Norman Walsh
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Air Marshal Norman Walsh (22 May 19333 August 2010) was a senior officer in the
Rhodesian Air Force The Rhodesian Air Force (RhAF) was an air force based in Salisbury (now Harare) which represented several entities under various names between 1935 and 1980: originally serving the British self-governing colony of Southern Rhodesia, it was th ...
and the first commander of the Air Force of Zimbabwe.


Early life

Norman Walsh was born on 22 May 1933 and attended Queen's College in South Africa, where he completed his education in 1949. Walsh then moved to the neighbouring British colony of
Southern Rhodesia Southern Rhodesia was a self-governing British Crown colony in Southern Africa, established in 1923 and consisting of British South Africa Company (BSAC) territories lying south of the Zambezi River. The region was informally known as South ...
and joined the Southern Rhodesian Air Force as an
officer cadet Officer cadet is a rank held by military personnel during their training to become commissioned officers. In the United Kingdom, the rank is also used by personnel of University Service Units such as the University Officers' Training Corps. Th ...
.


Rhodesian Air Force career

Walsh flew
Hawker Hunter The Hawker Hunter is a transonic British jet propulsion, jet-powered fighter aircraft that was developed by Hawker Aircraft for the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It was designed to take advantage of the newly dev ...
s during his earlier air force years. As a middle-ranking officer, he commanded No. 1 Squadron before switching from fast jet to rotary. He took up command of No. 7 Squadron in 1968, flying the Alouette III helicopter. While in command of No. 7 Squadron, Walsh saw action during the guerrilla incursions from Zambia into Rhodesia. He and his squadron were involved in performing helicopter evacuations of wounded Rhodesian infantry, flying in other infantry to attack the guerrillas and providing direct machine gun fire to support ground troops. During these actions, Walsh's helicopter sustained hits from the guerrillas but he was able to continue flying. Walsh was also carried out
forward air control Forward air control is the provision of guidance to close air support (CAS) aircraft intended to ensure that their attack hits the intended target and does not injure friendly troops. This task is carried out by a forward air controller (FAC). ...
duties, directing air strikes from Rhodesian Percival Provosts. Walsh was awarded the Bronze Cross for conspicuous gallantry shown at this time. Walsh finished the 1960s as Officer Commanding the Flying Wing at New Sarum Air Force Station. In the 1970s, Walsh held senior appointments in the Rhodesian Air Force. Walsh was the Station Commander at New Sarum from 1975 to 1976. He was Director of Operations at Air Force headquarters from August 1976 to 1977, during which he was the senior air force officer directly involved in the execution of Operation Dingo. At the end of his tour he was appointed an Officer of the Legion of Merit for service as Director of Operations and other previous command and staff tours. From 1978 to 1980, Walsh was Director General Operations and during this time the Rhodesian Air Force was renamed the Zimbabwe-Rhodesia Air Force. Walsh was appointed Chief of Staff in 1980, taking over from Air Marshal Frank Mussell.


Awards

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Air Force of Zimbabwe Career

In 1981, after Robert Mugabe had become Prime Minister of Zimbabwe, the Zimbabwe-Rhodesia Air Force was renamed the Air Force of Zimbabwe and Mugabe offered command of the air force to Walsh, which he accepted. Walsh's priorities were the recruiting of new personnel from the former guerrilla fighters and replacing outdated aircraft with up-to-date types. Key to this second priority was the acquisition of eight British BAE Hawk jet aircraft to operate in the
strike fighter In current military parlance, a strike fighter is a multirole combat aircraft designed to operate both as an attack aircraft and as an air superiority fighter. As a category, it is distinct from fighter-bombers, and is closely related to the co ...
role which were to replace the antiquated Hunters of No. 1 Squadron. In 1982, Walsh personally led the British Aerospace ferry team that flew the new aircraft from Britain to Zimbabwe. On 25 July 1982, just 10 days after the Hawks arrived in Zimbabwe, four of the eight aircraft were damaged in a sabotage attack at Thornhill Air Force Base. Saboteurs had cut through the perimeter wire and placed time-delay bombs in the aircraft engines. Eight Hunters and a Cessna aircraft were also attacked. Although it was generally accepted that the saboteurs had been South African special forces, Mugabe ordered his
Central Intelligence Organisation The Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) is the national intelligence agency of Zimbabwe. It was conceived as the external intelligence-gathering arm of the British South Africa Police Special Branch in the early 1960s, under the Southern Rh ...
agents to arrest the senior air force officers who had been involved in procurement of the Hawks. In addition to Walsh, those arrested included his deputy and close friend, Air Vice-Marshal Hugh Slatter. After torture and beatings, forced confessions were extracted from Walsh's personnel and after nearly a year of international pressure the men were brought to trial in the High Court in
Harare Harare ( ), formerly Salisbury, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Zimbabwe. The city proper has an area of , a population of 1,849,600 as of the 2022 Zimbabwe census, 2022 census and an estimated 2,487,209 people in its metrop ...
. Following a lengthy hearing they were all acquitted but were rearrested by Central Intelligence Organisation agents as they left the court building. It was not until international pressure had been applied for several more weeks that the officers were released. With his men released, Walsh resigned his command, officially leaving the service on 22 May 1983. Walsh was replaced by Air Marshal Azim Daudpota, who commanded the air force on loan service from Pakistan. Mugabe no longer trusted former Rhodesian officers and sought to replace them.


Later life

Having been able to resign his position, Walsh left Zimbabwe, emigrating with his family to Australia. Walsh died at his home in
Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...
on 3 August 2010 at the age of 77.


References


External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Walsh, Norman South African people of British descent Zimbabwean people of British descent White Rhodesian people Zimbabwean exiles Air Force of Zimbabwe air marshals Rhodesian Air Force personnel Rhodesian military personnel of the Bush War 1930s births 2010 deaths South African emigrants to Rhodesia Zimbabwean emigrants to Australia Alumni of Queen's College Boys' High School