NOTABLE CAREER OF CONINGHAM

Southland Times, Issue 25347, 26 April 1944, Page 4

NOTABLE CAREER OF CONINGHAM

Entrusted With Key Invasion Post

(Special Correspondent, N.Z.P.A.)

(Rec. 7 p.m.) LONDON, April 24. On Anzac Day and on the eve of the invasion of Europe it is perhaps fitting to recall that a New. Zealander, who served in the ranks of the N.Z.E.F. of the last war, will be filling an all-important post when the time comes to launch the attack on Europe from Britain. He is Air Marshal Sir Arthur Coningham K.C.8., D. 5.0., M.C., D.F.C., A.F.C., who commands the Second Tactical Air Force, which with the Ninth U.S.AA.F. will provide the air umbrella for the Allied forces.

No more fitting man could be found to command the tactical air force for it was Sir Arthur Coningham, who through his experience from 1941 onwards in North Africa and Italy, was largely responsible for working out the "present efficient integration of Army and Air Forces in Italy, which has been victorious ever since the battle of El Alamein.

When Sir Arthur Coningham went to Libya in 1941 he never had previously co-operated with the Army, but he was determined to secure the closest relations possible. Conditions in the desert were ideal for testing by experience the doctrine on which the two forces could combine to the best advantage, and the history of those campaigns is proof that Sir Arthur Coningham succeeded.

Nobody is more experienced than Sir Arthur in the use of a tactical air force. When the Germans were finally- driven from Tunisia in May, 1943 he was the only remaining senior officer .of either the German or the British forces who had directed the campaigns throughout those two years. He worked with Generals Beresford-Pierse, Cunningham, Ritchie, Auchinleck, Montgomery and Leese and in the coming invasion he will again work with General Montgomery. One of the worst periods of the war for Sir Arthur was during the retreat to Alamein, but his fine organizing ability resulted in the air forces leap-frogging back methodically, providing continuous air cover and preventing the Luftwaffe bombing, and strafing the dense stream of army traffic. One of the best periods was the final break-through in Tunisia when Sir Arthur Coningham, with Captain H. H. Balfour, under-secretary of State for Air stood on a hill overlooking Massicault Plain and watched the Tactical Air Force at the peak of its’ efficiency. SERVICE IN LAST WAR

There is a, flavour of fate or romance —whatever you like to call it— about Sir Arthur Coningham’s success in the Mediterranean theatre, which made him world-famous. Twenty-seven years before he had left Egypt as an N.C.O. in the Eighth South Canterbury Mounted Rifles. He suffered so severely from typhoid that in May, 1916 he was invalided from the New Zealand Army as unfit for further service and pensioned. He was down but not finished. He had read about aeroplanes' and, although he had never seen one, he was “mad about flying.” He was determined to go to England and join the Royal Flying Corps. He left New Zealand 'in May, 1916—the same month as he was pensioned—and arrived in England in July. He was accepted for the R.F.C. the same week, and was'in France as a fighter pilot in November, 1916. He never looked back. He proved a first-class fighter pilot once shooting down 10 enemy planes in 14 days. By July, 1917 he had won the M.C. and D.S.O. and had been wounded in the head with a bullet. He returned to France and won the D.F.C. He was permantly commissioned as a FlightLieutenant in 1919 and in 1939 was Air Commodore, commanding a bomber group in England. In 1941 he returned for the fourth time to the Mediterranean area where he now was to make his name.

Sir Arthur Coningham is proud of his New Zealand background. _ His RA.F. nickname is “Mary,” which'is derived from an earlier nickname “Maori Coningham.” FRIENDSHIP WITH FREYBERG

He was born in Australia 49 years ago but went to Wellington with his parents when seven years old. He was educated at Wellington College, where he arrived just as Bernard Freyberg was leaving. When the last, war broke out he was champion rifle shot in the New Zealand high school cadets. He took part in the Samoa campaign in August, 1914. He learned Samoan so well that he represented the Governor, in talks with Samoan chiefs. He later transferred to the South CanterburyMounted Rifles, with whom he went to Egypt. When he began work with Lieutenant General Freyberg in 1914 it was to renew a friendship begun in 1917. Lieutenant General Freyberg was then the youngest Brigadier in the British Army. He wished to fly over part of the Hindenberg Line near Bapaume. He was provided with a fighter escort and in that escort was a pilot named Coningham. Sir Arthur was associated with the New Zealand Division throughout the desert campaigns and in Italy, and when he was leaving Italy he sent a message to Lieutenant General Freyberg stating that the New Zealand Division was the best in the world. Sir Arthur Coningham has the happy knack of encouraging everyone serving under him to be enthusiastic about their work. He makes a point of getting to know as many men as possible, giving them' the feeling that whatever their work it is highly important. He is a great believer in physical fitness and is firmly of the opinion that modern war is not for “old people.” Whenever possible during the desert campaigns he had his camp near the sea and encouraged his men to sea bathe and sun bathe. He himself is a strong swimmer. He is a non smoker. He flies 'whenever possible. Throughout the desert campaigns he flew many types of aircraft, including captured machines. He flew with Mr Wendell Willkie several times during the American’s visit to Egypt. He taught General Alexander to fly in Sicily and Italy whenever they both had the time. One of Sir Arthur’s ambitions when the war ■with Japan is ended is to take a wellearned rest in New Zealand.