World War I The
Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS), one of the two British air arms that was amalgamated to create the RAF, operated an
armoured car wing that grew in size to some 20 squadrons. Using at first unarmoured vehicles to pick up downed aircrew and for
line of communications security duties, it was the RNAS which created the
Rolls-Royce armoured cars, which it also used to raid and harass the Germans, thus beginning the tradition of RAF armoured car operations. These were then disbanded in 1915 and the vehicles transferred to the British Army.
World War II airmen operating a 2 cm Flak 38 anti-aircraft cannon alongside a
Heer Panzer II light tank during Operation Barbarossa in 1941 During
World War II, Luftwaffe doctrine was to operate as a tactical air force in support of the army providing air defence and close air support against ground targets. Due to political considerations all German air defences were placed in the hands of the Luftwaffe, and Luftwaffe Flak units were attached to army units to provide ground-based air defence. In addition to self-protection and air defence roles, these Luftwaffe troops, of for example the
Flak Corps, were also called upon to use their Flak guns in fire support and anti-armour roles, and it was in the hands of Luftwaffe airmen that the German
88mm gun was first used against tanks. Flying units were also expected to closely follow the advancing army and as such could be expected to encounter enemy combatants during counterattacks or who had not been cleared; because of this, all Luftwaffe personnel were trained to a higher level in infantry skills and tactics than was normal in other air forces of the time. Also because of political considerations German paratroopers, the
Fallschirmjäger, were part of the air force. Later in the war with Germany facing a manpower shortage, rather than release its personnel to the German Army, Göring chose instead to create the
Luftwaffe Field Divisions, using personnel surplus to the needs of flying operations; as
cadre for these units, officers and non commissioned officers were transferred from the Flak and paratroop units. One of the great successes of the German forces in World War II was the destruction of enemy air forces by over running them on the ground, and the use of airborne forces in advance and in support of ground operations. One of the vulnerabilities of this time was the loss of one's own airfields, which if captured would give the enemy the infrastructure needed to build an air-bridge, during the
Battle of Crete the airfields were a key objective for the Germans, and their capture by paratroopers allowed their use by the gliders and transports of the main air landing force. The casualties in the
Fallschirmjager were such that they were largely used as ground troops thereafter. To guard against British airfields falling to German paratroops as
Maleme had,
Winston Churchill demanded that RAF airmen should be trained and equipped to defend themselves against ground attack. In a condemning memo to the
Secretary of State for Air and to the
Chief of the Air Staff dated June 29, 1941, Churchill stated he would no longer tolerate the shortcomings of the Royal Air Force (RAF), in which half a million RAF personnel had no combat role. He ordered that all airmen be armed and ready to "fight and die in defence of their airfields" and that "every airfield should be a stronghold of fighting air-ground men, and not the abode of uniformed civilians in the prime of life protected by detachments of soldiers". Amongst the measures implemented were
improvised armoured cars, such as the
Armadillo or
Bison, and
pillboxes, most notably the
Pickett-Hamilton fort, which could be raised to block a runway. However, rather than training all airmen as infantry on the German model, the RAF created instead the RAF Regiment. During the planning of the second front which became the invasion of Normandy, it was foreseen that as the allied armies advanced, aircraft operating from airfields in England would be decreasingly effective and that to maintain air cover allied fighter squadrons would need to accompany the advancing divisions. The
RAF Commandos were created to service aircraft from newly built or captured airfields. However, they were fully commando trained and because of the forward nature of their operations, they were expected to help secure, make safe and defend from counterattack the airfields from which they operated.
Vietnam In the face of US air superiority,
North Vietnam resorted to attacking the United States Air Force on the ground, with infiltrators striking from both within and outside the perimeter. The United States Air Force Security Police defended against them. First formed during World War II, the United States Air Force Security Police were dramatically reduced in scope following the war. Post war the newly established United States Air Force (USAF) saw its primary role as a strategic one. Its base defense doctrine thus was one of security policing. United States involvement in Vietnam, however, brought a real and sustained threat of ground attack. To meet these threats the
Phu Cat Air Base Security Forces pioneered the
Air Base Ground Defense doctrine that informs USAF practice to this day. In a demarcation of combat roles the United States Army was primarily responsible for security outside of airbases, and the
Republic of Vietnam Air Force for patrolling the internal perimeter. However, rather than just rely upon
static defense, the United States Air Force pioneered the use of remote detection equipment, such as seismic detectors and ground surveillance radar, to detect infiltrators. Rifle squads responded, mounted in heavily armed
Cadillac Gage Commando and
M113 armored personnel carriers. ==List of air force ground and special forces units==