Crossword Genius

Attack from the air? Airmen in difficult position, mostly (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

strafe

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'attack from the air?' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)

'airmen in difficult position mostly' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'airmen' could be 'raf' (Royal Air Force) and 'raf' is found within the answer.
The remaining letters 'ste' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for strafe that I've seen before include "Rake with machine-gun fire" , "Attack with gunfire from the air" , "Attack with machine-gun from the air" , "Spray with bullets" , "Fire from the air with machine guns" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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