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Aviation History
1940
1940 - 1257.PDF
MAY 2, 1940 395 Westland Lysander army co-operation machineswhich are superior to their German counterparts the Henschel Hs 126s. AIR STRATEGY THE SOLDIER MIND in the AIR Difficulties of Army Co-operation Work in Norway By CAPTAIN NORMAN MACMILLAN, M.C., A.F.C. NO innuendo is implied in the title I have chosen.I do not mean that the military mind is wanderingbut that the British air effort is being controlled in accordance with established military staff principles. And some of those principles have been the origin of jokes that are hoary with age, such as the one about the Colonel telling the Major, and the Major passing the order on to the Captain, who gives it to the Lieutenant, until at long last the Drummer-boy has to carry out the order. Then there is that one about going on parade, in which the order of things is reversed so that the Drummer-boy comes on first and the Colonel last. Well, of course, everyone knows that the stories are exaggerated. But how much? Exaggeration, like the weather, is a variable thing. And the main purpose of raking up these old tales is to draw attention to the fact that they indicate the importance which, in matters military, is laid upon procedure, or the correct way of doing things. Now in the past (or, at an ' rate, for a number of cen- turies) only the Navy has fought from a home com- mand. The Army has had to fight as an expeditionary force. And until this war (except for a small part of the air activity of the 1914-1918 war) the R.A.F. have also based their combatant squadrons (as distinct from Home Defence) on foreign soil. But this is a different kind of war, and the air force has big commands at home with lots of squadrons engaged on offensive combatant duties day and night; in fact, the R.A.F. units based in Great Britain have probably seen more fighting than the units based in France, while the units based outside these two zones have, so far, not seen a shot or shell fired in anger. To the R.A.F. units based in Britain (and part of the Fleet Air Arm) has fallen the lot of coping with the counter-attack duties against the German forces in Nor- way. So both the front and the area of activity for the air units in Britain have enlarged, while conditions in France have not yet altered. Thus the idea, which is still largely held by the public, that the R.A.F. units in Britain are all home-defence units, must be rejected as false. The only genuine home-defence units based in Britain are the short-range fighters, which include all the single-seaters and the Defiant; plus the ground defences—guns, observers, searchlights and balloon barrage. A Complicated Situation * At the present moment Britain is an arsenal defended by a home-defence force comprising land, sea and air units, but is simultaneously a base for air attack forces operating against German troops, naval and air units in Greater Germany, Poland, Norway and Denmark ; this area might be enlarged at any moment; it may be some time before it is reduced. Now, this situation is one which must produce com- plications. Germany has aeroplanes operating in close proximity to her land forces in Norway. Britain has not. The British air forces have to operate either from the British aerodromes hundreds of miles away from the units of the British land forces in Norway or from the decks of aircraft carriers cruising at some intermediate distance between the British and Norwegian coasts. This relative situation must continue until the British forces are able to obtain or construct land aerodromes in Norway, or make provision for the employment of flying boats or floatplanes by the creation of emergency sea- plane stations in the Norwegian fjords. Apart from its serious side, this situation is full of interest because it introduces a number of problems which deserve close scrutiny. I would say straight away that
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