Dewoitine D.520
The Dewoitine D.520 was a French single-seat fighter designed by Émile Dewoitine's team and built by SNCAM and SNCASE. First flown on 2 October 1938, it was the best fighter available to the French Air Force in 1940 and could hold its own against the Messerschmitt Bf 109E, but engine-cooling troubles delayed it and it reached units only in February 1940, in numbers too small to affect the Battle of France; production stood at 437 aircraft by the June 1940 armistice. The type's service then split along the lines of the war itself: 349 more were built for the Vichy French State and 139 for the Axis forces, Germany used its D.520s as trainers while Italy and Bulgaria flew theirs in combat, Vichy aircraft fought the Allies in Syria and North Africa, and aircraft recaptured from the Germans fought for France again at the Liberation. It ended its career as a trainer, the last example flying on 30 September 1953, and three survive in French museums.