- Yes
- No
The Flotille 11F was officially created on June, 20th 1953 but existed since 1919 (in 1953 it just went from “Flotille 1F” to “Flotille 11F”, and it didn’t change much more). The Flotille 11F participated to the first Indochina war in 1954 from the Arromanche aircraft carrier, more precisely into the battle of Diên Biên Phu. This emblem was used from 1950 to 1962. It was used on the vertical stabiliser of the F6F-5 Hellcat and maybe on the SNCASE Aquilon (I can’t find any photo or writings about the emblem being on the Aquilon but it was used by the Flotille 11F from 1955 to 1962, so if it had an emblem, it should be this one).
In June 1930, the commanders of three squadrons of the Béarn aircraft carrier’s flotilla decided to choose a different emblem for each squadron. Louis Bonnaud, commander of the 7C1 (the old name of the flotilla, before 1F and 11F), chose the winged seahorse, used for the first time on the vertical stabiliser of the Dewoitine D1C1. None of the sources explains the choice of the winged seahorse, but it is probably because it represents both sea and air, or it could also be the emblem of the town Louis Bonnaud is from (a few French towns use the seahorse as an emblem). The first version of the emblem, used from 1930 to 1932, is the only other version that has the seahorse catching an arresting cable. The cable was drawn until the French flag that was also on the vertical stabiliser (so the emblem on one side is the flipped version of the other side so it always faces the same way) as you can see on these photographs :
Sources :
- Flottille 11F — Wikipédia
- https://youtu.be/I9fAKl53zj4?si=ZCS5Nf9KUcXdfBGg
- FLOTTILLE 11 F - Page 2
- WT Live // Camouflage by Hicks070_FR
- Insignes de la flottille 11.F [in french]
- Arromanches SB2C-5 F6F-5 Hellcats of Flottille 11F a | laststandonzombieisland
And for more information about the Flotille 11F :