FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1954
1954 - 0387.PDF
PLIGHT, 12 February 1954 READERS will recall two previous accounts of the Allied Air Forces, Central Europe, which appeared in our issues of June 26th and August 28th last year. This third narrative deals with Britain's own part of AAFCE, the 2nd Tactical Air Force, which is itself part of the 2nd Allied T.A.F. With the 4th A.T.A.F. this latter formation makes up the operational strength of AAFCE, which has its inter national headquarters at Fontainebleau, near Paris. The 2nd A.T.A.F. includes a high proportion of the air forces of both Holland and Belgium, and the strength of these latter forces has increased at least threefold during the past two years. But the present article is intended to focus attention on the British force. Our air force in Germany stems from an earlier 2nd T.A.F. which played a major part in tactical operations over the whole of northern France, Belgium, Holland and Germany, until V.E. Day, on May 8th, 1945. On July 15th of that year this wartime formation was disbanded and its personnel and equipment used as the nucleus of the British Air Forces of Occupation, whose duties included policing the British Zone of Germany, and such diverse functions as "de-Nazification," screening captured docu ments and equipment, forming the German Civil Labour Organ ization—which absorbed many ex-Luftwaffe men—and initiating reconstruction of airfields and installations. B.A.F.O.'s first major "real" test was provided by the Berlin Air Lift of 1948-9, and nearly all the British military and civil participation was controlled by B.A.F.O. headquarters. Emerg ing as an organization of proven efficiency, B.A.F.O. gradually became more closely connected with the friendly air forces in neighbouring territories, so paving the way for its absorption into the integrated NATO force which was then being planned. It was actually on April 2nd, 1951, that Gen. Lauds Norstad, U.S.A.F., arrived at Fontainebleau with his historic directive from Gen. Eisenhower—who was then Supreme Allied Com mander, Europe—bidding him fashion the allied air element into "a single, integrated force." His plan for achieving this end was the division of the Rhine area into northern and southern halves, with a distinct allied T.A.F. responsible for each half. On September 1st of that year the British Air Forces of Occu pation were re-named 2nd Tactical Air Force, and the post of C-m-C. was taken over the following month by Air Marshal (now Air Chief Marshal, retired) Sir Robert Foster, K.C.B., C.B.E., D.F.C. Before concentrating entirely on this force it is worth noting that the national components of 2nd Allied T.A.F. were originally the 2nd T.A.F. (British), the H.Q. Tactical Air Com mand and Nos. 311 and 312 Squadrons (Dutch) and the second Belgian wing, consisting of Nos. 1, 2 and 3 Squadrons. These were reorganized on an international basis as No. 69 Group (Low lands Air Defence) which was jointly Belgian and Dutch, No. 83 Group (British/Belgian) and No. 2 Group (British/Dutch). So much for the administrative picture. When the Royal Air Force became established in Germany in 1945 its principal operational commander was the late Air Marshal Sir Arthur ("Mary") Coningham; we believe it was his dis cerning eye that picked out most of the Service's future head quarter sites and general disposition. It would be hard to find any more pleasant country than that around Bad Eilsen (near Biickeburg, shown in the sketch-map) and, in this former spa, the R.A.F. in Germany has had its headquarters during the past eight years. For policing an occupied territory it is convenient to disperse air units fairly uniformly through the length and breadth of the entire area, and this resulted in our occupation of stations as far apart as Jever, Wahn and Fassberg. During the past few years, long-term strategic thinking has caused a change in emphasis from policing duties to acting as a deterrent against any attack from the east—which is, after all, one of the principal aims of NATO. As we related on August 28th last, most of the Allied Air Forces in Central Europe have been pulled back to the Rhineland, where they occupy new airfields financed out of international moneys and specially designed to support powerful tactical forces. Rather surprisingly, the British 2nd T.A.F. has not pulled back an inch. It is true that it has its fair share of new NATO bases— of which more will be said—but, unlike the force comprising the 4th A.T.A.F. in southern Germany, 2nd T.A.F. is still operating from such forward airfields as Fassberg—G/C. E. M. Donaldson's stronghold for many years—which is, as the Meteor cruises, under five minutes from the Russian Zone. Various reasons are respon sible for this arrangement. There is no doubt that the R.A.F. is better "dug in" in Germany than its neighbouring occupying air forces have been; there is close co-operation with local authorities and traders, and much reliance is placed on the effective German Service Corps, successor to the G.C.L.O. mentioned above. It is also fairly certain that the 2nd T.A.F. is more truly mobile than any other air force on the continent; if necessary, it could pack up and move almost without notice, taking all its operational equip ment with it. But it should be noted that, at the present time, the international headquarters for 2nd A.T.A.F. is being established near Munchen-Gladbach, up near the point at which the frontiers of Germany, Holland and Belgium meet. Here, Air Marshal Sir Harry Broadhurst, K.B.E., C.B., D.S.O., D.F.C., A.F.C., recently appointed commander of both 2nd T.A.F. and 2nd A.T.A.F., is setting up a united team of staff officers from all three nations— something which he might not have been able to do had the H.Q. remained at Bad Eilsen. Although all types of aircraft may be seen in the British Zone as a result of exercises, 2nd T.A.F. is, and has always been, equipped solely with tactical machines. Originally these were the Spitfire, Tempest, Mosquito, Meteor and Vampire; today these
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
