Swift as eagles: The victory of the Royal Air Force in Palestine, 1914--1918

Airpower in the First World War often has been underestimated, especially in theaters subsidiary to the Western Front. Yet, in 1918, British airpower decisively contributed to the breaking of the German-Turkish front in Palestine. General Sir Edmund H. H. Allenby's Megiddo Campaign of 1918 was the most rapid and comprehensive theater success of World War One; from 19 September to 31 October the 200 mile-long front was pushed forward 350 miles. During one three-day period, Egyptian Expeditionary Force cavalry advanced nearly thirty-five miles per day, a rate faster than Israeli armor during the Six Day War in 1967.;During 1916--1917, General Sir Archibald Murray advanced from Egypt with the intention of defeating the Ottoman Empire. However, the EEF stalled at the border of Palestine. consequently, the British Government dispatched more modern aircraft to the RFC in Egypt to deal with German aerial superiority.;From June 1917 to September 1918, Murray's replacement, General Allenby, received air assets sufficient to meet expanding needs. Missions in the air diversified, and from January 1918, British air crew fought a sustained aerial offensive which resulted in theater-wide air superiority.;Virtually unopposed, the RAF obtained a clear picture of enemy positions, covered sensitive deployments, suppressed adversary communications centers, and executed a campaign of aerial interdiction which blocked the retreat of three Turkish armies. For the first time in history, the air arm acted as the prime ingredient in a decisive theater-wide victory.;The victory at Megiddo is a classic example of the military benefits of theater-wide air superiority which should be viewed through the several preparatory phases which presaged success. From 1914 to 1916 the stance of the EEF was defensive and dedicated to the security of the Suez Canal. The Royal Flying Corps, renamed the Royal Air Force on 1 April 1918, participated in halting a Turkish-German invasion of Egypt and in checking the spread of two Islamic fundamentalist revolts. Although the primary mission of the RFC had been reconnaissance, rudimentary progress had been made in photography and cartography, contact patrol, bombing, and in cooperation with EEF artillery.