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Aviation History
1957
1957 - 0869.PDF
28 June 1957 875 TRANSPORT COMMAND From Air Marshal Sir Andrew McKee, K.C.B., C.B.E., D.S.O., D.F.C., A.F.C., Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief prmaple has long been established that numerically limited forces whose Lh Cnrle reSpOnsibditles exte»d over a large area must be flexible and Zhly mobile. The importance of this principle in British strategy has never been more Z'Z^oZ " iSt°day- ?atL°na! eC°nOmic "**™"« have dictated thatthe size of our gamsons and other forces overseas shall be reduced; nevertheless our commitments remain world-wide. It is essential therefore that we are able LrZ/rZni°ruemenu atSh°rt n°tiCe tO my part of the world where ^ maybe required. This is the primary task of Transport Command ' It is not, therefore, surprising that, in a Service environment of general con- traction, my Command is expanding. This expansion is not so much one of numbers of aircraft, but rather of their lifting capacity We have had the splendid Comet 2 for a year now and it is still the only pure-jet military transport aircraft in the world. From its base at Lyneham the Comet can reach any suitable airfield in the world in less than 48 hours The Beverley has given an entirely new significance to the term "air-portability " as its huge freight compartment literally opens the doors to a vast new range of Service equipment and military stores which hitherto could not have been earned by air. Moreover, this unusual aircraft does not need the sophisticated facilities of a modern airfield but can operate from hastily prepared airstrips if required. ' r ' The Hastings has now for many years been the backbone of the Command and whilst in the future it certainly will not be as spectacular as the newer aircraft of the Transport Force, it will continue to be a most valuable and versatile aircraft for some time yet. Next year Transport Command will start to equip with the Britannia In this we shall possess a really flexible high-speed long-range aircraft, capable of carry- ing very considerable loads of passengers or freight over extremely long distances The ability to fly long stages assumes increasing importance as our staging rights in various parts of the world decrease. With the completion of this re-equipment programme, Transport Command will indeed be able to provide the rapid mobility which must be one of the bases of our National, Commonwealth and NATO strategy. The history of Transport Command is short, and we might well look back with pride on the achievements of Burma, Arnhem and the Berlin Airlift; but rather do we look forward with confidence to the contribution which we have to make to the efficiency of our defence forces upon which future world peace will so much depend. MANY people, even some within the R.A.F. itself, imagineTransport Command as a son of airline in militaryuniform. Except in one or two particular respects, this idea is mistaken. Certainly the Command is an operator oftransport aeroplanes, most of which have commercial counterparts, and it has a route network spread across the globe. But scheduledairline-type services operated to a timetable form but a small proportion of the total effort. Transport Command's duties are numerous, as the simplifiedfamily tree reproduced below testifies. But when added up they make plain the Command's heavy responsibility for the effective-ness of British policy in the world today. This responsibility was sharply emphasized last April whenthe Minister of Defence announced the plan to remodel the nation's armed forces in accordance with the changed strategiccircumstances of a nuclear age. The nation looks to Transport Command to give wings to the home-based strategic Armyreserve, and to be capable of uplifting it quickly—with the help of civil fleets if necessary—to trouble-spots in any part of theworld. This is Transport Command's prime duty, and though it may never be discharged, the organization must—like a firebrigade—be equipped, trained and exercised for rapid mobility. Though the fire-brigade role stands forth as the biggest ~ ~~~ A.O.C-in-C. •- . ••:-•;•"•'•".• I I Scheduled services Special flights Aeromedical Royal flights V.I.P. flights Transport support Ferrying Senior Air Staff Officer -Operations Training Air movements Air signals Flying safety Air Officer i/c Administration Administration Personnel Equipment Catering Works Medical Accounting Education Senior Technical Staff Officer Engines Airframes Instruments Tech. signals Armament responsibility, it does not overshadow the Command's routineactivities. These, as we shall see, are diverse; the extent of the British Commonwealth and the wide dispersal of Britain'sdependencies and bases overseas makes this inevitably so There are Government policies to be implemented in peace as in war—bases to be succoured, equipment and stores to be delivered or transferred, special operations and exercises to be supportedroyalty and V.I.P.s to be carried, and so on. Consider the structure of Transport Command. The AirOfficer Commanding-in-Chief, whose base and HQ are at Upayon, Wiltshire, is Air Marshal Sir Andrew McKee' K.C BC B E. D.S.O., D.F.C., A.F.C. He bears the title of Inspector ot Air Transport Services and, as such, he is responsible for theuniversal inspection of all air transport services, civil and military which serve the interests of the Air Ministry. Three senior officers, each in charge of a distinct departmentot the Command, are responsible to the A.O.C-in-C These officers are the Senior Air Staff Officer, A. Cdre R A C CarterC.B., D.S.O., D.F.C.; the Senior Technical Staff Officer, A Cdre' W. D. J. Michie; and the Air Officer in charge of AdministrationA. Cdre. R. L. Kippenberger, C.B.E. We may well examine in most detail the responsibilities ofthe Senior Air Staff Officer (see family tree). Scheduled Services. Scheduled services account for about asixth of Transport Command's effort in terms of hours flown They are operated to a timetable by Hastings of 99 Squadron(Lyneham) and by Hastings of Nos. 24 and 511 Sqns. based at Colerne. (No. 24 is the famous Commonwealth Squadron.)Beverleys are also used on a few services: though essentially sup- port aircraft, they are occasionally utilized for trunk services.Comets, as related elsewhere in this issue, are now operating a regular slip-service schedule to the Far East and Australia (aswell as being employed a great deal for special flights). During May—to take one month as typical—three returnscheduled services were operated from the United Kingdom to
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