Pink's War | |||||||
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Part of the instability on the North-West Frontier | |||||||
Map of the area of operations | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
United Kingdom | Mahsud tribesmen | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Edward Ellington Richard Pink | Unknown | ||||||
Units involved | |||||||
No. 2 (Indian) Wing, RAF [1] | Unknown | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
Three aircraft squadrons | Four tribes | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
Two killed One aircraft lost | Unknown |
Pink's War was an air-to-ground bombardment and strafing campaign carried out by the Royal Air Force, under the command of Wing Commander Richard Pink, against the mountain strongholds of Mahsud tribesmen in South Waziristan in March and April 1925. It was the first independent action by the RAF, and remains the only campaign named after an RAF officer. [1] [2]
The defence of the North-West Frontier Province was an important task for British India. In the 1920s, the British were engaged in a continuing effort to defend British Indian Army bases against raids from Native Pashtun tribesmen in the province. In July 1924, the British mounted operations against several of the Mahsud tribes in southern Waziristan and by October most tribes had ceased their activities. Only the Abdur Rahman Khel tribe and three other supporting tribes continued to attack army posts. [3]
After the successful use of aerial bombardment in the Fifth Expedition of Somaliland campaign in 1920, the fledgling RAF was keen to further establish its military credentials. British forces had conducted operations against Mahsud tribes in Waziristan from July 1924, leaving only the Abdur Rahman Khel tribe and a few other tribes still engaged in activity by October 1924. The air officer commanding in India, Sir Edward Ellington, made the unprecedented decision to conduct air operations against the tribesmen without the support of the army. No. 2 (India) Wing, under the command of Wing Commander Richard Pink at Risalpur, was assigned to conduct the operation. [3]
Bristol F.2B Fighters of No. 5 Squadron were deployed to the operational headquarters at Tank airstrip, with de Havilland DH.9As from 27 and 60 squadrons deployed to a forward operating base at Miranshah. [3] Operations commenced on 9 March 1925, [4] and following an initial sortie to drop warning leaflets on the targeted areas, the RAF squadrons strafed tribal mountain strongholds in a successful attempt to crush the rebellion. [3] [2] Operations focused on causing disruption to day-to-day activities for the militant tribes, as well as preventing access to safe havens; sorties were flown at night as well as during the day, in order to cause further disruption. [3]
On 1 May 1925, after just over 50 days of bombing, the tribal leaders sought peace to end the bombing, bringing the short campaign to a close. [2] Only two British lives and one aircraft were lost during the campaign; Mahsud casualties are not known. [2] [3] Pink's War was the first air action of the RAF carried out independently of the British Army or Royal Navy. [2]
After the campaign was over, the India General Service Medal with the Waziristan 1925 bar was awarded to the 46 officers and 214 men of the Royal Air Force who took part in Pink's War. It was by far the rarest bar given with an India General Service Medal, and was only awarded after the then-Chief of the Air Staff Sir John Salmond succeeded in overturning the War Office decision not to grant a medal for the campaign. [5] The campaign's commander, Wing Commander Pink, after whom the action became named, soon received a promotion to group captain "in recognition of his services in the field of Waziristan". [3] [1] [6] [7] For distinguished service during Pink's War, Squadron Leader Arthur John Capel was awarded the Distinguished Service Order, the Distinguished Flying Cross was awarded to flight lieutenants John Baker and William Cumming, and Flying Officer Reginald Pyne, and the Distinguished Flying Medal was given to sergeant pilots George Campbell and Ralph Hawkins, Sergeant Arthur Rutherford, Corporal Reginald Robins, and Leading Aircraftman William Alfred Walmsley. [8] A further 14 men were mentioned in dispatches, including flying officers Edward Dashwood and Noel Hayter-Hames, who both died in the campaign. [8]
Waziristan is a mountainous region covering the North Waziristan and South Waziristan districts of the Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Waziristan covers around 11,585 square kilometres (4,500 sq mi) and is mainly populated by the Mehsud, The Wolves, & Wazir Pashtun tribe, who speak the Waziri dialect of the Pashto language.
The Third Anglo-Afghan War began on 6 May 1919 when the Emirate of Afghanistan invaded British India and ended with an armistice on 8 August 1919. The Anglo-Afghan Treaty of 1919 resulted in the Afghans gaining control of foreign affairs from Britain and the British recognizing the Durand Line as the border between Afghanistan and British India.
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Number 31 Squadron, known as the Goldstars, is a squadron of the Royal Air Force. The Squadron lays claim to being the first military unit to fly in India, where it was based from 1915 to 1947. Throughout the Cold War, No. 31 Squadron was based in West Germany, flying from RAF Laarbruch and RAF Brüggen. Between September 1984 and March 2019, the Goldstars operated the Panavia Tornado GR1/4, initially from RAF Brüggen and after August 2001 from RAF Marham, Norfolk. No. 31 Squadron was disbanded on 14 March 2019 at RAF Marham and reformed on 11 October 2023 at RAF Waddington, Lincolnshire, equipped with the General Atomics Protector RG1.
The North-West Frontier was a region of the British Indian Empire. It remains the western frontier of present-day Pakistan, extending from the Pamir Knot in the north to the Koh-i-Malik Siah in the west, and separating the modern Pakistani frontier regions of North-West Frontier Province, Federally Administered Tribal Areas and Balochistan from neighbouring Afghanistan in the west. The borderline between is officially known as the Durand Line and divides Pashtun inhabitants of these provinces from Pashtuns in eastern Afghanistan.
Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir John Maitland Salmond, was a British military officer who rose to high rank in the Royal Flying Corps and then the Royal Air Force. During the First World War he served as a squadron commander, a wing commander and then as General Officer Commanding the RAF on the Western Front towards the end of the war. He went on to be Air Officer Commanding British Forces in Iraq in the early 1920s when he halted a Turkish invasion and sought to put down a Kurdish uprising against King Faisal, the British-sponsored ruler of Iraq. He was Chief of the Air Staff in the early 1930s and bitterly opposed the position taken by British politicians at the World Disarmament Conference in Geneva, which would have led to the UK's complete aerial disarmament. In the event the talks broke down when Adolf Hitler withdrew from the Conference in October 1933.
Risalpur is a city in Nowshera District, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, on the Nowshera-Mardan Road. It is nearly 45 km from Peshawar and 18 km from Mardan and is located at 34°4'52N 71°58'21E. In a basin some 1014 feet above sea level, it is bounded on the south and west by the Kabul and Kalpani rivers, respectively. The famous Khyber Pass lies 90 kilometers to the north.
Air Chief Marshal Sir William Geoffrey Hanson Salmond, was a senior commander in the Royal Flying Corps during the First World War. Remaining in the Royal Air Force after the war, he held senior appointments in the Middle East, Great Britain and India. In late 1928 and early 1929, he directed the evacuation from Kabul of British embassy staff and others, by air.
The Mahsud or Maseed is a Karlani Pashtun tribe inhabiting mostly the South Waziristan Agency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan.
The Indian General Service Medal was a campaign medal approved on 1 January 1909, for issue to officers and men of the British and Indian armies. From 1919, it was also awarded to officers and men of the Royal Air Force, with the Waziristan 1925 clasp awarded solely to the RAF.
Air Commodore Richard Charles Montagu Pink, was a senior officer in the Royal Air Force (RAF). He distinguished himself during service with the Royal Navy and Royal Naval Air Service in the First World War, before joining the RAF shortly after its creation in 1918. He is the namesake of Pink's War, which was the first campaign conducted by the RAF alone and the only campaign to be named after an RAF officer.
No. 5 Wing of the Royal Air Force was a wing of aircraft squadrons which was originally established as the Fifth Wing of the Royal Flying Corps. Currently inactive, the wing has been formed and disbanded five times over the course of its history.
Air Chief Marshal Sir John Wakeling Baker, was a senior commander in the Royal Air Force in the mid-20th century.
The Waziristan campaign 1936–1939 comprised a number of operations conducted in Waziristan by the British Indian Army against the fiercely independent tribesmen that inhabited this region. These operations were conducted in 1936–1939, when operations were undertaken against followers of the Pashtun nationalist Mirzali Khan, also known by the British as the "Faqir of Ipi", a religious and political agitator who was spreading anti-British sentiment in the region and undermining the prestige of the Indian government in Waziristan at the time.
The Kabul Airlift was an air evacuation of British and a number of European diplomatic staff and their families conducted by the Royal Air Force from Kabul between 23 December 1928 and 25 February 1929, the first large-scale air evacuation, with a total of 586 people of eleven different nationalities being rescued and taken to India. The evacuation was conducted after forces of a bandit, Habibullah Kalakani, attacked Kabul in opposition to the Afghan king, Amanullah, leading to British fears that its legation would be isolated and cut off.
The Waziristan campaign 1919–1920 was a military campaign conducted in Waziristan by British and Indian forces against the fiercely independent tribesmen that inhabited this region. These operations were conducted in 1919–1920, following the unrest that arose in the aftermath of the Third Anglo-Afghan War.
Makeen or Makin (ماکین) is a city in the South Waziristan region of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. It is located on the boundary of the North Waziristan district. On its west, it shares a border of 40 Km with Afghanistan's Barmal District and Paktika.
Air Vice-Marshal Arthur John Capel, was a senior Royal Air Force officer.
Waziristan rebellion was a rebellion by the Pashtun leader Faqir of Ipi to secede from Pakistan and establish a separate Pashtun state of Pashtunistan.