Page 77 - Demo

77short, the administration was reluctant to create an air arm that could be used against its colonial masters. Nevertheless, by the end of the war it had a strength in excess of 25,000 personnel supporting nine squadrons which had fought very well, mostly in Burma, although individual Indian aircrew could be found elsewhere serving with the RAF %u2013 one notable example is Plt Off Shailendra Eknath Sukthanker DFC, a bomb aimer who flew fourteen sorties in the RAF Museum%u2019s Lancaster, R5868, while with No 83 Sqn. ffi%u0015<%u0017%u0006 ffi%u0017%u0017&*? What was the highest wartime rank attained by a European refugee? %u2013 or were they perhaps not permitted to attain high ranks? %u0009%u00131? Good question %u2013 which I don%u2019t think I can answer without notice. I can tell you that Alec Maisner, who joined the RAF during the war, eventually retired in the 1970s as an air8vice marshal. But I don%u2019t recall anyone higher than a group captain during the war, although I would be happy to stand corrected if anyone knows better. %u000c%u0016%u0017B*%u0017/%u0006ffi()%u0013/? Mention was made of Vichy French forces joining the Allies. Did that create any issues with the Free French, or any of the other Europeans? %u000c%u00164(%%u0016%u0006%u000b(-(.(8? Yes it did. There was a lot of friction between the Free French and Vichy forces post Operation TORCH and the French Naval Air Service used it to make another attempt to break away to become a separate service. %u0018%u00177%u0015%u0016%u0016? Interestingly, at least one of the ex8Vichy French flyers had an Iron Cross, having flown with the Luftwaffe on the Eastern Front. 3B%u0006%u0009(B%u0016%u0006%u0007(/%u0006ffi(-%u0017+%u0015/? There is an aspect of the international scene which is not on our programme. I am referring to the United States. The fact is that, while one is going about one%u2019s every day business, one may well exert an influence on somebody else and, unless you deliberately set out to do so, you may not even be aware of the impact that you are having. The RAF certainly did not set out to influence the Americans but, influence them we did. I have recently discussed this with a retired USAF major8general who is now in his 90s. He witnessed this process, and cited a number of specific instances, but he summed it up by saying that the Royal Air Force had provided a %u2018road