Portugese on the Western Front

I know Portugal sent a Corp of 2 divisions to France during the First World War. I was wondering if they had an air component. If so, what did they fly? Their ground troops wore an interesting combination of horizon blue uniforms and "battle bowler" helmets. They apparently accounted themselves fairly well, as brave men from a proud nation do.

fwiw, a well-known author wrote the folowing about Portugese troops holding a sector in the Lys region in March 1918: "when the untried Portugese trroops broke under the German pressure, several squadrons of low-flying Camel's and SE-5's took over the defense. German battalions were cut to ribbons by these squadrons which attacked from barbed-wire height with machine guns and light fragmentation bombs."

Considering that the same author claims to have invented the dogfight and to have been incorrectly claimed by MvR as a victim when in fact the opposite is true (i.e., he actually downed the Baron), I'm not sure you want to read too much into this description.

[Paul Forster]

The part about them being being caught in the middle of the March 1918 offensive is true,I don't know about the rest.

[Vigilant]

According to British sources the grass grew long in no-mans-land on their sector of the front. I don't know how fair these are.

Vigilant

You have brought up some memories for me!

In 1982-1983 I lived in various parts of Portugal. In Lisbon I visited the National Military Museum (can't remember the actual title). They had dedicated a section to their WW1 contribution, which of course is portrayed in heroic action-oriented style. I know that they suffered losses which seemed extraordinary to them. I do not recall anything showing their air contribution. However, they did have in the museum, of which I have a slide somewhere, a biplane/seaplane which made the crossing of the Atlantic using occasional island stops. They made quite a deal of this.
Unfortunately, my friend and I were the only visitors to the museum that day. Fortunately we had the welcomed attention of the museum curator who was quite congenial and very happy to have visitors from America show an interest in Portugal's military history.

The museum is actually crammed to the windows with actual military relics and displays, and is well worth a visit. I wish now I had had more time and interest in the subject during those years.

Very Best Regards,
Mark Daymont

[rammjaeger]

Windisch had at least one Portugese pilot on his victory list, so there were Portugese fliers in action but I don´t have specific info about own Portugese units until now. Maybe our Portugese Forumite can help here.

Regards

Hannes