SWISS AIR FORCE AND ANTIAIRCRAIT COMMAl'ID June 1971
KFLF I Dokumentationsdienst • i' lndexiert : 23. JUNI 1972 .~ Mikrofilm : 5 0 0 J 1 2 C· ( Nachweise:
THE SWISS AIR FORCE
By lst Lt florian Davatz
Observer, Swiss Ab:~ Force Oillitia) THE SWISS AIR FORCE June 1971
By 1st Lt florian Davatz Observer, S"wiss Air Force (Hilitia)
1. THE HEROIC ERA: 1912 - 1914
Like in many other countries, the birth of what is now proudly referred to as the Swiss Air Fo1,ce was a slow, painful process and the path of its early development was tortuous, covered by obstacles and rna.rked by opposition due mainly to ignorance and inexperience, but also to the poor performance of the early
rickety and nnderpowered n aeroplanes n 0 The pioneer~s of aviation as a whole v1ere visionaries and ad\raTJ.turers on a new frontier, yet it is doubtful that even -they would have believed that in
half a century the frail "chicke.1·1 coops n they were flying at that time would develop into the sleek and shiny blowtorches Which today zoom through the uwild blue yonder" at twice the speed of sound. Quite a few anong the pioneers of aviation - pilots and aircraft designers - were Swiss nationals. They all owned air planes. Some were developing flying machines for manufacturers in Gennany and France, others worked in Switzerland, but they all had one thing in common: enthusiasm for flying. The kt:my tvas al ready conscious of the advantages of observation from the air. Reports on the use of captive balloons during the .Ainerican Civil tvar must have reached Switzerland fairly quickly, but it took until 1899 to establish the first "Balloon Company" and until 1900 for the first balloon to take to the air. After the first flight by the Wright Brothers: in. December, 1903, heavier-than-air aviation captured the fancy of the public all over the world, and it was
only natural that the military would study the p:Jt~1tial of the "aeroplanen in warfare.
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Air shows were put on all over Europe, including Svd.tzerland, be ginning in 1906 with the first powered flig}Jrt of the Brazilir.m Alberta Santos-Dt.uront on a plane built in Europe (by himself} • The ice had been broken. However, the initiative to buy airpla11es did not come f:run the A...vmy, but from pilots who had learned to fly in other cotmtries at their own expense, and from the Swiss Aero Club, founded on March 31, 1901. In January, 1910, the first public air show took place, 21!-d four pilots (still without a license) bounced around, producing a lot of kindling and leaving the public somewhat disappJintedo During the same year, several im:pJr·tant events took place: on Harch 15, the first successful and fairly nlongvv flight ( 31 minutes and 10 seconds) over Swiss territory with
an engine-powered airplane (a hlri~ht biplane) was carried out successful :ly from the frozen SUl'"'face of Lake St. Moritz by the Genna.11 Corvette Captain Paul Engelhard (a pupil of Orville t-Jright}; on July 12th, Armand Dufaux managed· to rema.L.1 airoorn.e for 31 minutes at Viry near Geneva, with a plane built by his brother Henri, and on August 28th he won the
Perrot-Duval prize of Sfr. 5 1 000 .. -- by flying t~e full length of Lake Geneva (41 miles) in 55 minutes and thus marked the beginn:L"1g of Swiss motor-driven aviation; on October lOt~, the SrJ'1iss Aero Club arranged t~e first National Aviation Meeting in Switzerland, jo:L""Ltly with the Automobile Club of Bern. In the course of this event, E!:nest Failloubaz f:run Avenches aJld Emilio Taddeoli from Geneva were awcm1ed Pilot's Li censes Nos 1 and 2 of the Aero Club of Switzerland; DUbendorf, the first Swiss aerodrome with permanent facilities, was inaug.rrated on the occa sion of an Aviation Week (October 22 to 26) attended by 100'000 spectators who applauded the French pilo·t Legagneux as the hero of the event when~ on a Bleriot, he completed the first cross-cormt:ry flight in Switzerland successfully, over a distance of sc.tne 12 miles from DObendorf to Uster and back. All these events did not go unnoticed by the military authol."'~ities e Furthennore, sane of the pilots had C6lled the at-tention of the Mili·tary Department and of the General Staff to the possibilities of using air planes in the Army.
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On December 30, 1910, the Chief of the Ge..neral Staff submitted a hand-v.Iritten letter ( typewrita"'S were still sca:t."'Ce ! ) to the
Hilitary Departrn~~t and ei\.'})ressed the opinion of the Ge...'""le·.rel Staff t"lat the tL'"Ile to take over heavier-than-air aviation had not yet come but that a benevolent attitude should be takeno The limited means available should be used to support serious efforts by awa..""' ding subsidies to fliers who could prove their proficiency t.vith recognized pilot' s licenses or by sponsoring ru.Val.'"'Cis f~ outs-tanding performa.~ces.
In 1911, the S"wiss Officers' Society accepted an invitation to attend the French maneuvers betwee...n. Belfort and Vesoul, and many hi~"'l~ral'l."king Swiss officers went along. Ntmlerous airplalles took part in the operations!) and it Wa.s evident that considerable prog:r'eSS had been made in their desig11 since the 1910 Fall Maneuvers o Tne SV\'d.ss officers v.1ere :impressed and conseque..ntly, the first attempt was made to use an airplane during the rnaneuvers of t""le 1st Swiss Army Corps
.in September of the same year., Also in 1911, the Ae::s..~ Club Section of Eastern. Switzerland published a merrorandum in which it called the attention of the public to the need for airfields in Switzerland as a first step towards the introduc..-rtion of military aviation which, as progr'ess in surrounding countries had shown, was boUJ.?].d to ba,""''me an indispensable instrument of national defense. The Government was asked to shed the reluctance it had shot.-m up to then and to support the creation of ai.rdromes. These airfields should be made accessible to the public in order to encourage you.Tlg enthusiasts to buy their own airplanes. Without additional cost, this would create a stock of trained pilots available for national defense, should the time come to in-rn:xluce aviation into the &."""'ffy •••
In June, 1912, the Chief of the General Staff submitted to the Federal Military Department a memorandum vJhich he had req1.1ested of the Central Corrunittee of the Arcro Club. It was a summary of suggestions by various
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groups of aviators on t".he most effective ways in which the Government could support their efforts, but unforrtunately 5 nothing was said about hovr airplanes could or should be used in the Arnrj, and therefore, no response was elicited fTOm the military, The_~ \vas also some opposi tion against that newcomer, the aeroplane. Dozens of so-called ~vexperts·vv voiced their opinions, in books, magazines a:nd in letters to the military authorities. They recommended the captive balloon as the only contrivance suitable for the A..YTfir:f and warned against the purchase of aeroplanes. They claimed that a captive balloon could remain airborne for at least 12 hours or even indefinitely, close to the front l:ines, to observe the enemy on the ground and to report approaching hostile aircraft. Furthermore, they said, captive balloons were much cheaper and one of them could replace four or five aeroplanes.
Other vvexpertsvv implored the Office of the Ge..neral Staff, the !1ilita_ry Depar'trn.e='....nt and the President of 9-wi tzerland personally, to buy the diri gible "Parsevaln :instead, whic..h could achieve a speed of 50 - 70 kmlh (31 - 44 rnph ! ) ; it had been fly.ing over Z~ich dm"'iJ1g the 1909 Gordon
Beru""1ett tournament o
The rook "Aeroplanes and Dirigibles as Means of ~'Varfare n stated: H ... ., The aeroplanes are done with anyway when they come close ·to a dirigible.
The whirlwind caused by the four propellet"~s creates a zone one kilometel"" long and with a diameter of 200 to 300 meters which is unpa.ssable for an aeroplane.. /m.y aeroplaTJ.e getting into this whirl\"Tind would be 't.)rn about irnm-....odiatel y and would crash to the ground • ., • n
Others who VJere in favor of airplanes differed greatly in their various opinions. While some recorrmended monoplanes, others t·.Tere all for biplaT'les which they considered better suited for fly:L"Lg in SvJitzel"'land .. Some even warned that speeds in excess of 50 to 60 krn/h ( 31 - 37 mph) were dange.'t"Qus for humans!
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Thus time passed, and while no major breakthrough came to pass, the controversy-; the continuing privdte flying ac-tivity &id the rapidly increasing arms race in Germany and France kept the Svrlss people aware of the need to lay the fournations for military aviation. Almost at the exac·t tL~e when the General Staff w-as exchanging memo;::~&""'lda with the Aero Club and with the ~nitary Department, a National Drive for Militar-y Aviation was initiated by the Swiss Officers' Society. It was launched on January 1st, 1913, with an appeal to the Stviss people, signed by the highest-ranking officers and by a large rrurnber of prominent :members of both Houses. In the course of that year, many fund-1'B.is:ing projects were put on, such as sports shows, concerts, the sale of post cards and L""l'.:>fficial air mail stamps and of course, several air shows. More than 1, 7 million S11iss Francs were raised, of which a quarter milliOJ.~ was donated by Swiss citizens who lived abroad. Today, the post cards and especially the first inofficj_a~ air mail stamps are treasu:red collector's items - as any philatelist can tell.
Meanwhile, as the records say, n. • • the first organized and syste matic use of aeroplanes o • "" took place during the 1913 Fall Maneuvers of the 2nd Division. '00 pilots, Theodore Borrer and Oskar Bider with tlre Observers 11arius Reynold and Theodore Real flew 10 reconnaissance missions, using a Hanrio·t plane. On a foggy night, the cre"t.v Bider/ Real lost its orientation, had to make an eme:"gency landing and cracked up the aircraft. Fortunately, pilot and obse~ver were able to walk away from the wreck, practically unhm.~.
These and other tests and also the development of military aviati01~ in other countries convinced the Swiss Hilitary Depar'-unent of the necessi ty to include aviation in the Anned Forces but the negotiations to buy six German LVG biplanes (designed by Franz Schneider, a SvJiss ~1gineer) were interrupted by the outbreak of World tvar I .. On July 31, 1914, Gene ral Staff Captain Theodore Real was ordered to leave his previous assi~,_ ment and to fo1-m a flying corps.All he had to start with wa.s a blank
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sheet of paper, a pencil and a tiny office in the Federal Capitol Building in Ben1.He started out by confiscating the three foreign airplanes on display at the 1914 Swiss National Exposition. Then he secured a list of all the 8\\riss aviators, includmg those v.1ho lived abroad but were subject to militar~ service.
He gathered some of these men, a colorful group of dedicated enthu siasts, all pioneers of aviation, and i·t may be stated 't·Jithout exaggeration that no other a..V'Iffiy had as thoroughly trained a pilot corps as SvJitzerland at the outbreak ·of World War I. It was a small nucleus of fliers , but each one had complete control of his aL.~ane and several of the men had made a name for themselves in other countries. Cavalry Corporal Oskar Bider was already famous for his exploits and was to become an almost legendary figure in Switzerlande
He had skyrocketed to fame vJhe.n, on January 23, 1913 ~ 1 1/2 months after obt a:ining his pilot' s license, at the Bleriot School of Avia tion in Pau, France, he flew the 319 - mile distance from Pau to Madrid, Spain, .in 5 1/2 hours, with only one brief stop at Guadalaj&"'a. He was the first aviator to cross the Pyrenees, at an altitude of 10' 500 feet. Edmond Audemars was one of the fetv aerobatics fliers then
.it! existence and had demonstrated his prot·Jess at big air shows in Europe and in the USA. He was also the first pilot to fly from Paris to Berlin and back. Ernest Bttrri had acquired exper'ience as a militarry aviator in the Bulgarian Army, during the Firs·t Balkan War, where he had been decorated. Subsequently he had been a test pilot of the Voisin Aircraft Factory in France. In the spring of 1914, he had won second ~~ace i.Ti the Schneider Trophy Race for hydroplanes in Honaco. Also Agenor Parmelin had been active as a test pilot in f'r&1ce. He had earned his laurels for being the first man to fly ae1~ss the peak of Montblanc. Albert Cuendet, Alfred Comte (future designer and manufac turer of airplanes) and Frengois Durafour had bee.l'1 test pilots in Paris. Rene Grendjean had w.:>n several i..-rophies and had set records 'tvi th an aeroplane he had built himself" Only Marcel Lugrin had not yet n?.d a chance to prcve his proficiency by w:irming av.rcrrds, but he flew his ma chine as well as all the others. - 7 ...
The Swiss Air Corps began with almost as many makes of airplanes as there were pilots to man them" There were four monoplanes (two Bleriot, one Norane-Saulnier and one Grendjean) and four biplaT'les (two LVG and one each Aviatik and Farman) , and one spare mo-tor which "5ra.S the private property of Oskar Bider. These men and this equipment cons·tituted the entire Sv-1iss Air' Force :in 1914. It was subdivided into tv10 squadrons , one of monoplanes and one of biplanes. Still in the same year, Di'tbendorf became the official military air drome and remained the principal military air base to this day.. Thus began the history of today's Swiss Air For,ce, pr19tty much in the same way as military aviation came into being else\..vhere ~ with "magni ficent flying rnachines?V rraje of v.:rood, canvas and piano wir•e, with the smell of castor oil, with the frustration, sometimes the ~.cagedy but also the glory and sheer guts of pion.ee1,s on the ne:w frDntie-.c of a still infant aviation ..
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2. THE FIRST ~,JQRLD lW\: 1914 - 1918
Formal recognition of the Svri.ss Air~ Corps came at the end of its first year of existence, on August 15, 1915, when the Federal Council issued a Decree on the Organization of Hili- tary Aviation .. It established the chain of comrrand, the orga nization of squadrons and the tra:L1ing of pilots. Although a total of 4-0 '100 flights were flown during the first four years,
the new "Fliegertruppe~' saw very little action dlli"ing that period. A few reconnaissance flights in connection with maneuvers · were about the only tactical missions carried out during the first ttbrld t!Jar. It may have been a good thing, for consolidation and training provided more than enough w:>rko
One of the main problems was aircraft procurement. None were available from abroad on account of the war. So the Air Corps, on its own initiative, built six reconnaiss&JCe biplanes designed by its Materiel Officer, Robert tvild, an engineer who had been designing
airplanes for AVLA.TIK prior to the war. The Power'S That Be ~.vere somewhat incensed by this "arbitroryvv procedure, and in the Spl..,ing of 1915 the Federal Military Equipment Factory w-as ordered to build six biplanes designed by another Swiss engineer, A. Haefeli. The Air Corps refused to accept the "bt\To prototypes DH-1 and DH-2. Only the 1917 model DH-3 was found satisfactory, and eventually 110 planes of this type were built and remained in service (at the end for training only) until 1939. Meanwnile, several Wild biplc3!'"1es had been built and were the first Swiss aircraft to prove the'1lselves :in continuous use. Some Nieuport Bebe s:Ll'lgle-seat fightei."'S ~rJere plli.~hased in 1917 and were found very satisfactory, especially since they t.vere suitable also for aerobatics.
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HO'tv much the Air Corps suffered :from the shortage of materiel is best illustrated by a telegram it sent to the Army Staff in 1916,
~~hich :read: -nLieutenant Coeytaux capsized,. He is unhurt, ''Je must
interrupt Pilot Training SctQ(.:~l for a fev.r weeks'~. During the re
paLY1S the traine,es ltiiere not released on furlough but had to lend a hand in the workshops. Such incidents happened quite fr'equently, which is evident from the fact that the pilots nic.."lcnamed the trai ning plane nHis·tressn because it was lying on its back so often !
One of the memorable events of 'rbrld ~AJar I was t11e first military
fonnation flight from DThendorf to Lausa.:ru1e (abou·t 115 miles), \~ith Oskar Bider at the controls of t11e lead plane.
3. BETVVEEN ThTQ HARS: 1919 - 1939
'IWo disti.nctly different periods characterize the twenty years be·-
tween the two t\brld t~ars: the first one, from 1919 to 1936 and the second one from 1936 to 1939. One might say that during the first 17 years after the armistice the Air Corps came of age, and that
the ensuing 3 years were used to tt1e largest possible ext~"1t to adapt its concept and organization to t:he new trends and develop ments which became apparent among neighbormg countries , and to initiate the procurment of new aircraft to prepare Switzerland for the possibility of another war in Europe vvhich became more and more a certainty.
After the First ~-Jar ended, it was the hope of mankind that peace was here to stay. Although Switzer'land had been spared from the ravages of actual combat, most adult men had had to spend many months in unifonn to stand guard along the borders, aYJay from their families, their farms and jobs, and with a pitifully low pay. So it was understandable that t'l1ere was neither a great desire among the p:>pulation nor much money available from the Government to .!. THE SHISS AIR FORCE - 10 -
renew the equipi·ne."'lt of the Arrned Forces :in general and the srrall Air Corps in particular. Disarmament was the slogan of the day and the dream of all the people. Fol"' a v.thile there t-a.s even a question whether the Air Corps, still considered an auxiliary weapon, should be kept in existence o
In 1919 , the Swiss Air Force consisted of 5 squadrons, the necessary ground crews, a Photo Compa.Tiy and a Maintenance a11d Repa ,.;r Compatry.
The Commander "WaS a staff officer and the necessary personnel had to be obtained from other branches of the Arrcy; Only as late as 1920 , the first basic training courses (Recruit Schools) for Air Corps personnel were instituted. In SNitzerland, every able-bodied citizen must go through Basic Training as a re.c.."!uit, regaroless of what his futu:re military career might be. Therefore, it was important for t~e Air Corps to be enabled to give its soldiers some i:eclmical training in Recruit Schools of its o~.v.n (in addition to ·the strictly military instruction and the drill which 't.vere inevitable and compulsory :in all branches of the !tr.my) ~ An PJ:r Base Command was ins·tituted, with Headquarters in DJbe.11dorf, and it was put in charge of instruction and of maintenance and repair. ·
Also in 1919, the Air Corps ca....YTied out some experimental mail fliP-"hts between DUbendorf and Bern, later on as far as Lausanne, and in the same year, the nation mourned the death (in an air crash) of its hero and pioneer, Oskar Bidet'.
In spite of the obstacles which faced the St..viss .Air Force in the
Twtmties it was able to gro~tv further, mostly because ne»7 it was training its own troops. In 1924, it was composed of a Staff and 5 Air \Alings t...ri th a total of 6 Fighter Squadrons and 12 Recormaissance Squadrons, and an aggregate total of 234 aircraft.
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The big problem after 1919 was s·cill the procU!"ement of aircraft:~ At the end of the war, there were only a few Haefeli rrachines and soine even older ncratesH on hand. To fill the gap, 19 Zepp C-II two-seaters and 16 Han1"\iot D-1 single-seat fighte:r's were bought. The Swiss pioneer Alf-red Comte built 27 Fokker D-VII fighters (of t\brld \fllar I fame) under license, in his pla11t near Zlirich (some of them were used for aerobatics training until 1941 ! ) ;
60 planes of a ne~·J ~'d.ss design, Haefeli DH-5 two-sea·ters \..rere built and were kept in use until 194-0.
In 1928, the development of military aircraft received new im pulses fu:m the French designer Dewcitine. Under his guidance and supervision, the Federal Hilitary Equiprnel"lt Factory built the Dewoitine D-27, a single-seat fig."l-J.ter highly popular among pilots for its excellent flight characteristics and outsta1'"lding performance. It was said to be one of the "hottestn fighters in existence at that time .. wnile up to 19 30 the Air Force had seen its main task in re connaissance and aerial combat, a new function became predomina11t from then on. Foreign air fcm::es developed new tactics of grou.T'ld attack. As a consequence, the multi-purpose two-seater Fokker C-V was built under license, and the two nore advanced types C-35 (also used as a dive bomber) and later on the C-36 were developed and manufactured in Switzerland and were assigned to the squadrons. These aircraft were suitable both for reconarmaissance and for attack on ground targets and were the first planes of the Swiss Air Force equipped to carry bombs (both explosive and incendia.ry) •
The means of conmmication were improved. In the early s·tages, Radio was very temperamental and unreliable, and observers ha.:l to prac·tice droppjng messages stowed in small canvas bags attached to a strip of
19 cloth into areas rna:ti There was also a very merrora.ble eraa during \..Jhich carrie:t., pigeons were '~launched" from reconnaissance planes.. Is it surprising that same crews walked around with a smirk like that of a cat who swallowed the· canary ? At any rate, a lo·t of ·the hapless pigeons disappeared mysteriously, and history does not relate what happened to the messages attached to their legs (drumsticks ? ) • Ho1.·1ever, some oldtimers still have distinctly gastronomic memories. The colonel who was in charge of aCa:t'Tier Pigeon Operations vv - his first name \IITas Otto - is still affectionately re.'Ilembered as "Pigeon ottyn. As Radio equipment improved, every two-seater was outfitted with a set, operated by the observer. Since radiotelephone corrmmi cations were still unreliable on account of limited range and poor microphones, norse telegraphy was used a.lrrost exclusively, and during their tr,ain:ing the future observers had to spend hours every day practicing. In the la:te ThL.vvties, corrnnunications equipment had been improved to the point where also radiotelephone t-rorkE:."'Cl pretty well, and consequently pilot-operated sets were installed in all th.e ne'i.v single-seat interceptors. The Swiss air crews had repeated opportunities to test their skills at international tournaments. The first military air competitions were held in ~ritzerland as early as 1919, then again in 1923, 1925, 1929 and 1934. The International Air Meets (in part military in character as well) of 1922, 1927, 1932 and 1937 found wide acclaim. way beyond the Air Force. In 1933, 5\-ritzerland had four permanent Air Bases!) and in addition, there were eleven military parade grounds in various parts of the country which could be used for takeoff and landingQ Furthermor€, there were eight civilian or sport airfields, practically all with grass runways only, but quite sufficient for the aircraft then in use .. ..! • THE SA1ISS AIR FORCE - 13 - In 19 34, the Aircraft Spotting and Rep:>rt:ing Service was organized for the surveillance of the air space over Switzer1and (Conunanding Officer: nPigeon-Ottyu ! ) . It consisted of observation posts, (manned ·by civilians, Boy Scouts, men and TNOmen of the Auxiliary Services) , and of centers for the coordination and evaluation of the infonna.tion received, which in turn was passed on to the airborne squadrons by radio. The second period began On October 13, 19 36 , with a radical change, when the political develdpments in Europe and the general rea:rnament highlighted the importance of aerial warfareo It was t"t1en that the Air Fome was given the status of a separate b~ch of the Armed Forces. Subsequently, a riew Deparbnent was created which tmited the Antiairoraft Artillery under a single command Which also included the Aircraft Sp6ttihg and Reporting Service. The first Comrranding Officer was Divisional Colonel (equivalent to Major Gehet'al) Haps Bandi, a General Staff officer and former Artilleryman, who served in this capacity from late 19 36 through 194 3. 'Ihe Antiaircraft Corps had been nonexistent until then and it was one of the major tasks of the net-7 Comnandant to organize, equip and train this additional branch under his jurisdiction. The joint Air Force and Antiaircraft Command was assigned three princi pal missions: - Defense against enemy air attacks at the front and in the rear areas; - Independent operative tasks by order of the Arm:! Corrmand; - D~ct cooperation with ground troops. "'· THE SWISS AIR FORCE - 14 - Meanwhile, the worsening situation in Europe made a speedy build-up of the Air Force (persormel and materiel) imperative. trJi thin a short time the number of available air crews was doubled., The existing air- fields and bases were improved and new ones came into existence. In view of me imminent war which threatened Switzerla7.1d as much as any country, enonroU.s efforts towards readiness had to be made. Airplane purchasing missions were sent abn:;>ad, sample airplanes were bought for testing and evaluation, license agreements were signed with foreign manufacturers and purchase orders issued for new planes, anong which the excellent fighter, the Messerschmitt ME- (or BF-) 109 figured prominently (the first ME-109S arrived before the outbreak of the war). Apart from t.t"1e ME-109 s , all other Swiss warplanes then on hand were far inferior to their foreign counterparts. No other a.ircraft were obtainable for love or for rroney, with one exception: the French Morane 406 singl.e~-seat fighter, for t-.hlch the manufacturing lic~~se was secured. It was renamed D-3800 and its production - with some Swiss improvements - was started immediately. The haste with which n"'lese last-minute procu.rements had to be foreed throu~"1 did not impair the judgment of those who were responsible. Therefore, when hostilities in Europe broke out, the Air Force was as well-trained as always and either possessed or was soon to receive the rrodern equipment which ~uld make a would-be aggressor think it over twice before risking to violate the air space over Switzerland. .!. THE S\AITSS AIR FORCE - 15 - 4. ~DRLD \~ II: 1939 - 1944 On August 28, 19 39 , the Sv.1iss Air Force and the .Antiaircraft Corps ~111ere mobilized and put on alert. At that moment, the three Air Force Regiments were equipped with a total of 96 fighter planes (56 Dewoitine D-27 and 40 i'v!esserschmitt HE-109) and with 138 observation and ground-attack aircraft (60 Fokker C-V and 78 C-35). Only three of the· 21 squadrons could be consi dered fully equipped and ready for rodern combat, while five squadrons had no planes at all ! However, t~is situation was rernedied fast by the purchase of additional NE-109s and by de livery of Horane D-3800s to the units as fast as they came off the production line. In 1940, the pilots and grotmd crews of the remaining squadrons vJere broken in on their ne~...:r equipment. A new S'JI7iss design, the C-36 multi-ptJriX>se u.vo~seater, was intro duced, and early in 1943 the increased number of aircraft and per sonnel made it possible to add a fourth regiment to the Air Force which nQ'ii.r disposed of a total of 50 0 warplanes • During that same period the Surveillance ~~ing vJas created - a unit consisting of professional, full-time air crev.1s, including, for ~e first time, non-commissioned officer pilots. Up to then all flying personnel had consisted of corrnnissioned officers. The Surveillance Wing had been pla:rmed before the war. It was .intended for immediate interception at all times against violations of the Swiss air space, for testing new materiel and for experiments with new methods of attack and aerial defense. Its members also served (and still serve today) as flying instructors .for advanced training. .1. THE Svn:ss AIR FORCE - 16 - From 1944 to 1950 there existed c:lso a Night vJing, equipped with C-35 two-seaters marmed by militia pilots .. Its special mission was the attack against ground targets at night. From 1939 to 194-5, the Air Force and its sister branch, the Anti aircraft Corps, were on active duty partly in full strength and partly by turns. Their mission was to defend the neutrality of the Swiss air space and to sup}X)rt the ground forces in case of war. From the beginning of hostilities in Europe to the demobilization on Iv!ay 12, 194-5, the Air Force had put in 237,393 flying holL"Y18 with a tctal of 652~269 landings. The Aircraft Spotting and Reporting Ser vice had reported 6 , 501 violations of the Swiss air space, whereby large fonnations were counted as single violations. The following c.~art shows the number of foreign airplanes which landed, crashed or were shot down on Swiss territory from 19 39 to 194-5 : Cause Landed Crashed - -··- .... Swiss Air Force interception 2 14 Swiss antiaircre.ft fire 2 7 No action involved 194- 35 ! '· Total I 198 56 ' Grand Total 254 The wartime Commander in Chief of the Swiss Armed Forces, General Henri Guisan, connnented on these figures as follows: naur fliers had the opportunity - particularly at the beginning of June, 1940, when the .!. THE SWISS AIR FDRCE - 17 - Gennan. offensive in the ~"Test was in full St..ving, to test their skills against those of Gennan pilots. The recognit-ion of their superiority, m my opinion reflects more than tactical or teclmical success: the conspicuous braver,; with which ou.r pilots accomplished their defensive missions became an impressive syrribol of our deter mination to resist (foreign aggression)iv. Once again, Switzerland had managed to stay out of a major war. Undoubtedly, the Air Force contributed to this achievement by engaging numerically superior trespassers in actual combat over Swiss territory already as ea!"~ly as 1940 - at the sacrifice of lives and materiel. It helped to make the declaration of strict anned neutrality stick and furnished tangible proof that Switzerland was absolutely determined to defend its borders against any and all C'Omers, regarUless of the odds. THE S"'liSS AIR FORCE - 18 - 5. ENrERmG THE AGE OF JEI'S AND NUCLEAR. VJA.l{FARE ( 1945 TO DATE) The end of hostilities :in Europe and in the Pacific, the crea tion of the United Nations as a successor to the defu1ct League of Nations aroused the hopes of mankind again that peace had come to stay and that the threat of a nuclear holocaust would deter those who might still see war as a means to solve political problen1s. However, it became evident pretty soon that there were still some nations which, under the guise of "liberation'v, were trying to subjugate other countries under a totalitarian regime .. For SWizerland, though not located in the immediate neighborhood of the areas of tension, this meant clearly and unequivocally that readiness for defense must be IIB.intained and that the time span bet-ween an alert and the interception of an :invader must be shortened. On one ha.rrl the speed of airplanes had increased fran a fe'i.v hnndred miles per hour to that of sound at'""ld beyond, aT"Id on the other hand,declarations of war had gone out of fashion. This indicated that no time whatsoeve-r would be left for pre~'V'ICl.tions in a future conflict~ particularly in view of the fact that Switzer land, considering the range of modern bombers, is within easy reac."h of any potential aggressor. Faster than :in any previous instance and in direct continuance of the wartillle developments, the following measures were taken which greatly increased the effectiveness of air defense: - The first jets were oroered (175 De Havilland DH-100 VAT:viPIRES, some purchased from England but most of them bullt in Switzer land under license). Delivery began in 1946. ./. THE SvJISS AIR FORCE - 19 - - The a.ircraft were stored in caverns , carved out of the solid rock of the Swiss motmtainsides surrounding decentralized Alpine airfields. These caverns are self-contained shelters affording protection against nuclear attacks. They contain not only the a.ircrsaft, but complete servicing and repair facilities, fuel and anmmition dumps and the living quarters for pilots and ground personnel. - M Early Warning aT'ld Interception Radar Control network was set up, with a rrumber of stations i.nstalled on mountain peaks for maxi.m..nft reach and coverage.. Several French and Amei"ican systems were used successively. - At the beginning of the Sixties , Antiaircraft Artillery was expan ded and British BLOODHOUND Hk 2 long-raT'lge ground-to-air missiles were added to its arsenal .. Right after the t-Jar, to avoid a gap in the rrat&..,iel supply until a sufficient number of jets would be available, lOO sur-plus Nort~ American P-51 MUsrAijG single-seat fighters were bought from the USPJ. at low cost. The last ones vJere scrapped in 1958, after 250 Swiss-built De Havilland DH-112 VENOH jet fighters had brought the Air Force to what was conside red full strength :in the mid-Fifties. As the perfonnance of jets was improved, the .A..:ir Foroe bought lOO British Hawker HUNTER Hk 6 , suitable for inten::eption and grotmd support and capa ble of up to sonic speed. vJhen supersonic planes became available, the selection of suitable aircraft to naintain the punch of the Air Force be came rrore difficult, also in view of the fairly heavy L"'1vestment involved for a small cotmtry lilce Switzerland. Although the Specifications called for an increased maximum speed, the rugged Swiss terrain and tmStable weather required high rraneuverability and the capability for action rotmd the clock tmder any atrrospheric conditions e ./ .. T"HE SWISS AIR FORCE - 20- In t.t"'le Sixties, the decision was made to secure the licanse to manufacture lOO French-designed Dassault MIPAGE III all-weather fighters, in the S~viss versio.11 III S 'Which gave the plane some added features desirable for Swiss Flying conditions and the Swiss concept of national defense. In the end, only 54 were manufactured a..11d equipped with the American Hughes TARAN fire-control and navi gation system and with Hughes FAlCON air-to-air missiles. The cost of lOO of these planes would have exceeded the budgeted anount. For reconnaissance, some of these fighters were equipped with special automatic cameras and were given the name MIRt\GE III RSo The tl")aining of air observers had been discontinued with the adva11t of the jets. Mea.~while, the Early tvarning and Air Defense Radar System was greatly :improved. Today, American three-dimensional radar automatic tracking and weapon assignment and control equipment, the Hughes rl.DRIDA S:y""Stem, ultrarrodem and highly sophisticatedjt is opeiB.tional. At this time the purchase of additional fighter-bombers is at an ad vanced plarming stage. An outlay of 1, 300 million Swiss l"ra.ncs (about U. S. $ 300 million) is foreseen for this project. Many ail-rplanes have been tested, anong them the America1'1 LTV A-7D COPSAIR &"'ld the Douglas A-4 SKYHAWK, the French HIRAGE HTI.AN, the Italian Fiat G-91 Y., the British/French JAGUAR and various Swedish types. The final decision is expected in the immediate future. The problems of aircraft procurement a.ne a long shot from what they were back in the first Vbrld ,,.Jar. They are magnified by the enonnously increased complexity and cost of today's sophisticated equipme.1'1t and the greater variety of types available f1.um several countries which have a milita.ry aircraft industrY of their CYNn .. Also, it is no longer just a question of buying a number of airplanes: weaponry, cormunications, radar', spare parts by the thousands and the whole logistical support nust be adapted to what nuy represent a change of concept or a drastic step forward to new developm;mtso It also becomes more a,;Ld nore difficult for a government of laymen to judge whether the taxpayers' money was used tvisely, and the responsi.bility of those who recommend the purchase of ·a specific type of equipment grows in the same proportion. .!. THE ShTISS AIR FORCE - 21 - For liaison and observation, .!4ght Air:plane Squadrons equipped with some 100 frlench ALOUETIE II and III helicopter's 't-Jere crea ted. This type of a~raft is sometimes also used for transport. Other airplanes used for liaison and transport arte the Dornier D0-27 and the Swiss Pilatus PORTER PC 6, both equipped for gla cier landings and featuring characteristics v-1hich make them suitable for takeoff and landing on very short runways. For tr'aining, the Air Force uses BUcker BU 131 JUNG".IANN biplanes, designed m Germany in th~ Thirties, built in Switzerland nnder lice.11.se and still excellent for basic pilot training. Then there are two other types of propeller-driven trainers, the Swiss Pilatus P-3 and P-2. For jet trai..rdng, the Air Force uses two-seat De Havilland DH-115 Mk 55 VAMPIRE TRAINERS, DH 100 VAMPIRES and two seat MIRAGE III BS Trainers. S\~tzerland has about 400 trained militia and 150 professional pilots. To maintain their combat status, the militia pilots are required to fly from 50 to 80 hours a year, L"'l six train:L.Lg courses of one week each.. The training is concentra-ted on (but not restricted to) the use of the various weapons and to the practice of formation attacks against aerial and ground targets. ../. THE S\~SS AIR FORCE - 22 - 6 • CONCllJSION The A.ir Force will always be on the first 1L"1e of defense of Switzerlw'ld. Switzerland's deta.rmination to remain neutral must not be classified an:ong those nismsn which are changed conve- niently accoroing to the political situation. \vhile the &viss feel very strongly that they have a mission to help in hurcani- tarian fields and wish to rnainta:in friendly relations with all people of good :thlth, they resent interference from the outside. They are convinced that true lasting progress and prosperity can only develop in peacetime. But up to this day the motto of the a."1cient Romans nsi vis pacem, para bellumH has not lost its vali- dity for Switzerland .. Applied to the Swiss concept, it mean..s "Hind yOLU., own business and we' 11 mind C>Ul"S , and if you feel you 7 rrust interfere, we'll slap you on the fingersv • T..11e military concept of SNitzerland is stnbtly defensjve. It is the sole purpose of the Swiss .Anned Forces to discourage a potential :invader, or, if he insists, to make aggression a very costly pruposition for him. The Swiss hope they may never have to f:ire their v.7ear.ons in anger, but as the A:ir Force proved during World War II, they are ready, willing and able to defend their freedom at the cost of their lives. They all agree that the :rroney needed for armament could be spent for more "usefuln t."'rings, but, being realists, they know t1iat today it· is as necessary as ever for them to keep their powder dry and their weapons :in readiness. As Helnnrt Hubacher, the laborite Editor-in-chief of the "Arbeiter Zeitungu (Nl) and a member of the Swiss National Council (fbuse of Representatives) wn:>te, "In moments of da1'1ger, the weapon in one's hand is a lot more useful than beautiful oratory in times of peace. Furtherm:>re, none of the major Powers would :imitate our disarmament. Besides, Switzerland maintains a defensive anP.Y \A.nich does not want to attack ·anybody, but only wants to defend us. As long as we do not have a lasting peace on Farth, we shall need this guarantee.'' .!. THE SI:VISS AIR FORCE - 23 - Early in the l6t~ Centu...ry, Niccolo Machiavelli called the Sv..Tj_ss nli.berissimi e armatiss:inli.!' (extremely free and extremely -v1ell armed). That's exactly what they want to stay. REFERENCES 25 Ja!L~ SchT,veizerische Luftwaffe (25 Years of Swiss Military Aviation) Publishers: Flugwehr und -Technik cuid Buchdruckerei a./d. Sihl A.G. Ztirich, 1939 50 Jahre Schweizerische TI.ugwaffe (50 Years of Swiss Military Aviation) Eidgenossische Drucksachen- und t1aterialzentrale Bern, 1964 (Federal Government Printir1g Office) Ernst ~~tter I Femand Rausser: Flieger und Flab :im Einsatz I L' aviation et la DCA en action (Aviation and Antiaircraft in Action) Editions Walter SA, Olten, 1967 Dr. Wal ter F.. Dollfuss: Die Pionierzeit der SChweizerischa~ Luftfruu~t (Early Days of Swiss Aviation) Verkehrshaus der Scht..veiz, Heft 7, 1963 Dr. Ericht Tilgenkamp: Die Geschichte der Schweizerischen Luftfahrt (History of Swiss Aviation), 3 volumes Published by the Aero Club of Switzerland, ZOrich, 1941/42/43