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Aviation History
1953
1953 - 1095.PDF
:•. ••••-• • . •...-. ::: • • . ,. .V \ • ., .' ••• • • • l^p •" * ;• " ; r f] •Hflf . *• Mm ^t ~4£J!j»!| SHOP £& ,•••: ... . * . ,,• "• •• . . *w: •-""'•• : :' ' i / $t% ™x J 1 : • i * 0& t 1 HgMjtHHpH'flEfF On July 16th last Air Chief Marshal Sir Basil Embry assumed command of Allied Air Forces Central Europe. He is seen at the change-over ceremony at Fontainebleau in company with his predecessor, Gen. Lauris Norstad, U.S.A.F. (left). A A F C E PART 2 The Present Allied Command By W. T. GUNSTON THIS is the second of a series of articles describing the organization and duties of Allied Air Forces Central Europe. The first part, which dealt with the political background and with the formation of NATO, was published in our issue of June 26th. A S described in Part I of this account, the Headquarters /\ of the Allied Air Forces Central Europe are established at Camp Guynemer in the forest of Fontainebleau, about 40 miles south of Paris. In this second instalment it is our intention to examine the workings of this Headquarters before—in succeeding issues—discussing the two Allied Tactical Air Forces which come under its control. One of the most convenient wavs of doing so is to describe in turn the work of each of the three Deputy Chiefs of Staff at AAFCE who, between them, deal with almost every ma;'or prob lem which arises. We were fortunate in being granted an inter view by each of these officers when, recendy, we paid a visit to Fontainebleau. The Deputy Chief of Staff responsible for Administration is Cdre. G. R. Wartena, of the Royal Netherlands Air Force. He put us firmly in the international picture by summarizing the manner in which the various national governments co-operate with the Allied Headquarters in administering and providing for the air forces in the field. Central Europe in this connection includes France, the Low Countries, Luxembourg and Western Germany—not a particu larly great area (about 344,000 square miles), but probably the most important for its size anywhere in the world from the point of view of disposition of military strength. The nations contributing to the strength of AAFCE are: France, the U.S.A. and Canada (4th A.T.A.F.), and Great Britain, the Netherlands and Belgium (2nd A.T.A.F.). Luxembourg, although right in the middle of things geographically, makes no air contribution and, in fact, plays a very passive part in the whole NATO alli ance. Western Germany does not at present contribute military forces as such, but may do when the eventual European Defence Community is established, as was described in our issue of June 26th. The contribution made by each nation is decided by the North Atlantic Council with, of course, the agreement of the national government concerned. The appropriate department of the country concerned—in Great Britain the Air Ministry—then allocates men and material in the normal manner until the appropriate strength has been reached, the actual location of any particular unit being left largely to the discretion of the A.T.A.F. commander. There are, of course, many exceptions to this basic arrangement and, in particular, defensive fighter squadrons of the Low Countries are disposed largely according to the wishes of the staff of the Dutch and Belgian Air Forces. When a unit has taken its place in one of the two A.T.A.F.s, it immediately comes under the control of the A.T.A.F. commander, whatever his nationality may be. It also comes under the super vision of its national government, although it is unusual for a national staff to control the operational work of any particular A.T.A.F. unit. At any time, of course, one squadron can be with drawn from an A.T.A.F. and replaced by another of equal strength and character and, in the case of the British elements of the 2nd A.T.A.F., it is quite normal for the Air Ministry to post in additional units over and above the compulsory commitments as laid down by NATO. Each unit in the field is still the responsibility of its own national government as far as logistics, pay and general pro visioning is concerned. To this extent, it makes no difference if a formation is pan of an international organization or not. On
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