Frank McCutcheon: Crusader for U.S. Marine Corps Close Air Support, Innovator of Command and Control

Sie sind hier: Homepage > Suche

Frank McCutcheon: Crusader for U.S. Marine Corps Close Air Support, Innovator of Command and Control

J. M. La Point

Under the direction of LtCol Keith B. McCutcheon, Marine aviation provided close air support (CAS) for the Army in the Philippines in 1945. McCutcheon's perseverance and innovative ideas in the area of command and control laid the foundation for all close air support efforts in the Pacific and became an integral part of the Marine air-ground team concept that makes the Marine Corps unique today. CAS was slow to start in World War II. There were no standard procedures to follow and a lack of coordination between air and ground units made it difficult to proceed. Additionally, Army ground commanders considered CAS non-responsive, inaccurate and dangerous. LtCol McCutcheon was assigned as the Operations Officer of Marine Air Group (MAG) 24 when he was tasked with devising a way for Marine aviation to protect the left flank of the Army's First Cavalry Division on their drive to Manila. While the Marine aviators had provided close support for Marine ground troops in the past, the methods had been ad hoc and met with varying degrees of success. McCutcheon strongly believed that CAS was an additional weapon available to the ground commander. Effective CAS required reliable, adequate, and deliberate communications with a command and control architecture that could support this demanding mission. His unique ideas shaped an intricate and effective architecture that provided the impetus for these historic missions.