​​Operation Jubilee was a combined operation, meaning all three military branches were used: Navy, Army and Air Force.

​The Royal Air Force played a large part in the operation, which was planned to see thousands of Canadian troops land by sea onto four beaches. This was further supported by Commandos landing to the east and west of the Canadian troops.

​The Free French also suffered casualties, with five men killed. They are remembered on the memorial at the airfield.

​Commander François Fayolle joined the air force in 1939 and was assigned to Algeria in 1940. He did not want to acknowledge the German armistice with France in 1940 and travelled to Gibraltar then to England in a trawler. He was promoted to Squadron Leader on 1 August 1942 at was head of a British No. 174 Squadron. He took part in Operation Jubilee; his Hawker Hurricane went down at sea.

​In the same Squadron was Officer Maurice Halna du Fretay, his Hawker Hurricane was shot down at sea off the coast of Dieppe. He has no known grave. His family were of Breton (Brittany) nobility, his father a baron. To escape France in 1940 following the armistice, he reconstructed a plane at the family home and flew it to Dorset, England. Written on the tail of his Hurricane was, ’Breizh dalc’h mad’, meaning ’Brittany, hold on!’