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This electronic thesis or dissertation has been downloaded from the King’s Research Portal at https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/ Control without Occupation The missed lesson of effective air operations in irregular conflict from the RAF’s air control scheme Newton, Richard Dana Awarding institution: King's College London The copyright of this thesis rests with the author and no quotation from it or information derived from it may be published without proper acknowledgement. END USER LICENCE AGREEMENT Unless another licence is stated on the immediately following page this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International licence. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ You are free to copy, distribute and transmit the work Under the following conditions: Attribution: You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work). Non Commercial: You may not use this work for commercial purposes. No Derivative Works - You may not alter, transform, or build upon this work. Any of these conditions can be waived if you receive permission from the author. Your fair dealings and other rights are in no way affected by the above. Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact [email protected] providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 29. Sep. 2021 King’s College London Control without Occupation: The missed lesson of effective air operations in irregular conflict from the RAF’s air control scheme Richard D. Newton Defence Studies Department A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Defence Studies 7 Aug 2016 TABLE OF CONTENTS GLOSSARY. .......................................................................................................................................... ii LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................................... iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ..................................................................................................................... iv ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………………………………………v Chapter One, Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 1 Terminology ................................................................................................................................... 11 The Leadership ............................................................................................................................... 14 The Literature ................................................................................................................................. 14 Structure of the Thesis .................................................................................................................... 39 Chapter Two, Air Control between the Wars ....................................................................................... 47 Opportunity .................................................................................................................................... 53 Capitalising on the Success ............................................................................................................ 59 The Cairo Conference, March 1921 ............................................................................................... 72 Chapter Three, Air Control in Practice ................................................................................................. 82 Air Control on the North-West Frontier of India ......................................................................... 101 The Peculiar Case of Palestine ..................................................................................................... 107 Fully Implementing the Air Control Scheme ............................................................................... 117 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................... 124 Chapter Four , Intelligence, Influence, and Air Control ...................................................................... 128 Learning to Live Among the Tribes ............................................................................................. 145 Targeting and Effects ................................................................................................................... 152 Influencing the Decision-makers .................................................................................................. 155 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................... 159 Chapter Five, Air Control and Its Influence ....................................................................................... 160 Gaining Control ............................................................................................................................ 162 Applying Coercive Effects ........................................................................................................... 171 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................... 176 Chapter Six, Conclusion: Air Power, Tribal Control, and Irregular Warfare .................................... 178 Concluding Thoughts ................................................................................................................... 191 APPENDIX 1 ...................................................................................................................................... 194 BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................................... 196 i GLOSSARY AFHRA Air Force Historical Research Agency (US) AHB Air Historical Branch (UK) AIR Air Ministry Papers Air Cdre Air Commodore (1-star) AC Aircraftsman (RAF enlisted rank) ACM Air Chief Marshal (4-stars) AM Air Marshal (3-stars) AVM Air Vice Marshal (2-stars) Brig Brigadier (1-star, UK) Brig Gen Brigadier General (1-star, US) CAB Cabinet Papers CAS Chief of the Air Staff (UK) CHAR Chartwell Paper (Churchill’s papers from before 27 July 1945) CO Colonial Office Papers CP Cabinet Papers DoD Department of Defense (US) FO Foreign Office Papers Gen General (4-stars) IWM Imperial War Museum LHA Liddell Hart Archives at King’s College London Lt Gen Lieutenant General (3-stars) Maj Gen Major General (2-stars) MRAF Marshal of the Royal Air Force NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organisation RCAS Royal Central Asia Society ROE rules of engagement RUSI Royal United Service Institution SF Special Forces SOF Special Operations Forces Sqn Squadron SSO Special Service Officer TNA The National Archives (UK) TREA Treasury Papers USII United Service Institute of India WC War Cabinet Papers ii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2.1, British Somaliland, 1919 53 Figure 4.1, Z-Unit DH-9 Air Ambulance 129 Figure 4.2, Air Control Process 137 Figure 5.1, Credibility, Capability, & Communication 167 Figure 5.2, Power, Presence, & Perception 170 Figure 6.1, SSOs in the Centre 190 iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT In January 1999, I took off my flight suit and changed my role from practitioner to educator and researcher. I was afforded the privilege of teaching the soldiers, sailors, and airmen of NATO about special operations, air power, and the interdependence of the two. Along the way, I was honoured to be included in an amazingly talented and discerning group of airmen from the United Kingdom, Germany, Denmark, Italy, and the United States who drafted, tested, and promulgated the first NATO doctrines and theories for special air warfare and the appropriate role for air power in conflicts of an irregular nature. Like so many others who have attempted the process of a PhD thesis, I could not have completed this journey of learning on my own. I am grateful for all who listened and challenged me as I formed my ideas, who encouraged and held me up when it all seemed ‘just too hard’, and who saw the value of this research. Thank you. There are two, however, without whom this thesis would have been consigned to the recycle bin. Dr David Jordan, Senior Lecturer in the Defence Studies Programme at King’s College London, agreed to become my supervisor at a time when the thesis and my thinking about air power and irregular warfare had become ‘lost in the clouds’. Like all great instructor pilots, he guided, nudged, and when necessary, re-focused my efforts to get me and the thesis back on course and on glide path. It is Group Captain (RAF, retired) Graham Thwaites, though, who is most responsible for this thesis being attempted in the first place and whose influence—friendship, support, and the occasional ‘kick in the trousers’, kept me going during some especially trying episodes. Without his vision, counsel and encouragement, this thesis would not have been attempted and likely would have never been completed. The one who deserves the greatest credit though, is my wife. Kathy was the one who told me to ‘go for it’ when the opportunity to attempt the PhD presented itself. She suffered through the separations caused by the year in residence at King’s and my research trips, and also the years of missed