A small war: Aden till 1967

[davidbfpo]

At a recent, local lecture comparing 'Air Policing' by the UK in the Middle East and Drone Warfare today, the speaker, Professor Clive Jones, startled me remarking that in "up country" aka Aden Protectorate (local rulers with a very limited Imperial role, not being colonies), there were RAF Field Intelligence Officers posted on short three to six month tours in the 1940-1950's. One report refers to them as 'a rather queer lot..part explorer, part diplomat, part anthropologist and part spy'. They relied on radio links to the colonial authorities in Aden (a colony).

The implication was that these officers continued to support 'Air Policing', which was a policy of bluff, bombing and bribery (with rifles, not cash). The intelligence supplied was crucial and the loss of life was low - when the RAF bombed.

Just rediscovered two threads that cover Air Power in COIN; this one refers to air policing and a key text:http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/...ghlight=omissi

A much bigger thread, with 387 posts and 137,244 views is:http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/...&highlight=air

Some insight into the RAF FIO role comes in pgs. 145-146, in a wide ranging RAF publication:http://airpowerstudies.co.uk/sitebui...AFAHBCOIN2.pdf