Page 68 - Airpower in 20th Century - Doctrines and Employment

68 airpower in 20 Century doCtrines and employment - national experienCes
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average amount was some 520 aircraft. The Royal Air Force, especially the Bomber
Command, was to play an important role in the plan. Three squadrons of the state
of the art Valiant medium bombers along with some 10 squadrons of Canberra light
bombers were to be deployed. This presented a major proportion of medium and
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light bombers in the Bomber Command’s order of battle.

FORCE TYPE BASE NUMBER
BOMBER Valiant (UK) Malta 24
Canberra B.2 (UK) Cyprus 40
Canberra B.6 (UK) Malta 32
Canberra Markers Cyprus 20
(UK)
RECON. Canberra P.R.7 (UK) Cyprus 7
Meteor F.R.9 (UK) Malta 16
R.F. 84.F (Fr) Cyprus 9
GROUND ATTACK Venom 4 (UK) Cyprus 48
F. 84 F (Fr) Cyprus 36
Wyvern (UK) Carriers 9
Corsair (Fr) Carriers 32
Sea Venom (UK) Carriers 17
Sea Hawk (UK) Carriers 50
MARITIME Shackleton (UK) Malta 16
Avenger (Fr) Carriers 12
Skyraider (UK) Carriers 8
TRANSPORT Hastings (UK) Cyprus 12
Valetta (UK) Cyprus 20
Noratlas (Fr) Cyprus 40
Helicopters (UK) Carriers 18
Pembroke (voice) Cyprus 1
(UK) Carriers 2
Avenger (Fr)
AIR DEFENCE Hunter 5 (UK) Cyprus 25
Meteor NF. 13 (UK) Cyprus 8
Hunter 4 (UK) Malta 4
Table 1: The Composition of the Allied Air Forces 45

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NA AIR 8/2090, Royal Air Force Order of Battle as 1 December 1956 and NA 2081, ACAS (ops),
21 November 1956, “Deployment of Bomber Forces to the Middle East”.
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NA AIR 20/9554, HQ Air Task Force, ATF/TS.175/56, October 1956, “Overall Air Plan (Winter)
for Operation Musketeer”. The table does not include aircraft of the French Air Force that were
deployed at Israel for air defence and air transport.