From their modest origins with BE.2c and Vickers Victoria biplanes
delivering food and ammunition in the Mesopotamian deserts to the
massive Globemasters delivering hardware in the same theater a century
later, transport aircraft have played a key role in Britain's wars. It
was the Cold War that saw transport aircraft become necessary
war-fighting equipment. Operation Corporate in 1982 identified the need
for large-capacity strategic transport aircraft, something reinforced by
Operation Granby in 1990-91, and led to the acquisition of the Lockheed
TriStar and Boeing C-17A Globemaster. When the operations in Afghanistan
and Iraq began, the RAF's transport fleet was ready, and with the new
model Hercules, and the Airbus Voyager and Atlas, Britain's armed forces
have a transport force second to none.
This book is a concise description of the operations of the RAF's
transport force. Since 1915, aircraft have supported troops on the
ground, carried personnel to and from war zones, evacuated civilians and
provided succor to the needy. RAF Transport Command's motto, Ferio
Ferendo, translates as 'I strike by carrying', and that is exactly what
transport aircraft have done for over a century. With over 130
photographs, this book describes the evolution of the aircraft that
provided the airlift capacity for Britain's armed forces wherever they
served, and as the 2021 Operation Pitting showed, transport aircraft are
still last out.
