7th February 1989: Sky News reported the first elements of the American Volunteer Group, sanctioned by President Bush in his inauguration speech, had seen action against Republican forces near Peterborough.
Flying A-10 Thunderbolt's, the AVG helped stall a French armoured advance north and allow Royalist forces the chance to dig in near around Stilton.
The first AVG squadron to see action was the 78th Tactical Fighter Squadron, which had been based at RAF Woodbridge in Suffolk before Cranwell's order for US forces to leave British soil when it had decamped to Naval Air Station Keflavik in Iceland.
Officially the AVG comprised solely of volunteers but in reality complete units of the US military were transferred to the AVG given the desperate need of the Royalists and the US Government's concerns over French and German involvement in England, as well as the Soviet presence in Ireland.
And the plot thickens!
ReplyDeleteHowever, I'd probably also add leftist American volunteers going to aid the Republican cause as well (and probably annoying the hell out of the Bush administration).