Word: coningham
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Dark Hair to Grey. Sir Arthur Coningham has top qualifications for his command. R.A.F. crews who have fought under his guidance swear that he is the greatest tactical commander that ever pranged a Jerry; air experts generally agree that he is the best Britain has produced. Beyond all doubt he is the most experienced. For three years he has held a continuous operational command, longer than any other high-ranking British airman...
...When Coningham arrived in North Africa three years ago to fight Britain's air war in the desert, his hair was still dark, almost black. Now, at 49, it is silver grey. But he has never lost an atom of his bouncing confidence, overflowing energy, infectious good humor. While ground commanders replaced one another as their fortunes ebbed & flowed along the Mediterranean shores, Coningham stayed on as the R.A.F. chief in the field...
...British airman had a clear idea of what a tactical air force was supposed to do. Coningham, who had left a heavy-bomber post in Britain, was flexible enough to learn. He took over seven battered squadrons of Hurricanes and lumbering Blenheims from Air Vice Marshal Raymond Collishaw, whose motto had been "Let's fox 'em." That idea did not suit Coningham. He knew that Jerry had to be slugged...
Schooling in the Desert. Coningham learned a good deal from the desert Luftwaffe. He learned more from his own experiments. He learned something about the relation of tactics to overall strategy from the brilliant strategic mind of prim, quiet Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Tedder (now Eisenhower's Deputy Commander in Chief), top Allied air commander in the Mediterranean theater when the Germans were finally cleared out of Africa...
...Coningham invented the tactic of sending out small bomber formations with inordinately powerful fighter escorts-e.g., 80 fighters for 18 bombers. The escorts would so chew up the enemy fighter strength that smaller escorts were enough for protection thereafter, and bomber missions could be multiplied...