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Aviation History
1944
1944 - 0007.PDF
AIRCRAFT ENGINEER FIRST AERONAUTICAL MEEKLY W THE W6RLD .* FOUNDED mo9 Editor C. M. POULSEN Managing Editor G. GEOFFREY SMITH, M.B.E. Chief Photographer JOHN YOXALL Editorial, Advertising and Publishing Offices: DORSET HOUSE, STAMFORD STREET, LONDON, S.E.1 Telegrams : Truditur, Sedist, London COVENTRY ! 8-10. CORPORATION ST. Te/egroms: Autocar, Coventry. Telephone: Coventry 52 10. BIRMINGHAM, 2 : GUILDHALL BUILDINGS, NAVIGATION ST. Telegrams: Autopress, Birmingham. Telephone: Midland 297 1 (5 lines). Telephone: Waterloo 3333 (35 lines). MANCHESTER, 3 : GLASGOW. C.2 : 260, DEANSGATE. 26B, RENFIELD ST. Telegrams : lliffe, Manchester. Telegrams: lliffe, Glasgow. Telephone : Blackfriars 4412. Telephone : Central +857. No. 1828. Vol. XLV. Registered at the C.P.O. as a Newspaper. January 6th, 1944. Thursdays, One Shilling "The Outlook The Deputy Supreme Commander I T would be an overstatement to say that the appoint ment of Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Tedder as Deputy Supreme Commander to General Eisen hower of the Allied Expeditionary Forces now being organised for the liberation of Europe is a new 01 revo lutionary step, but it is a new application of a principle which has been in operation for some time past. That principle is a novelty evolved in this war, namely, that all three Services, naval, land, and of the air, must work as one under a single Commander-in-Chief. Obvi ously the chosen man must belong to one of the three Services, and presumably he must know more about how to use the forces of his own Service than he can know about the handling of the other Services. But he must have knowledge of what the other two can do and the ability to plan so that each of the three can, and will, exert its maximum effect in the combined operations against the enemy. One may compare his position with that of a General Officer in the Army. The latter origin ally belonged to either the infantry, cavalry, artillery or engineers; yet if Tie is to command an Army he must be able to handle all those four branches in unison. General Wavell was the first Allied officer to be made a Commander-in-Chief with power over all three Ser vices in his area, and since then there have been a number of others. Most of them have been soldiers, with a few sailors here and there, as in Ceylon. Clearly the time must, and would, come when an Air Officer would be chosen for such a post. We may recall that before the war Air Chief Marshal Sir Robert Brooke-Popham was made Commander-in-Chief of the Far East. No new principle is involved in choosing an Air Officer; it was only a case of waiting until the youngest Service threw up someone who was the best man for the post. In the present circumstances Sir Arthur Tedder has proved himself fit to be Deputy to General Eisenhower, and if, unfortunately, the latter were to be incapacitated, this Air Chief Marshal will become Supreme Commander of all the naval, land and air forces of the Allies in the liberation of Europe. By education, study and in practice, Sir Arthur Tedder has proved himself suitable to command all three —did he not when an undergraduate at Cambridge win a prize for a brilliant essay on '' The Navy of the Restoration '' ? There is no fear that he will overlook the vital part which sea power must play in the war, right up to its closing stages; while his experience of working with a victorious Army has set up a model which has already been copied in other Commands and will be studied by future members of staff colleges and by the Committee of Imperial Defence. Sir Arthur Tedder is the first Air Officer to be entrusted with such wide responsibilities in time of war, but as time goes on there is no doubt that others of his Service will follow in his footsteps. General Montgomery's Maxims I N Africa was first evolved the method by which an Army and an Air Force can work together up to final victory, and every student of war must be grateful to General Montgomery for making a frank statement of the principles on which this happy modus operandi was based. "We never," he said, "fought a land battle until the air battle was won. That is the first great principle of war." There have been futile discussions of late in various quarters as to which is the '"primary" arm in war. B
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