Desert Air Force at War
Bowyer, Chaz, Shores, Christopher
The Desert Air Force, and its illustrious forebears, are now one of the Royal Air Force's legends. A multi-national blending of air and ground crews, the DAF created a form of co-operative land-air warfare which ultimately was adopted by the Allied fighting services in every other theatre of war in 1940-45, and proved to be the key to eventual victory. The path to that inter-service integration of efforts was long and bloody; but with rare skill, stoic patience, outstanding courage, and no small sacrifice, the DAF won its laurels in superb fashion. Along that stony, weary pathway the individual members of the DAF also created a bond of comradeship with each other that withstood the harsh testing of deprivation and hazard, and living and working conditions which might have daunted lesser men.
The true heart of the DAF lay in its total dedication to 'the Job' - naught else assumed higher priority. Such mundane matters as parades, proper uniform, correct channels, and the many other inevitable facets of a peacetime-raised RAF bureaucracy were relegated to a level of mere incidental importance. It was an attitude reflected in the words of one of the RAF's most famous commanders, Arthur 'Maori' Coningham, who opined: 'Strip 'em of all non-essentials, give 'em plenty of work, and they'll be a happy lot'. Despite outward appearances - and the men of the DAF were ever easy to recognise in their highly individual interpretations of service uniform - the men of the DAF were well disciplined. Not, it is true, in the mould of barrack-square fetishism, or the Uxbridge-mentality blind obedience to the printed regulation of T. E. Shaw's experience; but the willing, unenforced discipline of men bonded in a common cause, sharing equally in a common peril.
Hardcover with dust jacket, large format
128 Seiten / pages
many photos
very good condition
Shepperton, Surrey (UK) - 1981 - Ian Allan
Art.Nr. 23853
