| Aden Command (RAF) (1928–1936) British Forces (in) Aden (1936–1956) British Forces Arabian Peninsula (1956–1961) | |
|---|---|
| Active | 1928–1961 |
| Country |  United Kingdom |
| Branch |  Royal Air Force |
| Engagements | Aden Emergency |
British Forces Aden was the name given to the British Armed Forces stationed in the Aden Protectorate during part of the 20th century. Their purpose was to preserve the security of the Protectorate from both internal threats and external aggression.[ citation needed ]
British Forces Aden was originally formed as Aden Command in 1928. [1] On its establishment, Aden Command was a Royal Air Force (RAF) command which was responsible for the control all British armed forces in the Protectorate. It was renamed British Forces in Aden, or simply British Forces Aden, in 1936 and renamed again in 1956 as British Forces Arabian Peninsula. [1] In 1959 Middle East Command was divided into two commands split by the Suez Canal. [2] The two parts were British Forces Arabian Peninsular, which was based at Aden, and the remnants in Cyprus which on 1 March 1961 was renamed Near East Command . [2]
On 1 March 1961 British Forces Arabian Peninsula was renamed, again, this time as Middle East Command (Aden). [1] The senior commanders were Air Marshal Sir Charles Elworthy, C-in-C Middle East; Rear Admiral Talbot, Flag Officer, Middle East; Major General Jim Robertson, GOC Middle East Land Forces; Air Vice Marshal David Lee, Air Officer Commanding, Air Forces Middle East, and GOC East Africa Command. [3] The GOC and AOC were working from the command HQ at Aden while FOME initially was at Bahrain with his headquarters at HMS Juffair. [4] FOME moved to HMS Sheba in the naval dockyard at Steamer Point after the 1961 Kuwait crisis (Walker, Aden Insurgency, 90); Rear Admiral Talbot seemingly moved on May 1, 1962. [5] Naval forces reportedly included three frigates, the Amphibious Warfare Squadron, the commando carrier HMS Bulwark, and 45 Commando Royal Marines based ashore at Aden. 45 Commando had arrived on 23 April 1960, disembarking from Dunera, and settling in BP Camp, which had been turned over by 1st Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment. [6]
At the end of November 1967, following the British withdrawal from Aden at the end of the Emergency, the remaining British Forces in the Arabian Peninsula, including units at Salalah and Masirah, were reorganized under Headquarters British Forces Gulf, [1] which was based at RAF Muharraq in Bahrain. [7] British Forces Gulf was placed under the command of Rear Admiral John E. L. Martin, previously the last Flag Officer, Middle East, [8] who handed over to Air Vice Marshal S B Grant on 4 April 1968. The command was disbanded on 15 December 1971.
The structure of the units based in Aden in 1939: [9]
Commanders have included: [1]
This is the Operation Telic order of battle, which lists the British forces that took part in Operation Telic, including
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The Aden Protectorate was a British protectorate in southern Arabia. The protectorate evolved in the hinterland of the port of Aden and in the Hadhramaut after the conquest of Aden by the Bombay Presidency of British India in January 1839, and which continued until the 1960s. In 1940, it was divided for administrative purposes into the Western Protectorate and the Eastern Protectorate. The territory now forms part of the Republic of Yemen.
Marshal of the Royal Air Force Samuel Charles Elworthy, Baron Elworthy, was a New Zealand-born senior officer in the Royal Air Force. He served as commander of a squadron of Blenheim bombers and then as a station commander during the Second World War. He became Chief of the Air Staff in the mid-1960s and implemented the cancellation of the TSR-2 strike aircraft and the HS681 military transport aircraft programmes. He also became Chief of the Defence Staff in which role he oversaw the evacuation from Aden in November 1967 and had to respond to the growing crisis in Northern Ireland in the late 1960s.
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The Aden Emergency, also known as the 14 October Revolution or as the Radfan Uprising, was an armed rebellion by the National Liberation Front (NLF) and the Front for the Liberation of Occupied South Yemen (FLOSY) against the Federation of South Arabia, a British Protectorate of the United Kingdom, which led to the proclamation of the People's Republic of South Yemen.
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No. 1417 Flight RAF was an independent flight of the Royal Air Force which existed between 1941 and 1993 at various times in a variety of roles. This Flight had probably the most interesting incarnations of all the independent aircraft flights of the Royal Air Force, introducing new technologies and operating complex fast jet aircraft in challenging and austere conditions, from the Arabian Peninsula to Central America.
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