British Military Aviation in 1945 - Part 3

Part 2 | Part 4

7 May
The agreement for total and unconditional surrender of the Germans forces is signed at the headquaters of the Supreme Commander Allied Expeditionary Force, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, near Rheims.

The German delegation was led byGeneral Alfred Jodl, chief of the Operations staff of the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (the German High Command). The surrender was subsequently ratified in the presence of senior Allied officers at the Soviet headquarters in Berlin on 8 May.

8 May
The Royal Observer Corps is stood down and re-formed on a peacetime basis. As at this date there were a total of 1,420 Royal Observer Corps posts and forty operations rooms, manned by 32,000 observers.

16 May
Avro Lancaster 'Aries' of the Empire Air Navigation School left the United Kingdom in order to fly over the True North and Magnetic North Poles. The aircraft returned to RAF Shawbury on May 26 after covering a total distance of 17,720 miles

25-26 May
Incendiary raids by the United States 20th Army Air Force burned out nearly 17 square miles of the city of Tokyo, approximately 50% of the area of the city.

31 May
The strength of the Royal Air Force (RAF) stands at some 55,469 aircraft as at this date, of which 9,200 were first-line machines.

15 July
The Royal Air Force's Second Tactical Air Force (2TAF) is redesignated British Air Forces of Occupation (BAFO). With the end of the Second World War in Europe, the RAF within Germany is initially tasked with assisting the British Army in maintaining order within the British Zone and supervising the dissolution of the Luftwaffe. The first Air Officer Commanding of BAFO was Air Chief Marshal Sir William Sholto Douglas.

16 July
At 0529hrs, the first atomic weapon is successfully detonated at the Trinity test site at Alamogordo in New Mexico, USA. The weapon generated a yield of 18,600 tons of TNT.

26 July
Results of the British general election are made known. The Conservative Party and its leader, Winston Churchill were defeated and the Labour Party were now in power. Labour leader Clement Atlee became Prime Minister.

26 July
A declaration to the Japanese, drawn up at Potsdam and signed by President Truman, Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Generalissimo Chaing Kai-sek is issued, calling for the unconditional surrender of the Japanese forces. It did not mention the atom bomb, but stated "the alternative for Japan's complete and utter destruction."

28 July
Japanese Prime Minister Suzuki states in a press release: "Japan is not on her knees" and "not one enemy soldier stands on Japanese soil" and "Japan is determined to fight tooth and nail for every inch of her sacred land."

1 August
Royal Air Force Northern Ireland loses its independent command status and is placed under RAF Coastal Command.

8 August
The Soviet Union declares war on Japan.

9 August
The Victoria Cross is awarded posthumously to Lieutenant R.H. Gray RCNVR for his attack on the Japanese destroyer Amakusa in Onagawa Bay in a Chance Vought Corsair IV (FG-1D KD658) of No.1841 Squadron, Fleet Air Arm.

14-15 August
The unconditional surrender of Japan is announced at midnight by President Truman and Prime Minister Attlee.

26 August
Operations Birdcage and Mastiff commence. Operation Birdcage involved the dropping of leaflets on prisoner of war and internment camps, detailing the actions to be taken by the inmates in the aftermath of the Japanese surrender. Operation Mastiff was the codename applied to the dropping of airborne medical teams to the camps, RAPWI (Recovery of Allied Prisoners of War and Internees) teams, including RAF personnel and supplies were parachuted to camps in Burma, Siam, French Indo-China and the Dutch East Indies.

September
During this month, British forces rapidly build up in the Netherlands East Indies, which fall within the South East Asia Command area. An Air Headquarters, Netherlands East Indies is formed and a RAPWI (Recovery of Allied Prisoners of War and Internees) control unit arrived on 15 September to join a reconnaissance group parachuted into Batavia on 8 September.

Following the declaration on 17 September of an independent Republic of Indonesia by the People's Preservation Force, lead by Achmed Soekarno, No.28 Squadron RAF (Supermarine Spitfire FR XIVs) arrived at Medan in Sumatra to deter any nationalist attempt to disrupt the evacuation of Allied detainees. Also during this month, 'A' Flight of No.656 Squadron (equipped with Auster AOP V light aircraft) became operational at Soerabaya and on 31 September a flight of No.110 Squadron (de Havilland Mosquito FBVI) arrived at Kemajoran in Batavia.

2 September
The 1939-45 war ends at 1030hrs Tokyo time (0130hrs GMT), when the unconditional surrender of Japan is signed on board the battleship USS Missouri, at anchor in Tokyo Bay. Following the surrender, the operational phase of Operation Mastiff (the despatch of RAPWI teams to prisoner of war and internment camps by parachute) began in earnest.

Part 2 | Part 4