CAMPAIGN IN MALALYA

Press, Volume XCI, Issue 27643, 27 April 1955, Page 14

CAMPAIGN IN MALALYA

Co-operation Of Services

“COMPLETE TRINITY OF EFFORT” (From Our Parliamentary Reporter) WELLINGTON, April 26.

The co-operation among the Army, Air Force, and police security force to defeat the Communist-controlled terrorists in Malaya was a complete trinity of effort, said Air Marshal F. J. Fressanges, Commander-in-Chief of the British Far East Air Force, at a press conference today. Every expedition was planned, he said. There was never any bickering. The organisation was done smoothly from the joint operations centre. It was “a most tremendous example of co-operation between Her Majesty’s forces and the police security force,” he said. Tomorrow morning Air Marshal Fressanges and Mis party will arrive at the Royal New Zealand Air Force station at Wigram, where they wfil be met by the commanding officer (Group Captain F. R. Dix). In the afternoon he will review the graduation parade of No. 17 pilots’ and navigators’ course, after which he will return to Wellington. The numbers of Communist-con-trolled terrorists in the jungle had been greatly reduced over the last few years, and the situation was becoming more difficult and dangerous for them, he said. “Our task there is to get them out of the jungle, if possible to get them to surrender, and in any event to kill them off,” said Air Marshal Fressanges. “The task of the Air Force is to get at them in the jungle, where the ground troops find difficulty in reaching them. We find them by air reconnaissance, machine-gun, bomb, or rocket them out, then pinpoint them, and the security forces go in. “They divide themselves up into small parties. They are quite definitely controlled from some outside sources. They are organised in the same way in the Communist Party in China or Russia. They have state secretaries and secretaries of the party.” N.Z. Air Squadron The arrival of No. 14 Squadron from the Middle East had been welcomed by him, he said. The squadron was being re-equipped with Venoms, and he hoped it would be in operation ir those aircraft very soon. The Pioneer, a high-winged monoplane made by a Scottish firm, which carried four passengers and a pilot, was doing a remarkable job, he said. It was a most terrifying experience to land over the top of the trees on a strip 200 yards long and about 20 to 30 yards wide. The strips were always made near forts with security forces. Commander of the No. 210 Flyingboat Squadron in the Battle of the Atlantic at the beginning of World War H, Air Marshal Fressanges said he was still a great believer in flying-boats. The huge Princess was in mothballs because the right engines had not been found. He had flown* one down Southampton Water. The Air Force, however, could not develop both land and sea planes, and was putting its money into the machines it considered best for its purpose, though he thought that the flying-boat must have a big part in the world’s transport services. For instance, twice in the last two years he had been diverted on 8.0.A.C. planes from Hong Kong to the nearest airport, Manila. That was a long diversfon. A flying-boat could get. in at any time in any conditions. Equipment of Forces Standardisation of equipment for the forces, using United States equipment, had not been discussed by him with anybody in a position of authority, said Air Marshal Fressanges. In the Far East the equipment was Britisn, and the forces could certainly not standardise on the American equipment, and had no intention of doing so. One reason was the shortage of dollars throughout the Commonwealth.

In the event of war, New Zealand’s supply position would be difficult, said Air Marshal Fressanges. With some > justice, the Americans believed that they were the enemies of the Communist world, he said. He hoped that the Americans would make their weapons so big and awful that nobody would dare to throw them at anybody. Mentioning famous New Zealanders with whom he had been associated, Air Marshal Fressanges said that A. E. Clouston, who in 1938 made a record flight from England to Blenheim in a de Havilland Comet, was now air officer commanding Singapore Island. Air Marshal Fressanges said that when he was in India between 1927 and 1932, E. G. Olsen, who rose to high rank in the Royal New Zealand Air Force, was under his command, as was another celebrated New Zealand airman, A. McKee.

The beauty of New Zealand was breathtaking, said Air Marshal Fressanges. After landing at Ohakea, he travelled by air and road to Wellington. Tomorrow he will see the mountains of the South Island and the plains of Canterbury from the air.