South Atlantic air ferry route in World War II
The South Atlantic air ferry route was an air route established in July 1941, shortly before the United States' entrance into World War II. It was used initially by Pan American Airways subsidiaries (Atlantic Airways Ltd, then PAA Ferries) and then, after the attack on Pearl Harbor, by the Army Air Corps Ferrying Command to deliver Lend-Lease aircraft to British forces engaged in the Western Desert Campaign.
After the United States entered the war, it was expanded into a series of connecting air routes, which were used to ferry aircraft and transport equipment and personnel throughout the Eurasian and African continents from the United States. The route was used as an alternate Air Route to ferry aircraft to Great Britain when weather closed the North Atlantic Route. It was later extended though the Middle East into Iran to send Lend-Lease aircraft to the Soviet Union, and into India, to transport equipment, key personnel and aircraft into China to aid the Nationalist government of the Republic of China in the Second Sino-Japanese War against the Japanese Empire. The route also extended into Central and Southern Africa.
After the Fall of France in June 1940 and the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from Northern Europe after the Battle of Dunkirk, the next major land battle between the Axis powers and the United Kingdom erupted in North Africa in September with the Fascist Italian invasion of Egypt from Libya. The Italian offensive was halted and, in December 1940, the British made a counterattack. What started as a five-day raid turned into Operation Compass, resulting in massive losses for the Italian forces. The Italian's Axis partner, Nazi Germany, provided Afrika Korps, a contingent of ground and air forces, to prevent a total collapse, and Germany became the dominant partner.
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