[HANG THE EXPENSE]

Politics of course. By the time france understood that it was woefully short of aircraft(They started buying aircraft from Curtiss beginning in 39(IIRC)it was too late. There were shipments of aircraft headed to france when the surrender was signed with these aircraft set off on the island of Martinique and the order for 200 tomahawk p-40s was taken over by the british. Too little too late.

[WhiskeyX]

The French had sufficient fighters and other combat aircraftto gain air superiority and conduct close air support against the AFV (Armored Fighting Vehicles). The simply failed to organize and deploy enough pilots, command and control capabilities, and combat support to make these aircraft effective in the battlespaces.

This is truly a cautionary tale for the present day U.S. Air Force and U.S. Naval Air Force. As the Germans learned in Big Week 1944 and the French learned in May-June 1940, the current shortage of combat pilots and flight time for proficiency training and maintenance results in the loss of air supremacy and air superiority with catastrophic consequences for naval surface forces and Army ground forces. The Carter, Clinton, and Obama Administrations have been quite effective at destroying more of the American air forces than all of the hostile combat actions combined, excepting the Truman disarmament post-WWII.