Operation Banquet
Encyclopedia
Operation Banquet was a British plan to use every available aircraft in a last ditch effort to repel an expected German invasion
in 1940 or 1941. During the Second World War, in May 1940, the Air Ministry
realised that beyond the normal reserves of the Royal Air Force
(RAF), it may be necessary to throw everything into a last ditch battle for British liberty. To this end, the Air Ministry planned to use just about anything that could fly. On 17 May 1940, an Air Ministry meeting outlined a series of ambitious plans to make use of various aircraft in the event of an invasion.
With the Fall of France in July 1940, the Germans threatened to invade Britain. The British Government made frantic efforts to prepare to meet the threatened invasion
and the RAF engaged the German Luftwaffe
in a struggle for air superiority over Britain in what became known as the Battle of Britain
.
) into the operational striking force of Bomber Command
. Banquet 22 Group would move certain 22 group
(Army Cooperation) aircraft into the operational striking force of Bomber Command. Striking more of a note of desperation were Banquet Alert which called for the employment of Fleet Air Arm
training aircraft under Coastal Command and Banquet Training which called for the absorption of aircraft from Training Command
into the operational striking force of Bomber Command.
Aircraft allocated under Banquet would, in many cases, lack bombsight
s, armour for the protection of the crew, defensive guns and self-sealing fuel tank
s. While these were to be fitted where possible, RAF instructions were very clear that no aircraft was to be considered unfit for want of such niceties. Anything that could fly and drop bombs would suffice. Ground service 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".
biplanes and other light aircraft of the Elementary Flight Training School. De Havilland put forward plans for converting the Tiger Moth into a bomber by equipping it with eight under-fuselage racks beneath the rear cockpit, each able to carry a 20 pounds (9 kg) bomb. As an alternative, the bomb-racks could be installed four on each side beneath the lower wings, this obviated trimming difficulties. The racks had been designed for the military version of the Dragon
s supplied to Iraq
eight years previously. Trials were conducted at Hatfield by Major Hereward de Havilland and at the Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment
at Boscombe Down
, the machines earned a perfectly satisfactory report. Tests were also carried out with a Tiger Moth carrying a single 240 pounds (109 kg) bomb. Modification of the relatively small number of Magister
trainers were also attempted, but this proved troublesome, therefore Banquet Light mostly used Tiger Moths.
The Banquet Light strike force would be employed in an Army cooperation role, which would likely mean being sent to bomb concentrations of airborne troops or soldiers landing on the beaches. The intention was that the two-seater Tiger Moth bombers should be flown solo into an attack at low altitude until the enemy was identified and then climb to 800 feet (243.8 m) and dive to 500 feet (152.4 m) 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 were introduced to bombing at an early stage in their instruction – just in case they needed to go into action immediately. Instructors were told to "take every opportunity to carry out practice bombing." However, 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 faster than a diving Tiger Moth and instructions were given to throw the bricks forcibly away from the aircraft.
About 350 aircraft were available. This was not an insignificant force, but the Moths and their inexperienced pilots would have been very vulnerable to enemy aircraft and the plan was widely regarded as virtually suicidal. Consideration was also given to adapting civilian aircraft for Banquet Civil. However, the plan was not thought worthwhile and the idea was dropped.
on the night of 30/31 May 1942. This plan required considerable reorganisation including the contribution of bombers from Coastal Command and Training Command. Plan Banquet was cancelled in October 1943 having never been put into effect.
Operation Sealion
Operation Sea Lion was Germany's plan to invade the United Kingdom during the Second World War, beginning in 1940. To have had any chance of success, however, the operation would have required air and naval supremacy over the English Channel...
in 1940 or 1941. During the Second World War, in May 1940, the Air Ministry
Air Ministry
The Air Ministry was a department of the British Government with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force, that existed from 1918 to 1964...
realised that beyond the normal reserves of the Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
(RAF), it may be necessary to throw everything into a last ditch battle for British liberty. To this end, the Air Ministry planned to use just about anything that could fly. On 17 May 1940, an Air Ministry meeting outlined a series of ambitious plans to make use of various aircraft in the event of an invasion.
With the Fall of France in July 1940, the Germans threatened to invade Britain. The British Government made frantic efforts to prepare to meet the threatened invasion
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 by German armed forces in 1940 and 1941. The British army needed to recover from the defeat of the British Expeditionary Force in...
and the RAF engaged the German Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....
in a struggle for air superiority over Britain in what became known as the Battle of Britain
Battle of Britain
The Battle of Britain is the name given to the World War II air campaign waged by the German Air Force against the United Kingdom during the summer and autumn of 1940...
.
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 overall plan was known as Operation Banquet and was divided into a number of separate operations that could be enacted independently. Banquet 6 Group would see the absorption of No 6 Group units (the Group Pool units, not the later Royal Canadian Air ForceRoyal Canadian Air Force
The history of the Royal Canadian Air Force begins in 1920, when the air force was created as the Canadian Air Force . In 1924 the CAF was renamed the Royal Canadian Air Force and granted royal sanction by King George V. The RCAF existed as an independent service until 1968...
) into the operational striking force of Bomber Command
Bomber Command
Bomber Command is an organizational military unit, generally subordinate to the air force of a country. Many countries have a "Bomber Command", although the most famous ones were in Britain and the United States. A Bomber Command is generally used for Strategic bombing , and is composed of bombers...
. Banquet 22 Group would move certain 22 group
No. 22 Group RAF
Number 22 Group is one of only three groups currently active in the Royal Air Force, falling under the responsibility of Deputy Commander-in-Chief in Air Command. Its current full title is Number 22 Group and it is responsible for RAF training policy and controlling the Royal Air Force College...
(Army Cooperation) aircraft into the operational striking force of Bomber Command. Striking more of a note of desperation were Banquet Alert which called for the employment of Fleet Air Arm
Fleet Air Arm
The Fleet Air Arm is the branch of the British Royal Navy responsible for the operation of naval aircraft. The Fleet Air Arm currently operates the AgustaWestland Merlin, Westland Sea King and Westland Lynx helicopters...
training aircraft under Coastal Command and Banquet Training which called for the absorption of aircraft from Training Command
Training Command
Training Command may refer to:*RAF Training Command*Training Command, Indian Air Force*Training Command, Military of Serbia*Training Command of the Singapore Police Force*Training Command of the U.S. Army Air Force, forerunner of the U. S. Air Force...
into the operational striking force of Bomber Command.
Aircraft allocated under Banquet would, in many cases, lack bombsight
Bombsight
A bombsight is a device used by bomber aircraft to accurately drop bombs. In order to do this, the bombsight has to estimate the path the bomb will take after release from the aircraft. The two primary forces during its fall are gravity and air drag, which makes the path of the bomb through the air...
s, armour for the protection of the crew, defensive guns and self-sealing fuel tank
Self-sealing fuel tank
In aviation, self-sealing fuel tank is a fuel tank technology in wide use since World War II that prevents fuel tanks primarily on aircraft from leaking fuel and igniting after being damaged by enemy fire....
s. While these were to be fitted where possible, RAF instructions were very clear that no aircraft was to be considered unfit for want of such niceties. Anything that could fly and drop bombs would suffice. Ground service 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".
Banquet Light
The most ominous of the Banquet plans was Banquet Light which would see the formation of striking forces composed of De Havilland Tiger MothDe Havilland Tiger Moth
The de Havilland DH 82 Tiger Moth is a 1930s biplane designed by Geoffrey de Havilland and was operated by the Royal Air Force and others as a primary trainer. The Tiger Moth remained in service with the RAF until replaced by the de Havilland Chipmunk in 1952, when many of the surplus aircraft...
biplanes and other light aircraft of the Elementary Flight Training School. De Havilland put forward plans for converting the Tiger Moth into a bomber by equipping it with eight under-fuselage racks beneath the rear cockpit, each able to carry a 20 pounds (9 kg) bomb. As an alternative, the bomb-racks could be installed four on each side beneath the lower wings, this obviated trimming difficulties. The racks had been designed for the military version of the Dragon
De Havilland Dragon
|-See also:-References:Bibliography ISBN 0-85177-813-5...
s supplied to Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
eight years previously. Trials were conducted at Hatfield by Major Hereward de Havilland and at the Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment
Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment
The Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment was a research facility for British military aviation from 1918 to 1992.-History:...
at Boscombe Down
MoD Boscombe Down
MoD Boscombe Down is an aircraft testing site located at Idmiston, south of Amesbury, in Wiltshire, England. It is run and managed by QinetiQ, the company created as part of the breakup of the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency in 2001 by the UK Ministry of Defence...
, the machines earned a perfectly satisfactory report. Tests were also carried out with a Tiger Moth carrying a single 240 pounds (109 kg) bomb. Modification of the relatively small number of Magister
Miles Magister
-See also:-References:NotesBibliography* Amos, Peter. Miles Aircraft = The early years. Tonbridge: Air-Britain, 2009. ISBN 978 0 85130 410 6...
trainers were also attempted, but this proved troublesome, therefore Banquet Light mostly used Tiger Moths.
The Banquet Light strike force would be employed in an Army cooperation role, which would likely mean being sent to bomb concentrations of airborne troops or soldiers landing on the beaches. The intention was that the two-seater Tiger Moth bombers should be flown solo into an attack at low altitude until the enemy was identified and then climb to 800 feet (243.8 m) and dive to 500 feet (152.4 m) 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 were introduced to bombing at an early stage in their instruction – just in case they needed to go into action immediately. Instructors were told to "take every opportunity to carry out practice bombing." However, 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 faster than a diving Tiger Moth and instructions were given to throw the bricks forcibly away from the aircraft.
About 350 aircraft were available. This was not an insignificant force, but the Moths and their inexperienced pilots would have been very vulnerable to enemy aircraft and the plan was widely regarded as virtually suicidal. Consideration was also given to adapting civilian aircraft for Banquet Civil. However, the plan was not thought worthwhile and the idea was dropped.
Cancellation
Operation Banquet was never put into effect in the way that was originally intended. Banquet was periodically exercised under various guises and one such "exercise" provided secret cover for the temporary reorganisation needed for the first 1,000 bomber raid sent against the city of CologneCologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
on the night of 30/31 May 1942. This plan required considerable reorganisation including the contribution of bombers from Coastal Command and Training Command. Plan Banquet was cancelled in October 1943 having never been put into effect.
See also
- British anti-invasion preparations of World War IIBritish anti-invasion preparations of World War IIBritish 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 by German armed forces in 1940 and 1941. The British army needed to recover from the defeat of the British Expeditionary Force in...
- British hardened field defences of World War IIBritish hardened field defences of World War IIBritish 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 by reference to their shape.-Design and development:...