Bouvier-Bellville, Renè/Couderchon, Philippe Du Fw 190 au NC 900. Usines souterraines et blindées en France

From the hasty implementation of France's underground and bunkered factory programme in 1939, to the repair centres for German Focke-Wulf 190 fighters in occupied France, to the recommissioning of captured German aircraft at the end of the war, this multi-faceted book shows readers an unusual aviation history, some of which is closely linked to the village of Cravant and its quarries south of Auxerre.

A technical history of the hundreds of Fw 190s that were overhauled during the occupation at the centres of Villacoublay, Tours and Cravant before being converted into the NC 900 after the liberation of France. But it is also a human story, supplemented by numerous testimonies, from French, German, Spanish or Russian men and women who were involved in this adventure, whether voluntarily or under duress. The reader learns more about the production of the NC 900 in the underground factory in Cravant and its use against the backdrop of political and ideological struggles, as well as the history of the units that used it in the confusing post-war years. The work tells of the famous Normandy-Niemen Regiment, where these French "Focke fighters" with the cockade as their national emblem stood side by side with Yak-3 fighters. This book is based on contemporary accounts and archival documents, as well as on numerous testimonies collected and cross-checked over twenty years of research and sometimes surprising encounters. The rich visual material includes many contemporary photographs as well as a complete pictorial tour around one of the last NC 900s still in existence, a helpful reference for modellers.