Desert Air Force At War By Chaz Bowyer and Christopher Shores

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 for of cooperative 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 beauracracy 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.’