He joined the Air Force
in October 1925. A student pilot, he obtained his military
pilot's licence in March 1926. He was appointed adjutant
in 1929 and joined the Indochina Air Force in 1933. He returned
to mainland France in 1936, before leaving again for Indochina
in 1938.
Promoted to lieutenant, he returned to France in November
1938.
When mobilisation began, he was assigned to the Fighter
Training Centre in Montpellier before joining Air Force
Headquarters No. 31 in March 1940. He then joined GAO 546.
He was wounded aboard the Potez 63-11 No. 584, which was
shot down by three Me109s on 15 May 1940.
After the Armistice,
he managed a farm in Rhue in the Allier department. He joined
the Alliance network and became the second-in-command of
the Vichy sector. Emile Pradelle and his wife were arrested
by the Gestapo on 22 September 1943 after being betrayed
by an infiltrator. Initially interned in Clermont-Ferrand,
he was transferred to Fresnes, the prison where all the
members of the Alliance network were held. He was finally
deported to Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany, in December 1943.
On 28 November 1944, after an attack on the prison by Allied
aircraft, the Gestapo took Emile Pradelle out of his cell,
along with two other members of the Alliance network, and
shot them in the head...
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Born on 5 September
1901 in Coublanc (52 - Haute-Marne)
Killed on 28 November 1944 in Freiburg im Breisgau (Germany)
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| PRAT
Denis - Fernand - Raoul |
Captain
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After the Armistice, Raoul
PRAT joined the Resistance in November 1942. He joined the
Secret Army. In the spring of 1943, under the pseudonym ‘Puget’,
he became head of the Béarn Resistance sector. In July
1944, Raoul PRAT became head of the entire Sector III, a unit
with more than 700 men in August 1944.
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Born on 24 July 1908
in Abos (64 - Pyrénées-Atlantiques)
Died on 18 October 2010 in Bizanos (64 - Pyrénées-Atlantiques)
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| REVELLI |
Corporal
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Machine
Gunner
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Wounded
aboard Potez 63-11 No. 584 shot down by 3 Me109 on May 15, 1940. |
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| SAGET
Pierre - Paul |
Commandert
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Commander
of group
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After
the Armistice, Pierre SAGET joined the HUNTER Resistance network
under the pseudonym ‘Saulnier’. |
Born on 25 October 1901
in La Réole (33 - Gironde)
Died on 14 April 1950 in Tit-Mellil (Morocco)
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| THOMAS
DE-PANGE Marie - Jean |
Lieutenant
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Observer
and Chief Flight Officer
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Marie
THOMAS DE PANGE attended the Ecole d'Officier de Réserve
(EOR) in Avord in 1937. He was posted to GAO 546 in Pau, with
which he took part in the French Campaign; at the Armistice,
he decided to continue the fight and escaped from France. He
left Saint-Jean-de-Luz for England on a Polish boat and joined
the FAFL on 25 June 1940. He attended British schools before
being posted to GRB 1 in Douala. He took part in operations
in Gabon, Abyssinia and Eritrea. On his return to the UK in
1942, he was posted to the Normandy group in the USSR, with
which he took part in operations until 1944. Marie THOMAS DE
PANGE was demobilised in 1945. |
Born on 29 March 1917
in Paris (75)
Died at Pange (57 - Moselle) on 6 October 1999
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Group
mechanics and non-flying personnel
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Name
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Rank
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Function
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Informations
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Civil-Statut
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Photo
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| FOURCADE
Gabriel - Antoine - Adrien - Jean |
Captain
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Mechanic
Officer
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In July 1914, Jean FOURCADE
passed the entrance exam for the Saint-Cyr Military Academy,
but war broke out and he enlisted in August 1914 in the 49th
Infantry Regiment of Bayonne for eight years. He fought ardently
in the battles and, after being medically evacuated in September
1917, he joined the Higher School of Aeronautics and graduated
as a mechanical engineer. He resigned in 1920 and became a civilian
engineer.
In 1939, he was called
up again and joined GAO 546 as a Captain Engineer. He was demobilised
at the Armistice and became a farmer in the Basque Country.
Jean FOURCADE joined the ‘Jade-Amicol’ Resistance
network in February 1941 and fought until the end of 1944. He
then re-enlisted in the Air Force and became Commander of the
Bordeaux-Mérignac Air Base.
Demobilised in 1945, he
worked as a consulting engineer for an oil company until his
retirement in 1970.
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Born on 8 February 1895
in Bordeaux (33 - Gironde)
Died on 8 July 1973 in Urrugne (64 - Pyrénées-Atlantiques)
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Stories
of crews
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Crews
of Group
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Names
of crew members
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Rank
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Function
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Informations
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Crew
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PRADELLE
Emile |
Lieutenant
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Pilot
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Potez
63-11 n° 584 : Shot in air combat on May 15, 1940.
Lieutenant PRADELLE and Corporal REVELLI are wounded. |
| COMPIN
Henri |
Captain
|
Observer
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| REVELLI |
Corporal
|
Machine
Gunner
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Crew
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MAZIERES
Pierre |
Sergeant
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Pilot
|
Potez
63-11 n° 702 : On 4 June 1940, the Potez 63-11 piloted
by Sergeant MAZIERES attacked a German column. The aircraft
was heavily armed with two additional machine guns under each
wing. During the attack, Sergeant LE CORRE was wounded in the
thigh by a German bullet. |
| THOMAS
de PANGE Marie |
Lieutenant
|
Observer
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| LE
CORRE Mathieu |
Sergeant
|
Machine
Gunner
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Airfields
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Period
of use of airfields
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Names
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County
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| Sézanne
Saint-Rémy |
51
- Marne
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September 3, 1939
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| Valenciennes
La Briquette |
59
- Nord
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May
14, 1940
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| Dieppe
- Saint-Aubin |
76
- Seine-Maritime
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May
17, 1940
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| Clermont-Ferrand |
63
- Puy de Dôme
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May
18, 1940
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| Sézanne
Saint-Rémy |
51
- Marne
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May
23, 1940
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| Cormeilles
en Vexin |
95
- Val D'Oise
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Juny
7, 1940
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| La
Neuvillette |
51
- Marne
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Juny
8, 1940
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| La
Colombe |
41
- Loire et Cher
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Juny
10, 1940
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| Chavanne |
70
- Haute-Saône
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Juny
15, 1940
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| Agen
La Garenne |
47
- Lot et Garonne
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Juny
17, 1940
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Click
on the map to enlarge :
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Aircrafts
The GAO 546 was equipped
since its creation, following aircrafts :
The used aircrafts
are described in the accessible file by the link below. You will find
N ° of series, Registration, date of affectation to the group, and
fate of the plane there.
In
this list are identified :
Casualties
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Crewmen
injured
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3
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| Lieutenant
PRADELLE (Combat) |
May 15,
1940
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| Corporal
REVELLI (Combat) |
May 15,
1940
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| Sergeant
LECORRE (Combat) |
Juny
9, 1940
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- Book : "Ils étaient
là" by Mr Jacqueline and Paul MARTIN - Editions Aéro-Editions
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