Famous War-time Pilot's Tribute To Lord Tedder

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27271, 23 December 1949, Page 6

Famous War-time Pilot's Tribute To Lord Tedder

NZPA Special Correspondent LONDON, Dec. 19. A tribute to Lord Tedder, Chief of the Air Staff, who will retire at the end of this month, was paid by Douglas Bader, famous war-time legless pilot, who is now air correspondent of the News of the World. Mr Bader remarks: “ Since his appointment in 1946, Lord Tedder has had to negotiate difficult problems which inevitably confront the chief of a fighting service at the end of a major war—at a time when everyone is sick of martial noises and the economy axe falls without regard for the country’s future security or the Foreign Secretary’s peace of mind. “It is reasonable to suggest that Lord Tedder outshone his contemporary air commanders in his ability to foresee, prepare for and meet the demands of our ground forces during the war. The greatest tribute of all is that he roused the staunchest support of army commanders.- He killed a desire "to dissipate air power by using it in small parcels for individual army formations.

“Always he worked on the assumption of clearing the enemy from the sky and then knocking hell out of his ground forces. This method added yet another term to air force vocabularies —‘the Tedder carpet.’ When the enemy stood in the way of progress the RAF blasted a corridor and the army advanced along it. This employment of air power continued in Africa, Italy and in the assault on Western Europe. “ Never was Lord Trenchard’s faith in an independent air force so convincingly and completely vindicated as under Lord Tedder’s direction.”