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Aviation History
1944
1944 - 0030.PDF
14 FLIGHT- JANUARY 6TH, 1944 Invasion Air Command Land and Air Commanders Appointed : Veterans from the Mediterranean in Charge F OLLOWING promptly on the Teherajj* Britain and the United States have selected1 commanders of the Allied forces which are to liberate Europe from the German prising that most of the prominent ranean have been chosen for the last, campaign of the war. They a.n who have proved themselves on Ian in the air, and they above all othe ought to be able to lead the forces United Kingdom to the final victory. West has become the most impo front, and calls for the men who proved themselves the best. At the same time there is heavy fighting still to be done in the Mediterranean, and other commanders, who have not yet had such good opportunities of winning the laurels of victory, have been put in charge there to finish off what is still a very important piece of work. General Eisenhower is not an airman, but as supreme commander of the North West Africa Forces he has been generally responsible for the air work as well as for everything else. He evidently has a genius for getting men of different nationalities and different Services to work harmoniously together, and his appointment Supreme Commander gives everyone confidence. The same may be said about his deputy, Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Tedder. The significance of his appoint ment is discussed in the leading columns of this issue. Almost a book could be written about the man himself— and doubtless such a book will be written in due course. He is that somewhat rare combination, a scholar and a man of action ; a writer and a leader of men. He has served as a regular officer in two of the three Services, and has written a notable, historical essay about one aspect of the jwev Bj gift while Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Tedder Deputy Supreme Commander. as Dorsetshire Regiment. Next year he was fighting in France an infantry officer. In 1916 he was seconded to the yal Flying Corps," and as a pilot was several times men- ed in despatches. In 1919 he transferred to the Royal Force. Later he saw some service in Turkey during the crisis in 1922. There followed a series of appointments such as fall to the lot of every officer who holds a permanent commission in the R.A.F. The most interesting incidents of his inter-war years were a course at the Imperial Defence College, a period as a member of the staff of the R.A.F. Staff College at Andover, and in 1936 his appointment as A.O.C., Far East Com mand, with headquarters at Singapore. It was actually a piece of luck which took him to the Middle East Command in 1940. Air Vice-Marshal Boyd had been appointed Deputy A.O.C.-in-C. at Cairo, but while flying out to take up faigappoint- ment he was made a^pnsoner the Italians. Tedder was then in his place, an/J, shortly afte was chosen tc>- more as Arthur Te by which best advantage as part of Jan Army, even though it rem; a separate Service. -When Eighth Army joined up wi Gen. Eisenhower's forces Tunisia, Tedder became head of the whole Mediterranean Air Command, under Gen. Eisenhower, and also under Gen. Maitland-Wilson in the Middle East. Under him it will be better to take things in order. /Were three subordinate Com- Sgshire in 1890, he was educated at Whit-/ mands, namely those in N.W. at Magdalene College, Cambridge. It was/ Africa, in the Middle East, n undergraduate that he won a^IJ«*ve«"^ y on the British Navy of^He Restorati expected that this study of the Duk Rupert, and De/Keuter would ghts to the Roygri Kavy, had ridge man to hays obtained Anyway, heveifeered the vvrnrjkJttfltn a ommission in i9I?WianCSvgfc ftn)§ edf to the General Carl Spaatz, Com manding U.S. Strategic Force. Lieut. Gen. I. C. Eaker, Air Commander Mediterranean Theatre. Major Gen. J. H. Doolittle, Commanding U.S. 8th Air Force. and at Malta. His appoint ment as Deputy Supreme iOmmander under Gen. enhower is a worthy cofnition of brilliant qual ities, and gives universal con- ence. Under Tedder, the N.W. Africa Air Forces were commanded by General Carl Spaatz. Earlier in the war he came to England to command the U.S. Army Eighth Air Force; but when the landing in N.W. Africa was decided upon, he was sent there, hand ing over the Eighth Air Force, to Lieut. Gen. Eaker. He divided his command into three, the Strategical, the Tac tical and the Coastal Forces. Now he comes back to England to command the American Strategic Bombing Force operating against Germany. He brings with him recent experience of successful warfare, which is the best preparation a man could have for the important task that lies ahead of him. Tedder's place in the Mediterranean is to be taken by Lieut. Gen. I. C. Eaker, who has built up the Eighth Air Force in the United Kingdom. He laid down a definite policy from the beginning, namely, that he would never incur greater losses than he could replace. As his forces grew he pressed farther and farther into Germany,
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