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Aviation History
1945
1945 - 2292.PDF
NOVEMBER 22ND, 1945 FLIGHT from the point of view of inter-Service co-operation it was a fiasco. At Dun- kirk the soldiers were very indignant because they did not see British fighters over their heads. As a matter of fact, the fighters were doing their job magnificently, and it is not too much to say that but for their efforts the losses of the Army on the Dunkirk beaches would have been far higher than they were. But few soldiers of any rank had any knowledge of how the R.A.F. did, and ought to do, its work. That by itself was all wrong. Each Service ought to have a general working knowledge of the powers and methods of the other two. The change came just before Ala- mein, when the 1st Tactical Air Force was formed. It is a matter of history that things went well from then on. In Britain the 2nd Tactical Air Force was formed, and the American Army formed a Tactical Air Force at the same time. Air Marshal Sir Arthur Coningham was brought from Africa to command the 2nd Tactical Air Force, bringing with him the experi- ence which he had gained in working with the 8th Army. The Army of Gen. Eisenhower learnt how to work with these Tactical Air Forces by doing it, and as the advance went on more was learnt by experi- ence. The Tactical Air Forces, too, learnt to appreciate the problems of the ground troops, and a doctrine was built up as a result of experience. Using Experience When Germany submitted the Tactical Air Forces were disbanded; but obviously it would have been extreme folly to waste all that experience. There may still be other wars, and we must never start in the parlous condition in which we found ourselves in 1940. Moreover, a new' fea- ture of warfare had grown up in the course of the struggles against Germany and Japan, namely, supply and transport by air. A school was needed to crystalise the newly dis- covered doctrines, to study them, to expand them where possible, and to teach them to officers of all three Services. So in December, 1944, the School of Army Co-operation A wonderful demonstration was given by an R4B helicopter. The anti-torque vanes at the tail revolve so rapidly as to be practically invisible. A Dakota has just at Old Sarum was transformed into the School of AirSupport. The charter of the new school is: (1) to teach a common doctrine in air support by holding courses ofinstruction for all three Services ; (2) to study all matters affecting the air support of armies; (3) to maintain closeliaison with its counterparts at home and overseas, and keep them up to date with current developments. The term" Air Support " includes assistance by air (both R.A.F. and R.N.) to the assault, the land battle, airborne operations,air-transported operations, and supply and maintenance of the Army by air. The School has been organised into two Wings, the Offensive Support Wing and the Transport Support Wing. The Commandant of the School is an Air Vice-Marshal (at present A.V-M. L. O. Brown, C.B., C.B.E., D.S.C., A.F.C., who has served with the Desert Air Force and has commanded No. 84 Group of the 2nd Tactical Air Force). The Assistant Commandant is an Army Brigadier (now Brigdr. P. H. W. Hicks, C.B.E., D.S.O., M.C., who com- manded the 1st Airlanding Brigade at Arnhem). The Deputy Assistant Commandant is a naval Commander (now Cmdr. O. N. Bailey, who has commanded a naval fighter squadron and has been Chief Instructor at the Naval Air Fighting School). Each of the two Wings has a Group Captain as Chief Instructor, with officers from the Army and R.A.F. to assist him. The Offensive Support Wing has also two Lieut. Commanders. R.N., as instructors. The three Services are thus well com- bined at the School. At present the Royal Navy is not concerned with the Offensive Support Wing; but the Commandant is desirous to explore the possibilities of transport support from aircraft carriers. Offensive support from carriers already has a war his- tory, notably at the Anzio landing, as well as in various actions by the Americans in the Pacific. It is an obvious subject for the new School to study Recently some visitors, among whom representatives of Flight were numbered, were invited to Old Sarum to look over the School and witness ' snatched " the Hadrian glider off the ground. a display of supply dropping. There
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