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68 ai r p o w e r in 20 t H Ce n t u ry do C t r i n e s a n d em p l o y m e n t - nat i o n a l ex p e r i e n C e s 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 light bombers in the Bomber Command’s order of battle. 44 FORCE TYPE BASE NUMBER BOMBER Valiant (UK) Canberra B.2 (UK) Canberra B.6 (UK) Canberra Markers (UK) RECON. Canberra P.R.7 (UK) Meteor F.R.9 (UK) R.F. 84.F (Fr) GROUND ATTACK Venom 4 (UK) F. 84 F (Fr) Wyvern (UK) Corsair (Fr) Sea Venom (UK) Sea Hawk (UK) MARITIME Shackleton (UK) Avenger (Fr) Skyraider (UK) TRANSPORT Hastings (UK) Valetta (UK) Noratlas (Fr) Helicopters (UK) Pembroke (voice) (UK) Avenger (Fr) AIR DEFENCE Hunter 5 (UK) Meteor NF. 13 (UK) Hunter 4 (UK) Malta Cyprus Malta Cyprus Cyprus Malta Cyprus Cyprus Cyprus Carriers Carriers Carriers Carriers Malta Carriers Carriers Cyprus Cyprus Cyprus Carriers Cyprus Carriers Cyprus Cyprus Malta Table 1: The Composition of the Allied Air Forces 45 44 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”. 45 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. 24 40 32 20 7 16 9 48 36 9 32 17 50 16 12 8 12 20 40 18 1 2 25 8 4
In c o n c l u s I v e e x p e r I m e n t – brItIsh AIr po w e r A n d t h e su e z crIsIs, 1956. th e Al l I e d AIr cA m pA I g n reAssessed 69 Victory through Air – Musketeer Revise The resolute attitude of Prime Minister Eden and his ad hoc war cabinet, the Egypt Committee, deteriorate slowly during late August. The public opinion, American scepticism and unavoidable involvement of the United Nations obscured the political objectives. This, in turn, reflected to military planning. The D-Day was postponed and various studies on the consequences of the postponement of operations were produced. 46 The operational plans were also scrutinised in the course of time. The plan to land at Alexandria was not without problems. The forecast of heavy civilian casualties caused by the aerial and naval bombardment and apparent inflexibility – almost a three weeks warning time was needed for the movements – impaired political expediencies. This was fully realised by General Charles Keightley, the Commanderin-Chief of the operation, who detested the Alexandria plan from the beginning. As a result, he introduced a novel idea, Musketeer Revise, probably encouraged by the Minister of Defence, Walter Moncton as early as on 17 August. According to Keightley’s top secret note to Chief Air Marshall Dickson, the Chairman of the COS-committee, “the present plan should be modified by carrying out a prolonged and intensive air attack in the hope of making Nasser surrender without an assault.” The Egyptian armed forces and oil were the core of the new concept. 47 The new concept was temporarily withdrawn due to the resistance of the Task Force Commanders, responsible for carrying out the tactical plans, but general Keightley had an opportunity to re-introduce the concept in the beginning of September when the D-day was postponed once more. Keightley, perhaps partially realising the new world order better than Task Force Commanders characterised the consequences of the bombardment of Alexandria as causing “damage of civilian town leaving a scar for many years”. The most appealing quality of the new concept, was, however its evident feasibility as it “can be put on a short notice, and it is not affected by postponement”. 48 The new concept, later to be developed in to a plan, was to include three phases: 1. Neutralisation of the Egyptian Air Force. 2. An air offensive combined with a psychological campaign aimed at destroying the Egyptian will to fight. 49 3. Occupation of the Canal Zone. 46 NA DEFE 6/37, JP (56) 147, 26 August 1956, “Operation Musketeer – Implications of Postponement”. 47 NA DEFE 11/137, Keightley to Dickson, 19 August 1956. 48 NA DEFE 11/138, An undated note (either 4 or 5 September) by General Keightley on Operation Musketeer. 49 NA WO 288/91, Headquarters Allied Land Forces, 11 Oct 1956, “Operation Musketeer – the Winter Plan”,
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National Experiences - British Commission for Military History

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