Hi,
I was recently looking up French squadrons and noticed several with the abreiviation "SPA" in their titles, e.g. "Escadrille SPA.57". Can anyone teach me what those letters stand for?
Thanks
Hi,
I was recently looking up French squadrons and noticed several with the abreiviation "SPA" in their titles, e.g. "Escadrille SPA.57". Can anyone teach me what those letters stand for?
Thanks
The French prefixed their squadron numbers with an abbreviation of the assigned aircraft type.
So the apparent squadron designation changed with each reissue of aircraft type. The number stayed the same.
SPA stands for SPAD.
Karl
It is impossible for a man to begin to learn what he thinks he knows. -- Epictetus
That is correct.
Here is a nice and quite esaustive French (also in English) site.
http://gaubs.free.fr/ESCADRILLES/Escadrilles.htm
<< The tradition name of "Escadrilles" also comply with a strict but simple rule: It consists of a group of letters and a number (for example "SPA 102 "). The letters come from the abbreviation of the plane's name which the unit was equipped at the end of the First World War, in our example a " SPAD ". You will find the following abbreviation :
"AR" for Avions Renault - "BR" for Breguet - "C" for Caudron - "CAP" for Caproni - "CEP" for Caproni built by Esnault-Pelleterie - "F" for Farman - "HD" for Hanriot-Dupont - "HF" for Henry Farman - "LET" for Letord - "MF" for Maurice Farman - "N" for Nieuport - "R" for Rep - "RXI" for Caudron R XI - "SAL" for Salmson - "SPA" for SPAD - "SOP" for Sopwith - "V" for Voisin
The number corresponds quite simply to the sequence number of creation of the "Escadrille", the SPA 102 being the 102nd "Escadrille" created during the war. >>
Mau
Oh very cool.
Thanks for the lesson.
Great info, thanks!
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