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Aviation History
1951
1951 - 0113.PDF
18 January 1951 73 After the strike : A pretty piece of " echehn to starboard " on the woy bock to base. siderations include the facts that the Americans are in the Pacific in consider- able numbers and that the key position in Indo-China is still held by the French —albeit only just. On the debit side is the new Chinese air force now being built up under Russian supervision. It is expected to have a front-line strength of about 1,000 aircraft by the end of the year. What its fighting quality will be remains to be seen, and whether the Asiatic mind is capable of coping with the maintenance and flying of jet-propelled Mig 15s will also be answered in the future. One thing is certain—the Yellow Peril, almost a music- ball joke for the past 50 years, is now a grim reality; and it is being encouraged, armed and trained by a great European nation. The set-up of Fast East Air Force is shown in the accompany- ing "tree." The A.O.C.-in-C., Sir Francis Fogarty, and the A.O.C. Malaya, Sir Frank MeUersh, were kind enough to review the salient points of their problems and the strategy employed to combat them. The area affecting the situation in the Federated Malay Map and photograph of the " strike " area. Take out grid and contour lines, remember that the rivers cannot be seen, then find the target. States is so extensive that it might almost be called global. The morale and activities of the Malayan bandits fluctuate to a large degree with the war news from Korea and even with the political battles fought at Lake Success and elsewhere. The trouble in Malaya is entirely due to the strong Communist forces which have been developing over the past 30 years. During the war we armed and trained them to fight the invad- ing Japs, and they obtained the impression that they would take over the government of the Federation when hostilities ceased. The bandits are well trained and organized into units; at the same time, many of them are squatters who earn a legiti- mate living by day as rubber tappers (i.e., by bleeding the rubber trees for latex) and are bandits only by night Then- headquarters are often deep in almost impenetrable jungle and an opposing force can easily pass within 50 yards and see no sign of mem. Some idea of the density of this jungle, which covers three-quarters of the whole Malayan peninsula, is given by the fact that on one occasion it took ground troops 13 days to reach the wreckage of a supply Dakota which had crashed only seven miles away. To this difficulty must be added the facts that the jungle rises in some places to 7,000ft and that swampy areas are extensive. The Malay States, it must also be remembered, lie between degrees one and six north of the equator. Briefly, the anti-bandit methods employed are as follows: — Ground troops, Gurkhas and Malays as well as British troops, patrol suspected areas and, if contact is made, a signal is sent asking for an air strike. For this purpose an area of jungle some 2,000 yards square is indicated as the target and Govern- ment troops position themselves, at a safe distance about its perimeter, to ambush any bandit attempting to escape from the attack. An " immediate " call by the Army can be planned, and the strike airborne, within 45 minutes. Available are Spitfires with 4 x 20 mm guns and eight rockets; Tempests with the same armament; Brigands with 4x20 mm guns, 3 x 5001b bombs, 1 x 1,0001b bomb and six rockets; and Lincolns carrying 14 x 1,0001b bombs and employing any of their defensive armament for ground strafing. In addition, Sunderlands down at Singapore on "rest" from patrolling Korean waters sometimes pepper the suspected areas wath 320 x 20 lb bombs. This last form of attack appears on the face of it to be the most desirable, but it is difficult to find the enormous amount of labour required to fuse the bombs. Another weapon used is a special bomb dropped from Dakotas which, two hours after being dropped, creates surprise, alarm and despondency by simulating rifle-fire. To get a more intimate picture of the problems I flew on a strike, in a Brigand piloted by S/L. Unwin, D.F.M., code-named Pongo, the operation was with the 2/6th Gurkhas, who had located some bandits in thick jungle north of Kota Tinggi. The usual area had been indicated and our own troops deployed round the target Maps were carefully checked with air photo- graphs, the greatest care being taken to ensure absolute accu- racy, for the 20-year-old maps are far from correct and frequently there are no landmarks to guide navigators. The usual method of locating a target is to fly a course by time and bearing from the nearest known landmark. The ground forces, where possible, help pinpointing by making coloured smoke or firing mortars. At night searchlights are used. Brigand crew (left to right) : Sgt. M. Rees, signaller, FjL W. Banks, navigator, and a crew's view of S/L G. C. Unwin, D.FJA.
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