Desert Air Force

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Desert Air Force (DAF), also known as Air HQ Western Desert, the Western Desert Air Force and the First Tactical Air Force (1TAF), was an Allied tactical air force formed during World War II.

It was formed in North Africa in 1941, to provide close air support to the Eighth Army. The DAF was made up of squadrons from the British Royal Air Force (RAF), the South African Air Force (SAAF), the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) and the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF). Many individual personnel from other Allied air forces also took part.

[edit] History

Prior to the establishment of the Desert Air Force, several RAF formations operated in North Africa. On 3 September 1939 RAF Middle East Command, under Air Chief Marshal Sir William Mitchell, Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief Middle East, comprised four separate commands: for Egypt (designated Middle East), RAF Iraq, Mediterranean at Malta, and RAF Aden (8, 203, and 94 Squadrons).^[1] Mitchell handed over to Air Vice Marshal Sir Arthur Longmore in early May 1940. When Italy declared war in June 1940 Longmore had just 29 squadrons numbering less than 300 aircraft - dispersed across the four commands detailed above.

[edit] Structure

On 10 June 1940, RAF bomber squadrons in AHQ Egypt, under the direction of No. 202 Group RAF, totalled five squadrons of Blenheims, one of Valentias and one of Bombays:^[2]

• HQ 202 Group, Ma'aten Bagush
  • No. 250 Wing RAF, Ismailia
    • 30 Squadron, Blenheim, Ismailia
    • 55 Squadron, Blenheim, Fuka
    • 113 Squadron, Blenheim, Ma'aten Bagush
  • No. 253 Wing RAF, Advanced HQ Ma'aten Bagush
    • 45 Squadron, Blenhiem, Fuka
    • 211 Squadron, Blenhiem, Daba
  • 70 (B.T.) Squadron, Valentia, Helwan
  • 216 (B.T.) Squadron, Bombay, Heliopolis

AHQ Sudan had 254 Wing with 14, 223, and 47 Squadrons, AHQ Aden 8, 11, and 39 Squadrons, and No. 84 Squadron RAF was at Shaibah in Iraq with Blenheims.

Prior to the Italian invasion of Egypt, Rawlings et al describes the initial air operations in the following terms. Under Air Commodore Raymond Collishaw, the RAF in Egypt, which comprised nine squadrons, focused its activities on ground support, reconnaissance, and only when necessary aerial combat with the Italian Regia Aeronautica. The force at Collishaw's disposal consisted of 33, 80, and 112 Squadrons with Gladiators, No. 208 Squadron RAF with Lysanders, four Blenhiem squadrons (30, 55, 113, and 211 - note the discrepancy with the other source above for some reason) and No. 216 Squadron RAF with Bombays. With this small force, Rawlings et al say, the RAF had to 'equate its attempt to dominate the front line with avoidance of unnecessary losses.'^[3] Aggressive actions induced a 'defensive mentality among the Italians,' aided by expedients such as using the single Hawker Hurricane in the Middle East, rapidly switched between landing grounds, to provide an exaggerated picture of British strength in the eyes of Italian reconnaissance aircraft. There were ocassional signal successes as well; on 17 August 1940, Gladiators covering the Mediterranean Fleet shot down eight Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 bombers without loss.

The force in the Middle East was clearly too small, and reinforcement via the Western Mediterranean was hardly practical due to the ranges involved, which only bombers could achieve. Thus an alternate reinforcement route began to be pioneered via Takoradi in the Gold Coast. By this and other means, by the end of November 1941 the RAF in Egypt had been bolstered by Nos 73 and 274 Squadrons with Hurricanes and Nos 37 and 38 Squadrons with Vickers Wellingtons, as well as several South African Air Force squadrons, ready for the beginning of Operation Compass. During Compass, Rawlings et al say, 'the squadrons of Hurricanes, Lysanders, and Blenheims .. strove hard to keep pace [with the ground forces], often landing after a combat sortie at a more advanced strip than from which they had set out.'^[4]

On 30 July 1941 Air Vice Marshal Collishaw handed over to Air Vice Marshal A. Coningham. Later that year, the RAF's whole Middle East Command came under the command of Air Marshal Arthur Tedder. On 21 October 1941 the commands were restructured, as Air Headquarters Western Desert was raised by upgrading 204 Group to command status.

Three wings operated in North Africa at first, 258 and 269 Wings operating over the front line and 262 Wing defending the Nile Delta.^[5]On 20 January 1942 the command was renamed Air Headquarters Libya however less than two weeks later on 3 February it reverted to its former name of the Air Headquarters Western Desert.

On 10 July 1943, the Desert Air Force was created by renaming the Air Headquarters Western Desert. The Desert Air Force was a subordinate element of the Northwest/Mediterranean Allied Tactical Air Force. It existed until 30 June 1946 when it was renamed the Advanced AHQ Italy.

[edit] Aircraft

1943: A P-40 Kittyhawk from No. 112 Squadron RAF, taxiing through scrub at Medenine, Tunisia. The squadron was the first unit in any air force to use the "shark mouth" logo on P-40s.

The air defence of the UK always received priority, so the DAF was generally equipped with older aircraft types. Initially equipped with obsolete types like the Gloster Gladiator biplane fighter and the Bristol Blenheim light bomber, the DAF made a good showing against the equally obsolete Italian Air Force. After the direct threat to Great Britain receded, newer types were assigned to the DAF, such as the Hawker Hurricane and Douglas Boston medium bomber in 1941.

US built P-40 Tomahawk/Kittyhawk also went to the DAF as it was unsuited to European operations which were generally fought at much higher altitudes and against more formidable opposition. The P40 was used initially as an air superiority fighter but it was also adapted (and found to be ideally suited) to ground attack missions.

The DAF always outnumbered its Axis opponents and concentrated on long-range interdiction and direct tactical Eighth Army support. Unfortunately these tactics meant that the faster Messerschmitt Bf-109s of Jagdgeschwader 27 usually had the advantage of height and surprise over the low-level, slow-flying DAF fighters and losses were correspondingly heavy.

In 1942, the DAF reorganized its tactics and upgraded its inventory. Spitfires were eventually assigned in the air superiority role, becoming operational in August 1942, which allowed the DAF to finally turn the tide.

The DAF adapted the Luftwaffe concept of tactical air support and Army co-operation by using fighter-bombers controlled via radio by "Forward Air Controllers"; trained air force observers attached to forward Army units.

The DAF improved the concept by introducing "cab ranks" of fighter-bombers in the air waiting to be called in to attack specific tactical targets. In this way the DAF provided vital and decisive air support to the Eighth Army until the end of the war, fighting through Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Sicily and mainland Italy. The tactical concepts which had proven so successful in the latter part of the North African campaign were subsequently adopted with even greater success during the Invasion of Europe in 1944.

[edit] Personnel

March/April 1942, Landing Ground 121, Egypt. Lieutenant Robin Pare (left), Major John "Jack" Frost (centre) and Captain Andrew Duncan (right) of 5 Squadron SAAF, Desert Air Force. All three had been killed or were missing in action by the end of June. Frost, the squadron commander, was the highest scoring ace in an SAAF unit during World War II.

The SAAF provided over a dozen squadrons to the DAF. This was their main theatre of operations, as the South African government had decided their military should not operate outside Africa. Between April 1941 and May 1943 the eleven squadrons of the SAAF flew almost 34,000 sorties and claimed 342 enemy aircraft destroyed.

The Australian contribution included fighter and bomber squadrons, perhaps most notably No. 3 Squadron RAAF which arrived in North Africa in late 1940 and served with the DAF until the closing stages of the war in Europe. By that time 3 Sqn had the most substantial service record of any DAF squadron, including the greatest number of kills (217 claims). Many Australian pilots also flew with RAF or SAAF squadrons in the DAF.

Many exiles from Occupied Europe, especially Polish airmen, also flew in DAF squadrons. No. 112 Squadron RAF was largely made up of Poles and in 1943, the Polish Fighting Team ("Skalski's Circus") was attached to No. 145 Squadron RAF.

From July 1942, the U.S. Army Middle East Air Force (USAMEAF) commander, Major General Lewis H. Brereton, attached USAAF personnel from the 57th Fighter Group and 12th Bombardment Group to DAF fighter and bomber units, as "observers".^[6] This was technically a violation of the Arnold-Portal-Towers agreement, which included a stipulation that American personnel should serve only in US units.^[7] From mid-September, the P-40 Warhawk squadrons of the 57th FG and the B-25 squadrons of the 12th BG were officially attached to DAF units.^[8] On 12 November 1942, USAMEAF was dissolved and replaced by Ninth Air Force, although some US units remained with Commonwealth formations for some time afterwards.

Commonwealth personnel who served with the Desert Air Force were awarded the Africa Star campaign medal with a bronze rosette in the "bar" position on the ribbon.

[edit] Strength

The Western Desert Air Forces fielded approximately 1,000 combat aircraft by late 1941. By the time of the Second Battle of El Alamein, the DAF fielded over 1,500 combat aircraft, which was more than double the number of aircraft the Axis could field.

[edit] Commanders

The following were the air officers commanding either the Air Headquarters Western Desert or the Desert Air Force:^[9]

AHQ Western Desert

• 21 October 1941 Air Vice-Marshal Arthur Coningham (also AOC AHQ Libya)
• 31 January 1943 Air Vice-Marshal Harry Broadhurst

Desert Air Force

• 10 July 1943 AV-M Broadhurst
• 6 April 1944 Air Vice-Marshal W F Dickson
• 3 December 1944 Air Vice-Marshal R M Foster
• 30 August 1945 Air Commodore C L Falconer

[edit] See also

• Balkan Air Force

[edit] References

Footnotes

Bilbilography

• Chaz Bowyer, Men of the Desert Air Force (William Kimber, 1984)
• Chaz Bowyer & Christopher Shores, Desert Air Force at War (Ian Allen, 1981)
• Wesley Frank Craven & James Lea Cate (eds) The Army Air Forces in World War II, Volume Two: Torch to Pointblank (August 1942 to December 1943). (1949). US Official history; full text online from Google Books.
• John Herington, Australia in the War of 1939–1945, Volume III — Air War Against Germany and Italy, 1939–1943 (1st edition, 1954), Canberra: Australian War Memorial
• Christopher Shores & Clive Williams, Aces High (Grub Street, 1991)
• Don Woerpel, The 79th Fighter Group