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Where did the Buffalo roam?

Whilst checking for something else I came across a bit of a conundrum.
In 1940 Europe was in flames: countries that had suffered in WWI had believed the hype and failed to maintain an adequate military – in particular the new fangled air force – and so they were trying to obtain modern, up to date aircraft from America which, at that time, was neutral.
France bought several different types and some were transported from America using the old aircraft carrier Bearn including 27 (or 25, depending on which Wiki page you consult) Curtiss H-75s, forty-four SBC Helldivers, twenty-five Stinson 105s, as well as 6 Brewster Buffalos for Belgium.

http://www.warbirdforum.com/bearn.jpg

When France surrendered the Bearn was diverted, with the aircraft it was ferrying, to Martinique and most of the aircraft were apparently hauled onto nearby hillside and left to rot.

 http://www.asisbiz.com/il2/F2A-2/MKI-BAF-NX56B/images/Brewster-Buffalo-MkI-BAF-Captured-from-French-Carrier-Bearn-Martinique-1940.jpg
 http://www.warbirdforum.com/martinique.jpg

There were definitely six Buffalo onboard Bearn (see the picture) but which were they?

On the Annals of the Brewster Buffalo website there is a listing (http://www.warbirdforum.com/buffaloconstnumbers.pdf ) by Jos Heyman for all 508 Buffalos produced, claiming that ‘the history of each individual aircraft is reasonably well known‘ but that construction numbers are the problem. All the c/ns for the Finnish aircraft are known due to being listed in a US Treasury Department document from 1940, but the rest are open to interpretation in several different ways. Heyman bases his list mainly on two sources – Gerard Casius in Air Enthusiast No 8 (1978/79) and Jean-Louis Coustons Le Brewster Buffalo. Apparently Casius has assumed that the construction numbers run more or less consecutively with the civilian registrations each aircraft was give for its factory test flights with a B for Brewster at the end – for example c/n 56* was probably NX56B for the Belgian Air Force – although there is now no way to confirm such c/n registration tie ups. Couston reveals production batches within orders which assists in the identification of aircraft c/ns where Casius had none, although this did provide discrepancies with the already identified Finnish order. Never the less, Heyman uses Couston as the basis for his listing.
Much of the list is conjecture; aircraft are ‘probably delivered with the serial…’, or ‘serial probably in the range of…’, etc. The fate of particular aircraft is given where known but only under a possible construction number. For the most part it works.
Except…
Counting the numbers and adding up the airframes and identities there appears to be one small problem: those six Buffalo left at Martinique don’t fit in anywhere! There just aren’t a spare six numbers within the list – sure, there are a few c/ns that mention that
some references have suggested that this aircraft was intended for the Belgian Air Force
diverted to Martinique
intended for RAF with serial probably in AS410/430 range but not taken up
but these are within a range of Finnish AF or US Navy Buffalo whose history is well documented. Only c/n 63, probably test flown as NX63B and intended for the Belgian Air Force, is history-less, not delivered, fate unknown.

Then there is Belgian Wings – the Belgian Military Aircraft Database, which gives a very comprehensive listing on the Buffalos produced for Belgium: http://belmilac.wikifoundry.com/page/Brewster+339B+
But the c/ns given here are covered by Heymans list within the AS410-430 serials, plus the possibility from Heymans list – c/n 63 – is not listed as a Belgian aircraft!

So to summarise, there were six Brewster Buffalo for Belgium on the French aircraft carrier which were dumped on Martinique that may or may not appear on production lists, and I would like to know which ones they were.
Not much to ask, is it?

* Incidentally c/n 56 is very interesting. It was the first Belgian Buffalo, but arrived in Europe after Belgium had fallen to the Germans, instead being offloaded in France. It was left at Bordeaux to be captured by the Germans, its wreckage being found at the wars end at Darmstadt, still in its Belgian colour scheme which might suggest it wasn’t test flown.
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By: MRP - 26th September 2013 at 14:17

The aircraft were actually shipped from Halifax Nova Scotia. The aircraft had been flown up to Canada and assembled for shipment on the Bearn at RCAF Dartmouth. They were physically pushed across the US-Canada border at Houlton Maine into New Brunswick and then flown on to Dartmouth.
In fact a team from the RCAF actually were sent aboard the Bearn to continue to help assemble the aircraft and they also ended up in Martinique.
I have a picture of two of the Belgian Buffaloes(NX93B, NX90B) at RCAF Dartmouth, prior to them being barged out to the Bearn in Halifax Harbour. I do have a series of other shots, but this shot is the only one to show the Belgian Buffaloes.
There was an article “Forgotten Reinforcements” by noted Canadian author Carl Vincent, in the June 1974 issue of Aircraft Illustrated about this event.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v703/MRLP/00000a_zps740fee9a.jpg

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By: Trolly Aux - 26th September 2013 at 07:38

Show me a home
where the Buffalo roam
and i’ll show you a house full of Sh1*

ver interesting post SNAFU

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By: mantog - 26th September 2013 at 04:25

Fascinating post, never knew about any of this!

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