Support

Lore & Background

World War I was the first conflict to make extensive use of CAS, albeit using relatively primitive methods. At the Battle of the Somme, 18 British armed reconnaissance planes strafed enemy trenches after surveillance operations. By 1917, the British debuted the first ground-attack aircraft, a modified F.E 2b fighter carrying 20 lb bombs and mounted machine-guns. Aircraft support was first integrated into a battle plan on a large scale at the 1917 Battle of Cambrai. The Germans adopted the powerful Hannover CL.II and built the first purpose-built ground attack aircraft, the Junkers J.I. During the 1918 German spring offensive, the Germans employed 30 squadrons of ground attack fighters. During the Sinai and Palestine Campaign of 1918, No 1 Squadron made six heavy raids in one day, dropped three tons of bombs and fired nearly 24,000 machine gun rounds.

Reader's Guide

CAS requires excellent coordination with ground forces, typically handled by specialists such as artillery observers, joint terminal attack controllers, and forward air controllers. World War II marked the universal acceptance of the integration of air power into combined arms warfare, with all major combatants having developed effective air-ground coordination techniques by the conflict's end. New techniques emerged, such as the use of forward air control to guide CAS aircraft and identifying invasion stripes, heavily shaped by the Italian Campaign and the invasion of Normandy. CAS continued to advance during the Cold War, especially the Korean War and the Vietnam War; major milestones included the introduction of attack helicopters, gunships, and dedicated CAS attack jet aircraft.

Did You Know?

• The RAF Iraq Command used air power as a cost-effective way of controlling large areas, suppressing the Great Iraqi Revolution of 1920.
• U.S. Marine Corps Aviation adopted the tactic of dive bombing during interventions in Haiti and Nicaragua.