when the Gendarmerie helicopters took off from Yvelines to track down terrorists

“An extraordinary event”. Here are the first words of Colonel Eric Espinal, second in command of the Air Force of the National Gendarmerie, whose base is located in Vélizy-Villacoublay, in Yvelines.

On January 7, 2015, Eric Espinal was at the head of the Gendarmerie air unit who participated in the hunt for the perpetrators of the Charlie Hebdo attack. A hunt which lasted several days mobilized all the police forces.

That day, Said and Cherif Kouachi attacked the editorial staff of Charlie Hebdo causing 12 victims including the cartoonists Charb, Cabu and Wolinski. Once the attack has been carried out, they flee.

Heavy fog prevents helicopters from taking off

The Air Force of the National Gendarmerie is put on alert. “We had four helicopters ready to take off from Villacoublay, two intended for research, two for transporting the men of the GIGN a you RAID“, continues the colonel. Our units in Amiens and Metz were also on alert. In total, seven helicopters. »

“At that time, there was a fog that could be cut with a knife. We couldn't take off, it was a no go. »

The devices will eventually be able to leave the tarmac the next day, January 8, to search the terrorist vehicle.

“As the case was high profile, the police received numerous reports. Our role was to check and possibly follow the vehicle if it was spotted. » It is precisely located on the edge of Nationale 2, near Villers-Cotterêts (Aisne – dep. 02). “The search will continue into the night, with suitable surveillance systems. »

Exchanges of gunfire

In the early morning of January 9, in the Dammartin-en-Goële sector (Seine-et-Marne), exchanges of gunfire with the Gendarmes occurred. The terrorists take refuge in a printing house which the GIGN will attack a few hours later.

“As soon as the GIGN deployed its system around the printing press, for us, the action was over,” relates Eric Espinal, trained helicopter pilot. But we still leave a helicopter nearby if needed. We return to base. And at lunchtime, we learn of the Hyper Cacher hostage-taking. »

Citizens' march on January 11, 2015

There too, the attack will be given to neutralize the terrorist Amedy Coulibaly who had killed a municipal police officer the day before, in Montrouge.

Here again, the helicopters are put on alert. “Our mission is to make our resources available to the Paris Police Prefecture,” summarizes the colonel. We are following the situation remotely. »

For the Air Force of the National Gendarmerie, there remains one last step: the citizen marchon January 11, 2015 in Paris, which brought together nearly 2 million people and some 70 heads of state and government.

“Everything has been put in place to provide information and participate in the surveillance system. »

“Everyone is working to stop the threat”

“It was an extraordinarily intense sequence (nearly 50 hours of flight in 2 days), marked by hypermedia coverage, which we are not used to,” concludes Colonel Eric Espinal. But we also learned lessons from it, such as the ability of several entities to work together. There are no more boundaries in these cases, everyone works to stop the threat. And we received incredible support from the population. »

The Air Forces of the National Gendarmerie still retain their three main missions with their helicopters: to inform (they can see from above), press (thanks in particular to the lighthouse and the loudspeaker but also to neutralize a threat using snipers on board the helicopter if absolutely necessary) and transporter gendarmes and police officers throughout the national territory.

Follow all the news from your favorite cities and media by subscribing to Mon Actu.