Following its victory over France in 1940 Germany did not dismantle the French Air Force but did require it to be based French North Africa. In 1942 this collection of by then outdated French and American aircraft briefly opposed Operation Torch, the Allied invasion of the area, before being overrun. The best bomber available to the Vichy French forces at the time was the Douglas DB-7 which was an earlier variant of the Boston/A20 and so the Allies took pains to destroy many of these as possible on the ground in their initial assault.
This DB-7 was part of the 2nd Squadron of Bomber Group I/19 and in 1942 and was painted with distinctive theatre ID markings of red and yellow stripes on the cowls and tail surfaces, which were needed to prevent friendly fire from Axis forces.
