On 24th September 1940, Vichy France carried out its first air raid on Gibraltar, a British Overseas Territory located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula.
Approximately sixty bombers of the Vichy French Air Force (also referred to as the Armistice Air Force) and the Vichy French Navy took part in the operation. The aircraft took off from air bases in North Africa: Oran, Tafaroui, Meknes, Mediouna and Port Lyautey.
The air raid was an official response by the Vichy government to Operation Menace — the Allied attempt to capture Dakar, a Vichy-controlled port in French West Africa
The French returned the next day. On 25th September, a formation of eighty-three bombers appeared over Gibraltar in several separate waves. According to some recollections of local residents, the raid lasted between two and five hours.
Full story here.
Cover photo: Liore et Oliver LeO 451, San Diego Air and Space Museum Archive repository (via Flickr Commons).
