ABSTRACT
In January 1943, the Casablanca conference approved the creation of a new air organisation for the Mediterranean theatre.1 From a headquarters in Algiers, Tedder was to command everything with wings between Gibraltar and Palestine, under the overall direction of Eisenhower, the Supreme Commander. Eisenhower signalled Arnold in Washington on the 19th to say that he and Spaatz were both ‘delighted with the prospect of getting Tedder into this headquarters, where we may profit constantly from his great experience and soldierly qualities’.2 Tedder was ‘a brilliant air strategist’, noted Harry Butcher, Eisenhower’s naval aide and diarist, echoing his master’s opinion.3 King George VI shared their delight: he is ‘much relieved’, wrote Sir Alexander Hardinge, his private secretary, to Sinclair on the 25th, ‘to know that Tedder is being given the Command of all the Air Forces in North Africa’.4
