ROYAL AIR FORCE

Evening Post, Volume c, Issue 54, 5 March 1934, Page 7

ROYAL AIR FORCE

POLICING OF ARABIA

AN EFFECTIVE METHOD

(From "The Post's" Representative.) LONDON, January 25. How the war aeroplanes of the Koyal Air Force maintain, the peace in outlying regions, without bloodshed or the permanent display of force that is one of the chief disadvantages of armycontrol, is vividly described in messages received about the work of the Aden Command. Nearly six years ago the R.A.F. took over the charge of the Aden Protectorate. Its first task was to subdue the menace to British territory of the Imam of Yemen, who since 1919 had steadily advanced his forces till he had reached a point less than fifty miles from Aden itself. He was driven back by a siugle squadron of war machines. From 1928 up to the present methods similar to those related below have upheld law and order in what was formerly one of the most turbulent regions of the world. In July 1933, a party of tribesmen from territory under Imamic control made an affray against two villages near the foot'of the Thirra Pass, in Al Khor, which is about 100 miles northeast of Aden. Fierce fighting was in progress when a flight of aeroplanes belonging to No. S Bomber Squadron which was returning to Aden from Mukulla" (on the southern coast of Arabia) passed in formation overhead. This chance appearance of the war aeroplanes caused an immediate cessation of the fighting. • The chief of the invaders, under the impression that air assistance had been summoned by radio, ordered instant withdrawal. The Protectorate tribesmen, on the other hand, were heartened by the sight of the flying machines, concentrated to repel the invaders and drove them forthwith out of the region. EAID AND RESTITUTION. The following month information reached Aden- that 50 of the Imam's Zcidi troops, with 400 Zeidi tribesmen, had raided some weeks befofe territory undeV - British. protection, taking many prisoners and looting livestock. Further,. a British subject who wished to anchor his dhow and land on Protectorate soil had been prevented from doing so and menaced with forcq. Delay occurred in reporting this incident because of the remote and isolated position of. the district, but strong action was at once taken. The Eesident at Aden, regarding this encroachment of hostile tribesmen as the most serious which had occurred in the region for several y.ears, sent a protest and a demand for full restitution. Evasive replies were received, though assurances were given that restitution would follow. Failure of the Imam to implement these assurances obliged further steps. Some of the more important prisoners were retained as hostages in the Imam's camp and,, though the livestock were returned, their unfortunate owners were, compelled to redeem them from the Zeidis before they were handed over. . A second message to the Imam stated that air action would be taken unless all hostages were returned and full restitutiou made of all looted property by October 23. With three days still to elapse before the ultimatum expired the Imam sent a conciliatory reply, and a few days later all of the British demands were met in full. The incident provides invaluable evidence of the power of the air weapon in the most remote and inaccessible districts and of tho case with which disturbers of the peace can bo warned and punished. Tho mere threat of air action stopped in the early stages a_disturbance which otherwise might huve persisted and worsened till in the end severe-action, involving casualties to both sides, would have been necessary. ■ EFFECTIVE DEMONSTRATION. ' Unrest among the Bedouin tribes in the, vicinity of .Sharjah, a port of call on the main Empire air route to India, obliged similar action by the Irak command. The Sheikh of Sharjah, it was alleged, had_ failed in customary payments to the tribesmen and an attack on .the Imperial Airways' resthouse at Shargah was •contemplated. A formation of four single-engined bombers of No. 84 Squadron was detailed to make a non-stop demonstration flight from the Shaibah. aerodrome, Basra .to Sharjah. Special long-range tanks were fitted to the aircraft. Though in the meantime more exact information showed that the gravity of the situation at Sharjah. had-.been exaggerated the flights were authorised and in qne '-'hop"-of more than 800 miles the machines reached Sharjah, where they stayed-for. two, days to make demonstration flights over the neighbouring territory. Their appearance., quietened all threats of trouble arid twentyfour hours after the conclusion of the last demonstration journey the aeroplanes were back at their base.