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17A VIEW FROM THE HQ AT NORTHWOOD IAir Marshal Sir John CurtissSir John joined the RAF in 1942 and, followingwartime operations with Bomber Command, heflew 263 round trips to Berlin during the Airlift.His operational horizons were widened further byexperience on night fighters before he commandedBruggen%u2019s strike/attack Phantom Wing. His moresenior appointments included those of DOrg,Commandant of the RAF Staff College and AOC18 Gp, which gave him a NATO %u2018hat%u2019 asCOMMAIREASTLANT. He left the Service in 1983to become a Director and CEO of the SBAC until 1990 since when hehas been actively associated with a number of charities.To say that the command organisation for the Falklands was cobbledtogether in a very ad hoc fashion would be an understatement.Seen at first as an entirely RN operation, with the first elements of theTask Force sailing within days of the Argentinean invasion, it grew insize and complexity day by day.Elements of the Navy would have liked it to continue as a RN onlyoperation. They were still smarting from the Nott Defence Review of theprevious year and saw this as their redemption. In some ways it was, butJohn Fieldhouse was a highly intelligent officer and a very %u2018joint%u2019 one,and he had no illusions that all three services would be heavily involvedin the campaign to retake the Falklands.No one had envisaged a UK out-of-NATO-area operation, indeed ithad been ruled out by successive Defence White Papers. There were noarrangements for a Joint Force Headquarters, so we had to make do withwhat we had and make the best of it.Most of the underground facilities were provided for NATO,COMEASTLANT and CINCCHAN, a major NATO Command. It wasrightly decided that we could not use the NATO Briefing Room or anyof their accommodation. Fortunately, CinC Fleet had a Fleet briefingroom which we used throughout the campaign and both he and I, and hisCOS, had offices there. As numerous officers were added to the staffs sowe became ever more crowded. Tanker specialists, Harrier and transportand logistics advisors all joined my staff for the campaign.