Royal Air Force Mutiny of 1946
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The Royal Air Force Mutiny of 1946 was a mutiny on apporoximately Royal Air Force stations in India and South Asia in January 1946 over condiions of slow demobillisation and conditions of service following the end of World War II. The mutiny, in reality a strike action, began at Karachi and later spread to involve nearly 50,000 men over 60 RAF sations in India and Ceylon, including the then largest RAF base at Kanpur and RAF bases as far as Singapore.[1]
The mutiny lasted between three and eleven days days at different places and were peaceful. The main grievance of the men was slow demobillisation of British troops to Britain, use of British shipping facillities for transporting G.I.s and other grievances. For their part, the British Government argued that the provisions were inadequate. However, later declassified reports have shown that British troops were retained in India to control possible unrests over the course of the independence movement, and the grievances of the RAF men may have also included significant political views and communist support.[1].
The events of the RAF mutiny were ultimately resolved, and some of the mutineers faced courts martial. However, the precedence was important in instigating subsequent actions in the (then) Royal Indian Air Force and later, the Bombay Mutiny of the Royal Indian Navy in March 1946.
[edit] References
- ^ a b Childs 2000, p. 22
- Childs, David. (2000), Britain Since 1945: A Political History., Routledge., ISBN 0415248043.
- Mutiny in the RAF- the Air Force Strikes of 1946. David Duncan.ISBN 095238106.
- A brief history of mutiny.Journal for Maritime research. August 2005.
- BBC. People's war
- RAF strike in India-1946.
- John W. Cell, in Reviews of Books; Asia. White Mutiny: British Military Culture in India by Peter Stanley. The American Historical Review, Vol. 104, No. 3. (Jun., 1999), pp. 888-889.
- SECRET HISTORY: MUTINY IN THE RAF British film institute.
- Murder, Mutiny and the Military: British Court Martial Cases 1940–1966. Gerry Rubin. Journal of Conflict and Security Law 2006 11(3):511-513.
