When the Second World War broke out in 1939, the French Air Force had only 826 fighter planes, and only had 250 bombers including Farman F222 and the Bloch 131. By May of 1940, the French Air Force had 740 modern fighters and 140 effective bombers. The Royal Air Force reluctantly supplied 350 aircraft but these were nearly all fairly old, as the latest Hawker Hurricane and the Supermarine Spitfire were needed to defend Britain. It is estimated that the French lost 757 aircraft during the Western Offensive. Ironically, French production increased dramatically during the campaign, and France bears the distinction of being the only country to have more aircraft in the end than it started with while fighting a losing campaign.
Great Britain's RAF Bomber Command had 920 aircraft in 55
squadrons, and Fighter Command had 600 aircraft in 39 squadrons. Recon had only
96 aircraft. On the outbreak of the Second World War there were 497
Hurricanes in service. The majority of these were sent to France during
Germany's Western Offensive and large numbers were destroyed by the
Luftwaffe. On May 19th, all remaining BEF air forces were evacuated to the
mainland out of fears of being over-run by German forces. Approximately 1,029 RAF
aircraft were lost during the Battle of France.
Germany had over a 1500 modern bombers and more than that number in fighters and destroyers. The lessons learned during the campaign in Poland and the Spanish Civil War paid dividends in their drive across France. The numbers listed below are for only those aircraft assigned to squadrons meant to fight the Allies and defend western Germany. They do not include training or other units not directly involved with the battle.
All figures are based on aircraft availability for May 10, 1940 - the first day of the campaign.
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