Near East vs. Middle East

[James A. Landau]

>From a book published in 1949 about the USAAF Air Transport Command in World
War II:

"...others [of the bombers being ferried] joined the battle for the Middle
East [footnote 2]"

Footnote 2 reads:

"I regret that the English fave foisted this term upon us, as they did
"ferrying".  We grew up calling this area the Near East, which makes sense.
"Middle" implies more of the same on either side, which is not the case with
Egypt-Libya."

Soource: Oliver La Farge _The Eagle in the Egg: the story of the coming of
age of military air transport which has produced the Berlin Airlift_ Boston:
Houghton Mifflin Company, 1949.  La Farge was the ATC's Historical Officer.

                    - James A. Landau
                      Systems Engineer
                      FAA Technical Center (ACT-350/BCI)
                      Atlantic City Airport NJ 08405 USA