Unlikely Oasis Skyraider Reunion

We’ve covered the legacy of the Toyota Wars and the saga of French Jaguar Diplomacy in blunting Gaddafi’s Libyan legions in Chad in the 1980s, but another, even more shoestring, story often goes untold. Between 1973 and 1978, a group of a half-dozen Korean War-era ex-USN A-1N/NA Skyraiders known to history as the Sky Tchadiens were being flown for the Chadian forces by a collection of French mercenary pilots and two Gabonese Air Force president’s squadron (Groupement Aérien Présidentiel) lieutenants on loan, Jacques Borne (nicknamed “Sarcife”) and René Gras, who, of course, were all just sheep-dipped French Air Force officers. In the below, Borne is seen in a red scarf, while Gras is seen in a green. From left to right: Pierre Grosjean, René Gras, Fayolle, and Jacques Borne (Coll. F. Borne) Underwing are French-designed and produced 60-pound SERAM T-10 100mm rockets, typically carried by Dassault Ouragan or Mystère aircraft in strike roles. Combined with light GP bombs and the…