Peter J. Dye

Not so long ago, I re-watched David Lean's classic film Lawrence of Arabia and saw reference to the use of air power, first by the Turks and then by the British in support of Lawrence's campaigns. Not long afterwards, I saw references to this book and so I had to obtain a copy.

The book is produced by the World War I aviation historical society, Cross & Cockade. It started out as a compendium of articles from their journal on the subject of Lawrence's use of air power, but as with so many of these things, it grew well beyond that into the story of how the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and its successor, the RAF, expanded their operations into the Middle East, having to overcome issues with the environment and operating well away from their supply lines.

Starting with an account of 14 Squadron's 'Arabian Detachment', which operated in support of Lawrence's campaign, the story continues with the deployment of a Handley Page O/400 bomber to the theatre of operations (the act which caused the famous - and often mis-quoted - exclamation of one Arab, that "At last they have sent us THE Aeroplane, of which these others were just the foals"); then there is an account of the disastrous deployment of 58 Squadron, which resulted in considerable loss of aeroplanes, some loss of life, and a ferry flight from the UK to Egypt of around two months which nowadays would be achieved in a couple of days at most. The squadron's CO was replaced as the deployment continued; the official repercussions of this are only alluded to, but it was considered a personal failing, whereas with hindsight it can be seen that the Air Ministry was possibly being over-confident based on the success of the detachment that was fighting alongside Lawrence, whose success had an element of luck in avoiding some of the worst effects of the environment and aircraft reliability.

The book closes with an account of the work done to establish the Cairo - Baghdad air route, which included the ploughing of a continuous ditch across part of the desert to give pilots something to follow in the otherwise featureless landscape.

There are technical appendices and a short account of the Turkish air arm (which was organised and commanded by German officers). Throughout, T.E. Lawrence is a continual presence, even if for most of the time he is off-stage. The book does have a common failing, in that there are places mentioned in the text which do not appear on any of the maps; but as the maps are contemporary ones, and the places in question tended to be patches of empty ground in the middle of nowhere, this can be excused!

Throughout the book, I was constantly surprised to see how many references or connections were made to people, places and events much later in the history of the RAF. The Middle East campaign was possibly the first example of force projection through the long-distance deployment of air power into hostile territory, and as such is important in the history of the RAF and aerial warfare generally. This book throws light on this important but comparatively little-known campaign and should be required reading for anyone with an interest in T.E. Lawrence, the Middle East or the growth of air power.… (meer)

Congratulations to everybody involved in this publication.
What started out as an intention to collect and republish everything that Cross and Cockade (UK and International) had previously published in their Journal about Lawrence, morphed into at least 50% new material.
It is difficult to imagine anything could now be added to the subject... Now there is a challenge for somebody!
The quality of photographic and map reproduction is astounding. The reproduction of the maps from the Pilot's Handbook for the Cairo-Baghdad Air Route is a wonderful bonus.
Just one minor moan. There is no coverage of the work of the East Indies and Egypt Seaplane Squadron's support along the Red Sea coast. Although there is a nod in that direction in Peter Dye's introduction.
This book is a must have for anyone with even the slightest interest beyond the skies over France, and essential for those interested in Lawrence.… (meer)