Trenchard at the Creation

The father of the RAF was one of the first to grasp that aviation would radically change warfare. Trenchard By Rebecca Grant at the Creation EFORE Hap Arnold, before Tooey Spaatz, before Douhet and de Sever- sky, even before Billy Mitchell, there was Britain’s Hugh M. Trenchard. Yet, Trenchard today rates barely a Bfootnote in most histories of airpower. When mentioned at all, he is remembered mainly as an advocate of an independent air force and as the first true practitioner of strategic bombing. In his day, Trenchard was known as the father of the Royal Air Force— a gruff and forceful patron saint of airpower. He trained and organized the RAF for World War I, then led it into battle, pioneering many of the concepts central to air warfare today. Trenchard the aviator was a domi- nating presence. He was described by American airpower legend Billy Mitchell as “decided in manner and very direct in speech.” The stern and uncompromising officer who even- keeping his distance from Army bu- tually found his niche in the Royal reaucracy. His passions were polo Flying Corps started off slouching and military tactics, and he cared through his military career. (The little for social graces. RFC, which was formed in April Trenchard first saw combat in Sep- 1912, joined with the Royal Naval tember 1900 in South Africa during Air Service on April 1, 1918, to be- the Boer War. His time in Africa ended come the Royal Air Force.) after he and the Australian horsemen He twice failed the British Army under his command pursued Boer rid- entrance exams. However, by age ers into a valley. Trenchard, charg- 20, he slid through, became a lieu- ing in ahead of most of his men, led a tenant, and was posted to India, where small party assaulting the farmhouse he met a fellow officer, the young where the Boers were holed up. He Winston Churchill, in a polo match was hit by a Boer bullet that pierced a in 1896. lung and grazed his spine, knocking Early on, he gained a reputation him out of the war. for flouting military authority and Sent home to England as an in- 76 AIR FORCE Magazine / February 2004 most of the officers for the land-based branch of the Royal Flying Corps. He also earned the nickname “Boom” for his bluntness and loud voice. (British Prime Minister Chur- chill would later jokingly say Boom should be changed to “Bomb.”) Trenchard was one of the first to grasp the radical impact aviation would have upon land warfare. The revelation came in September1912, when he flew as an observer with Longmore during Army maneuvers. In less than an hour, Trenchard was able to locate the opposing force. He and Longmore reported back to headquarters, then set out again to find their side’s cavalry and redirect them. Trenchard realized that no army could maneuver in secret, with air- A rough landing while tobogganing apparently fixed a spine injury that planes to spot them. From 1912 on, Trenchard suffered in the Boer War. Never very impressive as a junior officer, he was convinced that aviation would he found his calling late in his career, as an air tactician and strategist. change the conduct of war. Horatio H. Kitchener, the war min- valid, he could not walk without a thur Longmore, who had two years’ ister, and Churchill, running the admi- cane. A benefactor paid for him to go flying experience. ralty, were both believers in aviation— for the air to the Alpine resort of St. Fortunately, Trenchard found his Churchill the more so. But the real Moritz, where Trenchard took up the niche at the new Central Flying man to impress was Gen. Douglas Haig, toboggan. Miraculously, it restored School, which needed an adjutant to commander of Britain’s First Army, him. One morning, he took a down- put it in order. Despite his tendency in the World War I trenches in France. hill curve too fast and flew off the to be abrupt and gruff, Trenchard, Trenchard soon got his chance. He toboggan, landing hard 30 feet down during his Army years, had devel- went to France in November 1914 as the hill. Rather than causing more oped not only the knack of listening commander of one of the Royal Fly- damage, the jolt jarred his spine in but a keen sense of human nature. ing Corps’ three operational wings. such a way that the half-paralysis He set the curriculum for trainees His observation of the war to date dissipated. He got up out of the snow, and emphasized discipline and skills, convinced him the corps was too cau- able to walk with no impediment. such as map reading, signals, and en- tious. Trenchard believed it was vital His biographer Andrew Boyle gine mechanics. In the two years re- to fight for air ascendancy, not just wrote, “He had cured himself by vio- maining before World War I broke undertake routine patrols and recon- lence.” out, Trenchard’s courses turned out naissance. Summoned to a meeting Unfortunately there was no tonic for his career in the Army. After another 10 years of postings in places like Nigeria and Ireland, Trenchard, as a major at age 39, had an undistin- guished record and few prospects. It was at that point that Trenchard Hulton Picture Library determined he would learn to fly. The Airman His commanding officer told Tren- chard that he was too tall and too old. The infant Royal Flying Corps of 1912 accepted no one over 40. Undeterred, Trenchard got two weeks’ leave and paid for his own instruc- tion. Thirteen days later, he soloed, after a grand total of one hour and four minutes of flying time. In truth, Trenchard was never a good pilot. According to Boyle in Trenchard, Winston Churchill (in flying helmet) returns from a flight in 1915, greeted by a Man of Vision, he was described as crowd of well-wishers. Churchill’s enthusiasm for aviation aided Trenchard in “indifferent” by Royal Navy Lt. Ar- his push to expand resources and responsibility for Britain’s fledgling air arm. AIR FORCE Magazine / February 2004 77 with Haig in early January 1915, Trenchard learned of secret plans for a March offensive at Neuve Chappelle and offered his view on what air units could do. Imperial War Museum Abandoning Caution “I explained rather badly about artillery observation (then in its in- fancy), reporting to gun batteries by Morse and signal lamps, and of our early efforts to get wireless going,” Boyle quotes Trenchard as saying. Scouring maps of the front with Haig, Trenchard explained where his squadrons would be. He convinced Haig. According to Boyle, Haig told him: “Well, Trenchard, I shall expect you to tell me before the attack whether you can fly, because on your being able to observe for the artillery and Gen. Douglas Haig was receptive to Trenchard’s ideas for the use of air in World carry out reconnaissance, the battle War I. Here, Haig confers wih British war minister David Lloyd George (right), as will partly depend. If you can’t fly French minister Albert Thomas and French Gen. Joseph Joffre look on. because of the weather, I shall prob- ably put off the attack.” again asked Trenchard to provide British assaults of 1915, yet senior In February, Trenchard’s airmen aerial reconnaissance and bombing military leaders recognized the value scored a coup that justified such con- of targets behind enemy lines. of the aerial support. The Battle of fidence. Trenchard had encouraged In August 1915, Trenchard became Loos brought Trenchard a promotion them to replace sketch pads with commander of all British air forces to general and, far more important, a cameras for reconnaissance of Ger- in France. One month later, at the citation from the British Expedition- man trench lines. One set of photo- Battle of Loos, Trenchard’s fliers ary Force commander in chief, Field graphs uncovered German lines around sketched out for the first time a cam- Marshall John D.P. French, praising a brick factory. Trenchard briefed paign recognizable as full-scale sup- the Royal Flying Corps for its work, Haig’s ground commanders, who, port to a land commander. It began especially the railway bomb attacks, using the aerial photos, took the again with meticulous mapping of which disrupted enemy communica- brickworks in daylight. Now Haig enemy strong points, giving British tions. wanted the aviators to not only map heavy artillery targets in advance. Trenchard’s practical insights had the whole trench line but also stage Haig hoped to break German lines made airpower a partner—albeit a an aerial bombardment, in conjunc- at Loos at a narrow point then pour junior partner—among the combined tion with the artillery barrages that infantry reserves through the gap. To arms. Next, Trenchard sought air su- were to precede the offensive. He aid the plan, Trenchard’s squadrons periority. approved an elaborate scheme link- carried out three days of bombing of The technically superior German ing aerial observers and artillery. rail junctions and other targets to Fokker, with its synchronized ma- Haig summoned Trenchard to his hinder movement of German reserves chine guns, dominated the western headquarters at midnight on March into the gap. The ground attack began front in late 1915. Following soar- 8 and asked him to send up a pilot at Sept. 25, 1915. Airmen once again ing Royal Flying Corps losses in dawn for a weather report. Despite spotted for artillery, but Trenchard, November and December, Trenchard lingering low clouds, the fliers took for the first time, held some squad- imposed a new rule on his pilots: to the air in perhaps the first instance rons in reserve, dispatching them Any aircraft flying reconnaissance in which air support was directly where needed, as the heavy fighting must be escorted by at least three linked to a major ground assault.

Load more