This Noratlas was taken on charge on 22 Dec 1954 and struck off charge on 4 May 1984. It went to the Musée de l'Aéronautique de Nancy in that same year, and from here on its history matches that of sistership N° 97 at the same museum. The museum and its collection sustained severe damage during a storm in Dec 1999 and was forced to close in 2000. Both N° 54 and N° 97 remained in the closed museum until at least Sep 2003, but by Aug 2004 the pair had moved to the Musée de l'Epopée et de l'Industrie Aéronautique in Albert.

This Noratlas was delivered to the Armée de l'Air on 22 Dec 1954 and struck off charge on 4 June 1976 with 10,284 flying hours. During that time it served with nine units, the last of which was the storage handling unit Entrepôt de l'Armée de l'Air 601 (EAA 601) in May and June 1976. In this photo it carries their designation on the fin. The aircraft was transferred to the Musée de l'Air at Le Bourget and trucked there on 4 June 1976. On 22 July 1987 it was trucked to the Stade de la Rose des Vents stadium for display, as seen here. Fake code "50-CB" was never carried and its origins are unclear.

Traces of at least three former codes can be seen. The most recent is 64-BH, which it carried from 1 July 1972 until 15 May 1976.

Used by Electronic Warfare Squadron "Dunkerque" (EE 01-054); Wfu in 1989;

One of a small collection of aircraft at this Museum at Nancy-Essey.

Supporting the Patrouille de France

GI-312 Support aircraft for the Patrouille de France

Still looking reasonably fit at a sports centre on Rue Louison Bobet in Aulnay, a suburb of Paris near LBG.

A Handley Page Victor is evident under the tail, awaiting conversion to K Mk2 tanker status. This was my place of work, where cameras were prohibited a rule that did not seem to be enforced the day before the Airshow was on. Very little work seemed to be done either!