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Aviation History
1960
1960 - 0432.PDF
432 FLIGHT, 1 April i< EXERCISE STARLIGHT AN EXPERIMENT IN AIR MAINTENANCE "Flight" Story and Pictures by John Yoxall Ti• HE barrenness of its scenery hasbeen drawn by skilful pen andpencil. Its ample deserts havetasted the blood of brave men. It is the scene of war." These words, from theintroductory chapter of Sir Winston Churchill's The River War — hisaccount, written in the last century, of the reconquest of the Sudan—apply equally to the area in Libyaover which Exercise Starlight was recently held. But there the similarity ends. Sir Winston's story was one ofcontinuous struggle against what is now known as logistics, whereas Exercise Starlight is a tale of troops quickly moved andamply maintained by the Royal Air Force while "fighting" over North African battlefields disputed some 16 years ago betweenthe Eighth Army and the Africa Korps. It is stressed that the exercise was essentially an experiment in air maintenance—notpractice of an established procedure—with the ultimate object of producing a quick-moving, highly effective "fire brigade" whichcould be rapidly transported to any trouble area. The map on this page indicates the main outlines of the scheme.El Adem could be considered as the centre of the strategic reserve, and it was to here that Transport Command Britannias, Hastings and Comets brought the 1st Guards Brigade fromBritain. To lend an air of reality to the exercise it was assumed that the ground between El Adem and Tmimi, the forward supnlvbase, was impassable to all forms of ground transport. At El Adem the newly formed No 38 Group, underAVM P. G. Wykeham, took over, moving men, machines and materials up to Tmimi in its Beverleys. From Tmimi the supplyfanned out to reach the troops in the field; helicopter and STOL aircraft flying almost continuously on this task and Beverleysmaking supply-drops in the later stages, when the battle had moved away, beyond the economical distance for using smallaircraft, about 60-70 miles. Detailed figures of these operations are impressive: — Phase 1, D-38 to D-day. Build-up at El Adem. Ten Britanniasorties for No 1 Rear Airfield Supply Organization, including No 47 Coy RASC; Royal Corps of Signals; heavy drop parachutes and equip-ment; RAF medical and provost supplies; elements of No 38 Group- and ground crews of No 225 and 230 Sqns and the tactical Beverleys' Twenty-three Hastings sorties, taking 40 Land-Rover trailer com-binations and drivers and six RAF Land-Rovers with trailers and drivers.Sixteen Beverley sorties carrying 12 Whirlwinds of 225 Sqn, with passengers in tail-boom; two Alouettes of AAC with passengers inboom; vehicles of No 1 RASO and Royal Corps of Signals and equip- In the heading picture: AVM P. 6. Wykeham, who directed the air side of "Starlight," seen at Tmimi HQ with Wg Cdr W. Harris, VVg Cdi Operations, No 38 Group. The map, below, illustrates the build-up for the exercise. The strategic reserve was centred on El Adem FORWARD AIR SUPPLY 12 WHIRLWIND £25 SON ANDOVER) 6 PI0NEERS4 2 TWIN PIONEERS 5S0 SQN UPAVON) Miles Supply train: Blackburn Beverleys at El Adem with some of their pallet-mounted parachuting loads. In the smaller pictures are seen an Auster being camouflaged immediately after landing; and one of the new Harley mobile floodlights, which assisted night maintenance work
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