The UN’s First 'Air Force': Peacekeepers in Combat, Congo 1960–64

The United Nations Operation in the Congo (ONUC) was created in July 1960 to help the Congolese government quell its mutinous army and reestablish order. After ONUC’s mandate was expanded in 1961 to stop the Katanga province’s secession, a shooting war developed, in which Katanga paralyzed UN operations with a single armed jet. An aerial “arms race” and open combat followed. In December 1962 ONUC implemented Operation Grand Slam: Swedish jets neutralized Katanga’s air force, and the UN’s coordinated air-ground manoeuvers forcibly ended the secession. This article uncovers the unprecedented use of air power in UN peacekeeping and evaluates it for twenty-first century lessons.