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Aviation History
1953
1953 - 0418.PDF
4i6 FLIGHT, 27 March 1953 SERVICE AVIATION TRANSPORT COMMAND TEN YEARS OLD A Brief Survey of the Work and Duties of the Youngest Operational Command THIS month—on March 25th to be precise—Transport Command cele brated its tenth anniversary. It was born at Harrow under the command of Air Marshal Sir Frederick Bowhill and quickly took its place with the other operational commands, contributing "strategic mobility" to air power. A system of centralized control was introduced which embraced all overseas theatres and operated through groups, wings, stations and staging-posts. In 1943, when the Command was formed, it con trolled 70 aircraft. Two years later, at the end of the war, it was the largest in the R.A.F., having 12 groups controlling 58 squadrons. War-time activities covered five main tasks: (1) Overseas ferrying of aircraft (ferrying in Britain was performed by Air Transport Auxiliary); this was a very big and difficult task, especially while the direct Mediterranean route to the Middle and Far East could not be used. (2) The operation of air transport along trunk routes and within the main theatres of operations. (3) Transport support, i.e. the use of transport aircraft in direct support of military operations; this took the form of dropping paratroops, towing gliders and supply-dropping. The classic examples of the use of transport support were, of course, the invasion of Normandy, the Arnhem operation, the crossing of the Rhine and the continual supply for the Fourteenth Army fighting in Burma, which depended on air supply for 95 per cent of its requirements. (4) Special flights, such as taking the Prime Minister to Yalta or ensuring the arrival of officials at conferences in many parts of the world. (5) Training the thousands of aircrew to fly transport types of aircraft and teaching them the operating procedures. At the conclusion of hostilities in Europe, Transport Command was greatly expanded to allow for a liberal use of air transport in the re-deployment of our forces in the Far East. Pilots and ground crew were transferred on a large scale from Bomber and Coastal Commands, and their aircraft modified to carry passengers. This was a major task in which none of the normally accepted requirements for a transport service was present. Neverthe less, by intensive training the necessary standards were achieved until, at the peak, aircraft were leaving the United Kingdom for India at hourly intervals, with a pro portion continuing to Singapore and with great numbers engaged on transport operations within each theatre. It was at this period of intensive flying that there was something of a public outcry against the number of accidents. This phase, however, was very short. With the end of the war against Japan, plans were quickly worked out to use air transport to supplement the inadequate shipping resources which were to bring men home; but before they could be made effective the demobilization of the key maintenance personnel enforced a contrac tion of effort, which did not cease until the Command was finally stabilized at its post war strength. Nevertheless, many thou sands of Service men and women were brought back to this country by air during 1945 and 1946. During this period of demobilization attention was turned to preparing the way for the re-birth of British civil aviation. A special wing was formed at Croydon to provide the nucleus of British European Airways, and the North Atlantic Ferry Service which had been operated by B.O.A.C. on an agency basis was returned to the company. But of major importance were the steps taken, especially in Europe and the Middle East, to provide an air- traffic control organization and the whole communications network on which it depended. It was during this period, also, that a number of pioneering ventures were started. A squadron of Mosquitoes were used to provide a daily service to ensure British newspapers being on breakfast- tables in the capitals of Europe as far east as Vienna. This was at a time when it was vital that British ideas and British inter pretation of events should be available in these countries. The Command also inaugurated a daily service between Blackbushe and Prestwick to demonstrate the value of electronic aids in enabling a regular schedule to be kept in all weathers. During the year which it was in operation only two flights in this service were cancelled. As an extension of this demonstration much thought was devoted to the problem of landing numbers of aircraft rapidly in bad visibility, since this was recognized as likely to be one of the major problems confronting civil aviation. In conjunction with the Ministry of Civil Aviation, two systems were developed which were demonstrated to the international repre sentatives of P.I.C.A.O. The rates then achieved under most difficult conditions TO FILL SEA-WALL GAPS. Loading sandbags on to a Va/etto of Transport Command at K/oten airport in Switzerland. The two receiv ing stations in Britain were Waterbeach in Cambridgeshire and Mansion on the Kent coast. set a standard which has not so far been surpassed. With this demonstration it was felt that the immediate post-war objectives of the Command were complete. The three civil airline Corporations had been formed and the Command again turned to its own training. Throughout its history this Command has demanded the highest possible stan dards of flying ability, and the reputation it enjoys throughout the world is a direct reflection of the high quality of the training. It may not be commonly known that in the interests of passenger safety Transport Command were responsible for the introduction of backward-facing seats in transport aircraft. The first big test in peace-time was the Berlin Airlift in 1948; every available air craft was working at maximum intensity. Two years later, when tension was mount ing in the Middle East, a reinforcement operation was carried out in which 2,300 troops of the Third Infantry Division and 1,400 R.A.F. technicians were carried from the United Kingdom to Egypt within one week. This operation again demon strated the fact that even a small transport force, provided it is highly flexible, well trained and its morale high, can play a major part in giving mobility to all three services. During the past 12 months the Command has been called upon to meet a number of important and interesting commitments in addition to the normal tasks of providing services to widely dispersed localities such as Japan, Singapore, Australia, Middle East, Warsaw, Germany and Canada. Last September there was the problem of finding the small ice-cap camp and dropping supplies to the Greenland expedition. The dropping zone was 8,000ft above sea level and 500 miles from the operating base at Thule. Despite adverse conditions 192,000 lb of supplies, including a prefabricated hut in sections, an electric generator, stoves, sledges and a ton of dog meat, were dropped success fully. One Hastings was lost on this task, but the crew was rescued by the U.S.A.F. Fresher in the public mind is the Command's effort in "Operation Sand bags," when its aircraft collected and delivered to airfields near the scenes of the recent floods i\ million sandbags, weighing 720 tons, in four days. Apart from transport duties, however, the Command is still responsible for over seas ferrying. Vampires have been taken to and fetched from the Far East and, at the moment the ferry pilots are busy bringing Canadair-built Sabres to Britain. There are between 300 and 400 of these aircraft to be fetched. Transport Command can be justifiably proud of its first ten years. Its head quarters are at Upavon, one of our very earliest Service stations, and its staginr posts encircle the world. It has the ability not only to take part in any kind of trans port operation required by the dictates o: the cold war, but can, in addition, help t< pay for its keep by the carriage of pas sengers and freight. Peace or war, Trans port Command must operate, and in an operation the Command is of its very nature the first to give service.
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