Raymond Collishaw in WW2
Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2018 9:06 am
If someone mentions the name Raymond Collishaw and you know something about the airplanes, what would come to mind is probably his performance as a fighter pilot and squadron leader in WW1. I thought of this recently when the War Museum tweeted(!) something about the air war in 1918 with a quote from Collishaw.
What you MIGHT not know, however, is that Raymond Collishaw continued to serve and played a vital role in the air war over Libya in the early part of WW2. He worked closely with Richard O'Connor who was in charge of the ground forces for Operation Compass, and basically laid the groundwork for tactical air support in the war. Unfortunately it seemed that he and RAF officer Tedder (when Tedder arrived) had a strong clash of personalities which led to O'Connor's transfer out of the theatre. He was treated far worse than he deserved.
I found out about this by listening to an episode of Angus Wallace's WW2 Podcast discussion with author Mike Bechthold and then followed up by reading Mike's excellent book, Flying to Victory: Raymond Collishaw and the Western Desert Campaign, 1940–1941
http://ww2podcast.com/ww2-podcast/46-fl ... n-1940-41/
What you MIGHT not know, however, is that Raymond Collishaw continued to serve and played a vital role in the air war over Libya in the early part of WW2. He worked closely with Richard O'Connor who was in charge of the ground forces for Operation Compass, and basically laid the groundwork for tactical air support in the war. Unfortunately it seemed that he and RAF officer Tedder (when Tedder arrived) had a strong clash of personalities which led to O'Connor's transfer out of the theatre. He was treated far worse than he deserved.
I found out about this by listening to an episode of Angus Wallace's WW2 Podcast discussion with author Mike Bechthold and then followed up by reading Mike's excellent book, Flying to Victory: Raymond Collishaw and the Western Desert Campaign, 1940–1941
http://ww2podcast.com/ww2-podcast/46-fl ... n-1940-41/