French pilots endured the almost unique experience of fighting both with and against the Allies during World War 2. Possessing perhaps the most obsolescent aircraft of any major air force in Europe at the outbreak of the war, the Armée de l'Air was decimated in the wake of the Blitzkrieg. Following the capitulation of France at the end of June 1940, many aces continued to fly with the now Vichy French Squadrons that had fled to North Africa, and numerous French pilots also escaped to Britain.