Operation Banquet
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Operation Banquet was a British
Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
plan to use every available aircraft against a
German invasion German invasion may refer to: Pre-1900s * German invasion of Hungary (1063) World War I * German invasion of Belgium (1914) * German invasion of Luxembourg (1914) World War II * Invasion of Poland * German invasion of Belgium (1940) * G ...
in 1940 or 1941. After the
Fall of France The Battle of France (french: bataille de France) (10 May – 25 June 1940), also known as the Western Campaign ('), the French Campaign (german: Frankreichfeldzug, ) and the Fall of France, was the German invasion of France during the Second World ...
in June 1940, the British Government made urgent anti-invasion preparations as the
Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...
(RAF) engaged the German ''
Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...
'' in a struggle for
air superiority Aerial supremacy (also air superiority) is the degree to which a side in a conflict holds control of air power over opposing forces. There are levels of control of the air in aerial warfare. Control of the air is the aerial equivalent of c ...
in the
Battle of Britain The Battle of Britain, also known as the Air Battle for England (german: die Luftschlacht um England), was a military campaign of the Second World War, in which the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) of the Royal Navy defende ...
. In May 1940, the
Air Ministry The Air Ministry was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force, that existed from 1918 to 1964. It was under the political authority of the Secretary of State ...
had realised that beyond the normal reserves of the RAF, it may be necessary to throw every serviceable aircraft into the battle. On 17 May, an Air Ministry meeting outlined ambitious plans to make use of various aircraft in the event of an invasion.
The National Archives National archives are central archives maintained by countries. This article contains a list of national archives. Among its more important tasks are to ensure the accessibility and preservation of the information produced by governments, both ...

AIR 14/1126 – Operation "Banquet": scheme to employ all available training aircraft in defence of UK against invasion
/ref>


Plan

On 13 July 1940, the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Training Command was ordered to plan to make the maximum practical number of aircraft available for operations. The plan was called Operation Banquet and was divided into several operations that could be enacted independently. In ''Banquet 6 Group'',
Bomber Command Bomber Command is an organisational military unit, generally subordinate to the air force of a country. The best known were in Britain and the United States. A Bomber Command is generally used for strategic bombing (although at times, e.g. during t ...
decided to use the aircraft of 6 Group (the Group Pool units, not the later
Royal Canadian Air Force The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; french: Aviation royale canadienne, ARC) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environm ...
) as conventional replacements in the front-line squadrons. ''Banquet 22 Group'' would move certain 22 Group (Army Cooperation) aircraft into conventional Bomber Command squadrons. Somewhat desperate were ''Banquet Alert'' which called for the employment of
Fleet Air Arm The Fleet Air Arm (FAA) is one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy and is responsible for the delivery of naval air power both from land and at sea. The Fleet Air Arm operates the F-35 Lightning II for maritime strike, the AW159 Wil ...
training aircraft under
Coastal Command RAF Coastal Command was a formation within the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was founded in 1936, when the RAF was restructured into Fighter, Bomber and Coastal Commands and played an important role during the Second World War. Maritime Aviation ...
and ''Banquet Training'' which called for the absorption of aircraft from
RAF Training Command Training Command was the Royal Air Force's command responsible for flying and ground training from 1936 to 1940 and again from 1968 to 1977. Training Command was formed from RAF Inland Area on 1 May 1936 and absorbed into RAF Support Command on 13 ...
into the operational striking force of Bomber Command. Aircraft allocated under Banquet would, in many cases, lack
bombsight A bombsight is a device used by military aircraft to drop bombs accurately. Bombsights, a feature of combat aircraft since World War I, were first found on purpose-designed bomber aircraft and then moved to fighter-bombers and modern tactical ...
s, armour protection, guns and
self-sealing fuel tank A self-sealing fuel tank is a type of fuel tank, typically used in aircraft fuel tanks or fuel bladders, that prevents them from leaking fuel and igniting after being damaged. Typical self-sealing tanks have multiple layers of rubber and reinforc ...
s. While these were to be fitted where possible, RAF instructions made it clear that no aircraft was to be considered unfit for want of such niceties; anything that could fly and drop bombs would suffice. Early in July, about 1,000 aircraft, from Tiger Moths to Wellington bombers, at training schools, were ready for anti-invasion operations, with hope of another 1,000 aircraft when the scheme was complete. The use of slow aircraft for ground attack operations was not without precedent, Netherlands
Fokker C.X The Fokker C.X was a Dutch biplane scout and light bomber designed in 1933. It had a crew of two (a pilot and an observer). Design and development The Fokker C.X was originally designed for the Royal Dutch East Indies Army, in order to replac ...
s, German
Henschel Hs 123 The Henschel Hs 123 was a single-seat biplane dive bomber and close-support attack aircraft flown by the German ''Luftwaffe'' during the Spanish Civil War and the early to midpoint of World War II. It proved to be robust, durable and effective e ...
and British
Hawker Hector The Hawker Hector was a British biplane army co-operation and liaison aircraft of the late 1930s; it served with the Royal Air Force and saw brief combat in the Battle of France in May 1940. Some Hectors were later sold to Ireland. It was name ...
biplanes had operated on the continent without unsustainable losses; against advanced troops without time to establish adequate air defences, slow, highly manoeuvrable aircraft could make accurate ground attacks and escape destruction. Ground crews would go with their aircraft and in some cases this would have involved civilian volunteers. The air crew for ''Banquet Alert'' and ''Training'' would be the experienced instructors as well as those students that had reached "a reasonably satisfactory standard of training". Few training schools were close to likely invasion areas and moving them seemed unwise in the chaos of an invasion, when closer airfields would have been bombed and were busy servicing their operational squadrons. It was decided to base four flights of 5–6 basic trainer aircraft to Army Cooperation, Coastal and Bomber command bases, two flights at first and two more if the base commander decided that they could be accommodated. The air bases were widely spread and no swarms of Banquet aircraft would have descended on the landing beaches, the main effort would be by conventional Bomber Command squadrons. Army Cooperation Command was instructed that, When to implement the Banquet scheme was kept open; if a German landing occurred away from the concentrations of the British army, such as Scotland, the scheme would be put into effect straight away but if a landing came where expected, the aircraft would be used as a last resort, dependent on how swiftly the situation deteriorated.


Banquet Light

Among the Banquet plans was ''Banquet Light'' which would see the formation of striking forces composed of
De Havilland Tiger Moth The de Havilland DH.82 Tiger Moth is a 1930s British biplane designed by Geoffrey de Havilland and built by the de Havilland Aircraft Company. It was operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and other operators as a primary trainer aircraft. ...
biplanes and other light aircraft of Elementary Flying Training Schools. De Havilland put forward plans for converting the Tiger Moth into a bomber by equipping it with eight bomb racks beneath the rear cockpit. As an alternative, the bomb-racks could be installed four on each side under the lower planes, which would avoid trimming difficulties. The racks had been designed for the military version of the
de Havilland Dragon The de Havilland DH.84 Dragon is a successful small commercial aircraft that was designed and built by the de Havilland company. Design and construction Following the commercial success of its single-engined de Havilland Fox Moth that had fir ...
s supplied to
Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
eight years previously. Trials were conducted at Hatfield by Major
Hereward de Havilland Hereward de Havilland (2 December 1894 in Nuneaton, Warwickshire – 12 September 1976 in Australia) was a pioneer British aviator, test pilot and member of the de Havilland company. One of the three sons of Rev. Charles de Havilland, he was ...
and at the
Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment The Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment (A&AEE) was a research facility for British military aviation from 1918 to 1992. Established at Martlesham Heath, Suffolk, the unit moved in 1939 to Boscombe Down, Wiltshire, where its work ...
at
Boscombe Down MoD Boscombe Down ' is the home of a military aircraft testing site, on the southeastern outskirts of the town of Amesbury, Wiltshire, England. The site is managed by QinetiQ, the private defence company created as part of the breakup of the Def ...
and the machines earned a satisfactory report. Tests were also carried out with a Tiger Moth carrying a bomb. Modification of the relatively small number of
Miles Magister The Miles M.14 Magister is a two-seat monoplane basic trainer aircraft designed and built by the United Kingdom, British aircraft manufacturer Miles Aircraft. It was affectionately known as the ''Maggie''. It was authorised to perform aerobatics ...
trainers were also attempted but this proved troublesome and ''Banquet Light'' mostly used Tiger Moths. The ''Banquet Light'' strike force would be used for Army co-operation, bombing concentrations of airborne troops or soldiers landing on the beaches. The two-seater Tiger Moth bombers should be flown solo into an attack at low altitude until the enemy was identified, climb to and dive to to release the bombs. Most of the pilots for ''Banquet Light'' would be students who had not yet graduated. The scheme required that trainee pilots should be introduced to bombing at an early stage in their instruction, in case they needed to go into action immediately. Instructors were told to "take every opportunity to carry out practice bombing". With no dummy bombs available early in 1940, training exercises were carried out with the aircraft flown from the front cockpit by instructors and house bricks were thrown over the side from the rear cockpit. It was discovered that the bricks fell slower than a diving Tiger Moth and instructions were given to throw the bricks forcefully away from the aircraft. About 350 aircraft were available but the Moths and their inexperienced pilots would have been vulnerable to enemy aircraft and the plan was widely regarded as suicidal.WO 199/2471 – "Banquet" light scheme
''The Catalogue'',
The National Archives National archives are central archives maintained by countries. This article contains a list of national archives. Among its more important tasks are to ensure the accessibility and preservation of the information produced by governments, both ...
Consideration was also given to adapting civilian aircraft for ''Banquet Civil'' but the idea was dropped.


Cancellation

Operation Banquet was never put into effect but was periodically exercised under various guises. One "exercise" provided secret cover for the temporary reorganisation needed for the first 1,000 bomber raid sent against the city of
Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...
on the night of 30/31 May 1942. This plan required considerable reorganisation including the contribution of bombers from Coastal Command and Training Command. Banquet was cancelled in October 1943 having never been put into effect.


See also

*
British anti-invasion preparations of World War II British anti-invasion preparations of the Second World War entailed a large-scale division of military and civilian mobilisation in response to the threat of invasion (Operation Sea Lion) by German armed forces in 1940 and 1941. The British Ar ...
*
British hardened field defences of World War II British hardened field defences of World War II were small fortified structures constructed as a part of British anti-invasion preparations. They were popularly known as '' pillboxes'', a reference to their shape. Design and development In M ...


Notes


References

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External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Banquet, Operation Battle of Britain Cancelled military operations involving the United Kingdom Aerial operations and battles of World War II involving the United Kingdom