Air Forces Merged Into Single Command in South East Asia
Dec 21, 2023 22:22:43 GMT 12
Antonio likes this
Post by Dave Homewood on Dec 21, 2023 22:22:43 GMT 12
I happened upon this article from the New Zealand Herald, dated 20th of December 1943.
I was not aware of this before, it is interesting. It sounds like a similar arrangement to how the US air forces (USAAF, US Navy and US Marine Corps) and the RNZAF were all under the one single command structure in the South Pacific.
So would this have meant the RAF fighters would have escorted US bombers or transports, and vice versa, totally working together on the same operations over India, Burma and China? Just like the Kiwis and Americans did in the Pacific?
SINGLE COMMAND
ALLIED AIR UNITS
SOUTHEAST ASIA
BRITISH AND AMERICAN
(Recd. 1.50 a.m.) LONDON. Dec. 10
All fighting units of the British and American air forces in South-east Asia are to be in a single command under Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Peirse. All combat units of the 10th United States Air Force and the Royal Air Force will be merged and will in future be known as the Eastern Air Command. It will be headed by Major-General Stratemeyer, commander of all United States activities in India, who will become second in command to Sir Richard Peirse. The new command will include a tactical air force under the operational control of Air Marshal Sir John Baldwin and a strategical air force under Brigadier-General Howard, 10th United States Air Force.
In a statement the supreme Allied commander in South-east Asia, Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten, said the Allied commands worked best with closely unified forces and unification of the air force was therefore a logical step. He felt certain American and British units would prove far more effective now they were united into a single Allied organisation.
ALLIED AIR UNITS
SOUTHEAST ASIA
BRITISH AND AMERICAN
(Recd. 1.50 a.m.) LONDON. Dec. 10
All fighting units of the British and American air forces in South-east Asia are to be in a single command under Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Peirse. All combat units of the 10th United States Air Force and the Royal Air Force will be merged and will in future be known as the Eastern Air Command. It will be headed by Major-General Stratemeyer, commander of all United States activities in India, who will become second in command to Sir Richard Peirse. The new command will include a tactical air force under the operational control of Air Marshal Sir John Baldwin and a strategical air force under Brigadier-General Howard, 10th United States Air Force.
In a statement the supreme Allied commander in South-east Asia, Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten, said the Allied commands worked best with closely unified forces and unification of the air force was therefore a logical step. He felt certain American and British units would prove far more effective now they were united into a single Allied organisation.
I was not aware of this before, it is interesting. It sounds like a similar arrangement to how the US air forces (USAAF, US Navy and US Marine Corps) and the RNZAF were all under the one single command structure in the South Pacific.
So would this have meant the RAF fighters would have escorted US bombers or transports, and vice versa, totally working together on the same operations over India, Burma and China? Just like the Kiwis and Americans did in the Pacific?
