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Aviation History
1945
1945 - 1438.PDF
JULY 26TH, 1945 Close Suppor nrma Difficult Tactical Flying to Help th Qround Tro Air Observation Posts J2all "Cafe : Earths CamouflagingHurrica from the eyesof Japanese recce aircraf By Sqn. Ldr. CHARLES GARDNER WHEN Air Marshal Sir Keith Park took over the jobof chief airman in South East Asia Command oneof his first jobs was to go on a tour of his 800-mile front. After he came back to his headquarters in Kandy the Air Marshal said, " During this war I've seen close air support for the army in a number of places, but I don't think I've ever seen anything so good as the show being put on in Burma." Close airadpport has indeed been developed to a very high staiyiard in the 14th Army area. In the later stages of the Burma campaign it is, I think, true to say that the Air Force and the Army came closer to being one coherent war machine than at any other time in R.A.F. history. With the exception of certain heavy bomber raids, every sortie of what was then Eastern Air Command was made to further the land effort. The two actual groups—221 under Air Vice-Marshal %s_Vincent* and 224 under Air Vice-Marshal the Earl of Bandon—were entirely concerned with close support. Their Beaufighter and Mosquito Squadrons were shooting up the enemy lines of communication behind tjie battle front. Outside the groups the P.R.U. was surveying potential air- heads for the army and watching Jap movement; while many of the strategic Air Force missions were devoted to the railways running to and from the .enemy front. Eastern Air Command was, in fact, the first command to use its heavies tactically. During the siege of Imphal in the spring of 1944, Liberators and Wellingtons were switched in strength on to Jap positions along the Tiddim road. Deft use of 1,000- pound bombs produced artificial landslides on the monsoon-soaked hills and blocked enemy movement. Admittedly this use of the heavies was at a time of crisis— but, since thep, they have been dovetailed into the close- support pattern more or less as a " standing dish." There are, of course, very few strategic targets, as we know them, out in South East Asia. The docks at Bangkok and Singapore are about the only examples—and even they have something of a tactical tang about them. It is not surprising, therefore, that this concentrated all- in tactical air support, accorded to the S.E.A.C. land war, has been of such a standa; There is a story y j ment between jpe^rmy and the Air Force in Burma was when an Air StafiKMficer of 5^fi Group said within the hear- ing of an Army Liaison Officer from 224 Group that "221 are' the only people who really know the close support business." Air Land. Integration This air-land integration in S.E.A.C. starts right at the top and comes down through both services. The "Supremo"—Admiral Mountbatten—thinks in terms of " combined-ops " all the time. General Slim and Air Vice- Marshal Vincent share the same H.Q. and live in the same mess. General Christison of 15th Corps and Air Vice-Marshal the Earl of Bandon also share an H.Q. and attend a joint Navy-Army-Air " morning prayers." The Earl of Bandon, when in London on leave recently; himself stressed the three-service amitv of S.E.A.C. vHis own contribution •Since this article was written the appointment OfA.V-M. C. A. BOUCHIER to succeed A.V-M. Vincent ^AS been announced. Air Vice - MarshalS. F. Vincent, D.F.C., A.F.C., whofor a long while commanded N0.22TGroup in Burma.
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