The RAF, Small Wars and Insurgencies in the Middle East, 1919-1939
Dr. Sebastian Ritchie
Air Historical Branch
U K
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Centre for Air Power Studies
2011
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The RAF, Small Wars and Insurgencies in the Middle East, 1919-1929. By Sebastian Ritchie. London UK: Air Historical Branch (AHB), Ministry of Defence, 2011. Pp. 94 ISBN: none
Dr. Sebastian Ritchie, an historian at the Ministry of Defence in London (and the author of Industry and Air Power: The Expansion of British Aircraft Production, 1935-1941 published in 1997), has produced a short official history which should be of great interest to Allied airmen. While, admittedly, the period barely covers two decades, and the aircraft in service for most of the time were single-engine, two-seater derivatives of World War I types, useful and enduring lessons were learned from sorties over, and operations in, Somalia, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Palestine.
Command, control, communications, and psychological sorties were flown, weather permitting. Observations, photos, and W/T (wireless telegraphy, or radio) were in use as well as no-fly zones. An essential part of the RAF's success in the interwar years was the excellent training from 1923 at Halton of the ground crew who kept the aircraft serviced in all weather conditions.
Equally important were the close-liaison with the surface naval and army commanders, intelligence, and the activities of political officers, quite often ex-servicemen themselves.
This AHB volume starts with the ground-breaking 1919 operations in Somaliland in which six RAF aircraft and crews took a successful part, setting the precedent for the 1920 Cairo decision to use the RAF in colonial campaigns to gradually replace the slow, cumbersome Army garrisons. Shortly, Iraq, Aden/ Yemen, and eventually Trans-Jordan were so controlled. At a time of financial constraints, Lord Trenchard, a Boer War veteran and head of the RAF, bet correctly that a few RAF squadrons could replace Army battalions economically and efficiently.
The RAF flew reconnaissance sorties collecting photo evidence, dropped leaflets warning of attacks, and occasionally bombed and machine-gunned obstreperous villages. It also employed armored cars, especially in Iraq. Because of careful planning and preparations, casualties in these conflicts were negligible.
Air control was not used in Palestine during the 1936-1938 Arab Revolt when British troops and police committed a number of atrocities. Ultimately the solution was imposed by a tri-service effort on the eve of World War II.
Ritchie provides conclusions and the principal lessons for air power. This AHB volume should be read as a corrective to David Omissi's Air Power and Colonial Control: The Royal Air Force, 1919-1939 that was published in 1990.
Robin Higham, Professor Emeritus, Military History, Kansas State University, Manhattan Kansas