Experiments in the
Airborne Role (Extract from 'Through Adversity' a dire tome)
In
1947 HQ 38 Group, which had carried the Airborne Forces to Normandy,
Arnhem and the Rhine, was tasked to develop an air-portable capability
for an RAF Regiment wing which could then be flown into overseas areas
to secure an airfield for transport operations. 2 Wing HQ, with 15 &
16 LAA Sqns & 63 Rifle Sqn., assembled at RAF Upavon in 1948 to
carry out unit air-portability trials. The two LAA sqns worked on
methods of loading their 24 Bofors guns, and associated equipment, into
4-engined Hastings aircraft while the Rifle sqn. developed loading
tables for its move by smaller 2-engined Valleta aircraft. 63 Sqn
completed its task sooner than the two LAA Sqns, which were finding a
number of problems in dismantling their 40mm Bofors guns so that they
could enter the side loading doors of the Hastings in several
pieces, secure them adequately for flight, unload them on arrival and
assemble the guns for action. To fill in time which the Rifle sqn had at
its disposal, the officers and airmen of 63 Sqn were trained as
parachutists in order to give the wing an all-round airborne role.
However it all turned to ashes as the task was one for which the
aircraft available at that time were unsuited and even if the LAA
sqns could have been deployed to a distant airhead, there was no airlift
capacity for their vehicles, which would have been left behind.
Apart from the fact that the problems of loading and unloading Bofors
guns in and out of Hastings aircraft proved to be insuperable, the
Air Ministry refused to recognise the parachutist qualification sof the
63 Sqn personnel, despite the fact they had competed the course at the
RAF's No 1 Parachute Training School and were carrying out parachuting
duties. Although RAF Regiment parachute units had been raised in both
the Middle East and Far East during the war and had been authorised to
wear parachute wings and receive parachutist pay, the official response
in 1949 was " the RAF gives wings and pay to people for staying in
aircraft, not for jumping out of them"
The project was abandoned and the squadrons remained at Upavon in their
normal roles until1950 when they were deployed at very short
notice to Sculthorpe , Lakenheath and Mildenhall to protect the USA
heavy bomber force, with its weapons, which was deployed to those
airfields from the continental USA in response to Russian hostility in
Europe.
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