No. 19 Group RAF

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No. 19 (General Reconnaissance) Group RAF
No. 19 (Equipment) Group RAF
Ensign of the Royal Air Force.svg
ActiveApril 1918 - June 1918
5 February 1941 - 28 November 1969
CountryFlag of the United Kingdom.svg  United Kingdom
BranchEnsign of the Royal Air Force.svg  Royal Air Force
Type Royal Air Force group
Role Maritime Reconnaissance (1941-1969)
Part of RAF Coastal Command
Engagements First World War
Second World War

No. 19 Group was a group of the Royal Air Force, active during 1918, and then from 1941-1969.

Contents

History

First World War

During the First World War, No. 19 (Equipment) Group was formed in York, at the start of April 1918, in No. 4 Area, it was transferred to North-Eastern Area on 8 May 1918, but disbanded in June. [1]

Second World War

It was reformed in February 1941 as No. 19 (General Reconnaissance) Group, within Coastal Command, at Mount Wise, Plymouth. By May 1941 the group was operating out of three Royal Air Force stations, with seven units.

May 1941


Its units in February 1942 included:

No. 19 Group RAF (GR), under command of Air Commodore G.R. Bromet, CBE, DSO [3]
SquadronAircraftStation
No. 22 Squadron RAF Bristol Beaufort RAF St Eval
No. 86 Squadron RAF Bristol Beaufort RAF St Eval
No. 209 Squadron RAF Consolidated Catalina RAF Pembroke Dock
No. 217 Squadron RAF Bristol Beaufort RAF St Eval
No. 224 Squadron RAF Lockheed Hudson RAF St Eval
No. 254 Squadron RAF Bristol Blenheim RAF Carew Cheriton
No. 502 (Ulster) Squadron RAF [4] Armstrong Whitworth Whitley RAF St Eval
No. 10 Squadron RAAF Short Sunderland RAF Mount Batten
No. 1404 (Meteorological) Flight RAF [5] Lockheed Hudson RAF St Eval
No. 1417 (Leigh Light Trials) Flight RAF [6] Vickers Wellington RAF Chivenor
No. 1 Photographic Reconnaissance Unit RAF Bristol Blenheim RAF St Eval (B Flight)

Among its squadrons during the war was No. 461 Squadron RAAF.

Cold War

No. 19 Group assets during October 1946: [7]

The group relocated to RAF Mount Batten in 1947.

In 1953, initial NATO documents instructing Admiral Creasey, newly appointed Commander-in-Chief, Eastern Atlantic Area (CINCEASTLANT), wrote that Air Vice Marshal Thomas Traill, CB , OBE , DFC , Royal Air Force, Air Officer Commanding No. 19 Group RAF, had been appointed as Air Commander North-East Atlantic Sub-Area. [9]

No. 19 Group assets during July 1954: [10]

19 Group assets during April 1962:

Before it became HQ Southern Maritime Air Region in November 1969, [1] its last commander appears to have been Air Vice-Marshal Cresswell Clementi.

Air Officer Commanding No. 19 Group RAF

Air Officers Commanding of No. 19 Group: [1]

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References

Citations

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Group No's 10 - 19". Air of Authority - A History of RAF Organisation. Retrieved 20 September 2023.
  2. Delve 1994, p. 54.
  3. Ashworth 1992, Appendix IV
  4. Lake 1999, p. 264.
  5. Lake 1999, p. 87.
  6. Lake 1999, p. 87-88.
  7. Rawlings 1985, p. 217.
  8. 1 2 Delve 1994, p. 81.
  9. http://archives.nato.int/uploads/r/null/1/2/123871/SGM-1204-53_ENG_PDP.pdf [ bare URL PDF ]
  10. Rawlings 1985, p. 219.
  11. Delve 1994, p. 85.
  12. Delve 1994, p. 88.

Bibliography