| History |
On 1 April 1911 the first British military organisation focussed on aviation was established. It was the Air Battalion of the Royal Engineers at Larkhill. The unit consisted out of two companies. No. 1 Company with airships, balloons & kites and No. 2 Company with aircraft. About a year later the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) was constituted on 13 April 1912. The previous mentioned companies were absorbed into this organisation and renamed into squadrons. The RFC grew enormously, especially during 1914 when the First World War broke out in Europe. On the historical day of 1 April 1918 the Royal Air Force (RAF) was established by combining both the RFC and the Royal Navy Air Service (RNAS). The Bristol F2b aircraft of 22sq had the honour to carry out the first official mission of the RAF. At the end of the First World War the RAF consisted of almost 300,000 personnel and 22,647 aircraft. These aircraft were divided over 188 frontline squadrons, 15 flights and 75 training squadrons/units. Of course this was down scaled during the post war years due to massive budget cuts.
On 2 September 1939, one day after the German invasion of Poland, which is considered as the official start of the Second World War ten RAF squadrons equipped with Fairey Battle bombers and two RAF squadrons equipped with Hawker Hurricane fighters deployed to France. The next day Britain declared war on Germany. A few hours later the first official RAF war sortie was flown by a Bristol Blenheim of No. 139sq. The British expeditionary force in France could not stop the advancing German army, and the remains of this force, together with many French soldiers, were evacuated to England in Operation Dynamo. It was by then that it became clear that the RAF started too late with modernizing and expanding operational squadrons. In June 1940 Fighter Command only had 331 Hurricanes and Spitfires with another 36 in reserve. On 10 July 1940 the first phase of the famous Battle of Britain commenced. Many historians divide the battle in four phases. During the first phase the aerial fighting concentrated over the English Channel, secondly there were the attacks on the Fighter Command Air Stations. During the third phase German bombers raged havoc on London, triggering a response from the RAF Bomber Command which started its campaign against German cities. Towards the end of the summer the fourth and final phase was fought. During this period the Luftwaffe retreated their bombers and started attacks using fighter-bombers instead. The war continued with successes and losses on all sides. Slowly the war turned in favour of the allies with D-Day (6 June 1944) as the most memorable day of the war. The next big battle in which the RAF played an important role was Operation Market Garden (17-25 September 1944). Allied paratroops were dropped over The Netherlands in an attempt to secure the bridges over various large rivers. In total 3,887 allied aircraft, including 1,053 Dakotas and 500 gliders, dropped some 35,000 troops behind enemy lines. The bridge over the river Rhine at Arnhem proved to be "one bridge too far". A milestone was reached on 5 March 1943 when the first British Gloster Meteor jet fighter took to the sky for the first time. The aircraft was still in the developing stage and would reach squadron service by July 1944 (616sq). This however would prove too late to play an important role in the war. On 8 May 1945 the Germans officially surrendered (V-Day). In Asia the tide had turned as well by early 1945. In April the British forces successfully liberated large portions of Burma. And after the American Army Air Force had dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima (6 August 1945) and Nagasaki (9 August 1945) Japan surrendered as well. Officially the war in Asia ended on 15 August 1945 (VJ-Day).
In the post World War Two years the RAF was scaled down again. However a valuable lesson was learned and funds were made available to keep the military equipment up-to-date. The dark clouds of war packed again over Great Britain in 1982 when Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands. In terms of the air war only, it was mainly the Royal Navy which carried the burden of liberating the Falklands. This was of course due to the huge distance between Europe and these islands. The RAF however did deploy several Harrier GR3 jump jets onto Royal Navy carriers as well as Chinook and Wessex helicopters onto freight vessels. Vulcan bombers, supported by Victor tankers, also carried out long range bombing raids on targets on the Falklands, including the airfield at Port Stanley.
During the later 1980s the RAF continued to replace aging aircraft by more modern versions or new ones. But when Iraq invaded Kuwait (August 1990), it were not only the modern Tornado jets which were deployed to the Gulf region. As tanker support several VC-10 aircraft were deployed, and also 55sq participated with their aging Victors. In May 1973 the first Jaguar was accepted by the RAF and now, almost 20 years later, a detachment from RAF Coltishall deployed to the Gulf region as well. Most remarkable however were the Buccaneers (12sq and 208sq) which supported the Tornado GR1 bombers with their laser targeting systems during this war. During the later 1990s many of these older types were finally withdrawn from use. Most of the time without replacement since the Cold War really came to an end in this period. The Berlin wall came down in 1989 and in the following years East and West grew closer together. For the RAF, as for most defence organisations in Europe, this meant a decrease in the number of units. The RAF pulled back out of Germany with the final squadron (9sq) leaving RAF Brüggen in September 2001. Also more and more multi-service organisations were established like the Defence Helicopter Flying School, Joint Helicopter Command and Joint Force Harrier. Concerning aircraft types the biggest changes was the introduction of the Eurofighter (called Typhoon by the RAF) which replaced the Tornado F3, and the retirement of the Jaguar GR3A / T4A fleet.
| | Current organisation |
The RAF was organised into two commands till mid 2007. First one is the Strike Command, under which are the operational units of the RAF, and secondly there is the Personnel and Training Command. Starting 1 April 2007 both commands were combined into one command: Air Command. All logistics support for the AAC, FAA and RAF has been combined under the Defence Logistics Organisation. The RAF Support Helicopter squadrons, as well as some training squadrons, are under command of a multi-service organisation called Joint Helicopter Command.
Air Command, HQ High Wycombe
After a another reorganisation the RAF Strike Command was restructured per 1 April 2007. The main purpose of this reorganisation was to adapt the command to the changed world order of the late 1990s. Like many other defence forces the RAF Air Command has been prepared to react quickly to crises with deployable expeditionary forces called Expeditionary Air Wings. Prior to this experience with multi-service organisation had been already gained by combining the helicopter crew training of the AAC, FAA and RAF. In the period 1998-2001 more multi-service organisations were established like the Joint Force Harrier and the Joint Helicopter Command (see further for details). Part of the reorganisation was also re-arranging the groups under the former Strike Command. Three elements with famous histories were disbanded. These three famous groups were: No. 11 Group (Battle of Britain), No. 18 Group (Maritime Patrol) and No. 38 Group (tactical transport and air-to-air refuelling). Nowadays there are three groups:
- No. 1 Group (Combat Air Power)
All fast jet squadrons have been gathered under the command of No. 1 Group. The most recent addition to this group is the Typhoon (Eurofighter). Early 2005 two units, being 17(R)sq and 29(R)sq, moved from BAE Warton to RAF Coningsby. These two units are tasked with the training of new pilots (29sq) and creating tactics for the operational use of the type (17sq). The first operational Typhoon F1 squadron is 3(F) squadron, a former Harrier unit, which was followed by 11(F) squadron, both are based at RAF Coningsby. Other squadrons reporting to No 1 Group are the fast jet training squadrons equipped with Hawks. Finally there also are two groups of squadrons which for operational matters report to Joint Commands. First this are the RAF Harrier squadrons based at RAF Cottesmore which also report to the Joint Force Harrier. Secondly this are the RAF Battle Field Support Helicopter squadrons which also report to the Joint Helicopter Command.
- No. 2 Group (Air Combat Support and Air Battle Management)
The RAF combined all transport and refuelling squadrons under No. 2 Group. Basically this are the units reporting to the Lyneham Transport Wing (LTW) which all operate with various C-130 Hercules versions. As well as the C-17A, Tristar and VC-10 units based at RAF Brize Norton. Expected major future changes to this group are the introduction of the A-400M which will replace the remaining ageing C-130K Hercules (C1 and C3 versions), and the replacement of the VC-10 and Tristar fleet by a single Future Strategic Tanker Aircraft for which the A330-200 has been selected. RAF Lyneham will be closed and the entire RAF transport fleet will be centred at RAF Brize Norton. Also reporting to this group are the maritime patrol aircraft, surveillance aircraft and search & rescue helicopters. The RAF is planning to update a maximum of twelve Nimrod MR2 aircraft to MRA4 standard and is also looking into replacing the Sea King HAR3(A) helicopters. These Search and Rescue helicopters will be replaced together with their counterparts of the Royal Navy and Coast Guard by a private financed initiative. The current fleet of Nimrod R1 and Sentry AEW1 aircraft will not be replaced in the foreseeable future but they will be upgraded in order to remain state of the art in electronic warfare, communications and surveillance. A new addition was Sentinel R1 of which the first aircraft was delivered in 2007. Finally also reporting to this group are the RAF air defence radar station and the RAF Regiments.
- No. 22 Group (Personnel, Training And Selection)
All 500+ training aircraft are allocated to this command, including the 150+ gliders of the Air Cadets and more than 100 Tutor aircraft of the University Air Squadrons. This command however has many more tasks than training aircrews only. Actually the recruitment and training of any RAF employee falls under the responsibility of this command as well as any job-related issue (Human Resources). The RAF summarizes the tasks as: all aspects of recruiting, non-operational flying and ground training, career management, welfare, terms and conditions of service, and resettlement of RAF regular, reserve and civilian staffs world-wide.
- Overseas Units:
The RAF used to have a massive number of squadrons, flights and other units based at overseas locations. After World War Two many former colonies of Great Britain became independent resulting in the British military forces leaving. In most cases the units were simply disbanded. When the Iron Curtain came down in 1989 the fate for most of the remaining overseas units was sealed. The squadrons of the Royal Air Force Germany (RAFG) were slowly returned to the United Kingdom and their old bases were mostly closed. After the RAFG was disbanned and the last squadrons returned to the United Kingdom the RAF retained a presence at the Falklands and at Cyprus. The ongoing battles in Iraq and Afghanistan also called for a continued presence in these regions. Most often the various squadrons take turns in deploying airccraft to these countries but in a few cases dedicated flights were activated to control the locally based aircraft and/or helicopters.
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Photo: Chris Lofting
Photo: Chris Lofting
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Royal Air Force
RAF Order of Battle