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Aviation History
1945
1945 - 1443.PDF
FLIGHT JULY 26TH, 1945 CLOSE SUPPORT IN BURMA the campaign were the '' master-bomber '' and the '' earth- quake." The '' master-bomber'' business was a variant of the European technique, and was, I think, evolved by Grp. Capt. (now Air Cdre.) B. A. Chacksfield, commanding a Thunderbolt wing of 221 Group. He used it with effect at Fort Dufferin in Mandalay, where the Thunderbolts breached the immensely thick walls • of the fort. Grp. Capt. Chacksfield flew back and forth over the target area, controlling and directing his wing by R/T. He saw that the bombs of the first few aircraft were " skip- ping '' over the wall and likely to finish up among our own troops. Immediately he stopped the attack and switched it round, as it were, on the reciprocal. He was also in the best position to give advice on run, height and on the spot of the wall to keep hammering at. This whole attack bears a small-scale comparison to the Moehne dam sortie, and it was the cumulative effect of the bombs, all placed in one spot, which eventually breached the thick fort defences. The "earthquake" is a combination of the heavies and the tactical aircraft Details of it are not releasable—but the essence of the thing is first-rate timing—a blanket of all kinds of bombs, together with cannon and machine- gun fire—all immediately preceding an army attack. Several Jap-held villages on the Irrawaddy were treated to an earthquake just prior to the 33 Corps crossings. I saw those villages afterwards and agreed the earthquake is no misnomer. This bomb blanket attack involves some nice sta,ff work. Anyone who has had to draw up a scheme for getting different sorts of aircraft, with -different flying at different airspeeds, and at different heights, on to a target within a given time will appreciate this. The Army has been very generous in its praise for the support squadrons. Nearly every formation has many "strawberries" in its line-book—iiQftx Army, Corps, Divi- sional, Brigade, and Battalion c>»s(fmanders. Someof these strawberries have been given immediately by R/T, and once or twice the formation leader has heard the ground commander come up on the V.H.F. from the control post to give personal thanks before sending his men in. The technique of close support in S.E.A.C. will doubtless continue to be modified and to progress with the cam- paign. The Thunderbolt, supported by the. Mosquito, is now the backbone of the day-to-day work, and will prob- ably continue so to be. The weight of front gun fire is very important, and both these aircraft can pour out a- good rate of fire to discourage enemy ground gunners from being too offensively defensive. The next phase of ^JS^k.C.'s, war will undoubtedly pro- pose some^nteresting new problems for solution. There is illy tf& doub^that 224 and 221 Groups will solve them. SIR F. itowiiiu; POST 'T'HE announcement that Air Chief Marshal Sicjx Bowhill, G.B.E., K.C.B., C.M.G., D.S.O. has been appointed U.K. representative witji|the visional International Civil Aviation Organisa^ treal induces us to look back at one of the careers and achievements of any of the men who have held high command in the recent war. Sir Frederick Bowhill was edu- cated in the training ship H.M.S. Worcester, which has provided the Roj»al Navy with so many dis- tinguished officers, and his earliest . ambition was to get a commission in the Navy. He failed by three marks to pass into the cadet ship H.M.S. Britannia, being just beaten by the future Admiral Sir Edward Evans (of the Broke). So Bowhill went to sea in the Merchant Navy for 17 years, rose to be chief officer in the P. & O. line, and was commissioned in the Royal Naval Reserve. At the age of 32 he learnt to fly, and then the Admiralty granted him a commission in the Royal Navy. His work Y.AS not confined to flying, and in 1914 he was given com- mand of the seaplane carrier H.M.S. Engadine, which he commanded during the raid on Cuxhaven on Christmas Day. On the way back something went wrong with his ship, and he was attacked by a low-flying Zeppelin. He drove it off with rifle fire, and so damaged it that it never flew again. Later in the war he was one of the pilots who dropped food and ammunition to the British force besieged in Kut. Then he commanded the R.N.A.S. detachment in General Smuts' East African campaign. After the Armistice Bowhill (then a Wing Commander, R.A.F.) was chief of staff to the air contingent which played the chief part in routing the Mad Mullah of Soma- liland. In 1937 he was appointed A.O.C.-in-C, Coastal Com- mand, and held that post until after the sinking of the Bismarck in May, 1941. It was a Coastal Command Cata- lina which picked up the German ship after touch had been lost for a good many hours: At the outbreak of war the Command had only 171 aircraft, some of them of obsoles- Bowhily laid the foundations of the later mag- 5ent widespread operations of the Command, which i'yed serlarge a^irt in winning the Battle of the Atlantic. tn i94,i^fipwhiUf was transferred from Coastal Command ^ ^ $ erica., where he developed the Atlantic o|riberj£erryf which in time grew into R.A.F. Transport fnandy' Naturally Bowhill became the first A.O.C.- ofyChat Command. It has done remarkable work, sut lt^story has been told before, and need not be re- here. -"Air Chief Marshal Bowhill might well be called the ideal combination of sailor and airman, and no dou-bt he will do more good work in helping to spread British air trans- port across the oceans of the world. THE"PROPA" GREMLIN: A new branch of thenotorious family discovered by Wing Cdr. J. M. West ("Jock" West, of Motorcycle T.T. fame) who commandsNo. 151 F.R.U. "Jock "made this valuable addition to our entomological knowledge whilst engaged in balancingairscrews.
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