Commonwealth Aerial Operations in the Malayan Emergency

Abstract

The Malayan Communist Insurgency and its defeat is not public knowledge anymore, but even if one is interested in this topic, mostly the role of Great Britain and of the Royal Air Force is to be encountered. It is lesser known that two Commonwealth nations, Australia and New Zealand also actively took part in this successful counterinsurgency war, and their respective air arms played an important role. In my work, next to a short historical scenesetting, I aim to present those defence policy factors, which compelled these two Commonwealth nations to intervene Malaya, and then the role of the Royal Australian Air Force, and the Royal New Zealand Air Force in counterinsurgency operations between 1948 and 1960.