| No. 205 (Heavy Bomber) Group RAF | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Active | 23 October 1941 - 15 April 1956 |
| Country |  United Kingdom |
| Branch |  Royal Air Force |
| Type | Royal Air Force group |
| Motto(s) | Through darkness to light |
| Engagements | Second World War |
| Insignia | |
| Group badge heraldry | In front of a Decrescent Argent a Bomb in bend sinister Sable [1] |
No. 205 (Heavy Bomber) Group was a long-range, heavy bomber group of the Royal Air Force (RAF) established on 23 October 1941 by boosting No. 257 Wing to Group status. [2]
During the North Africa Campaign in Egypt and Libya, No. 205 (Heavy Bomber) Group under Air Commodore Alan P. Ritchie was coordinated successfully with No. 201 (Naval Co-operation) Group under Air Vice Marshal Hugh Lloyd, and Air Headquarters (H.Q.) Western Desert under Air Vice Marshal Arthur Coningham.
This model which separated the command into strategic, coastal, and tactical air forces was presented to the Casablanca planners by Tedder who along with primarily Ritchie, Lloyd, and especially Coningham, implemented and developed the tri-force model in Egypt and Libya during 1942. No. 205 Group contributed significantly to these developments.
At the Casablanca Conference in January 1943, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, American President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and their staffs reorganized the Allied air forces in the North African and Mediterranean Theater of Operations on this model. The result of this reorganization was the Mediterranean Air Command commanded by Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Tedder and its major sub-command, the Northwest African Air Forces (NAAF) under Lieutenant General Carl Spaatz, was structured according to the tri-force model. [3] [4]
Beginning in April 1944, No. 205 Group began minelaying, code named "gardening" operations, along the Danube as part of the air campaign over Romania's oil exports to Germany. [5] The effects of these operations were considerable in reducing the oil river exports. [6] Until August, 205 Group also conducted around 23 night air raids over cities like as Turnu Severin, Bucharest, and Ploiești.
No. 205 Group units were part of the attempted resupply of the Polish Home Army during the Warsaw Uprising Airlift. Under the command of South African Brigadier Jimmy Durrant, the Group assisted the Polish Special Duties Flight 1586 by providing Halifax and Liberator bombers from the RAF Nos 148 Squadron and 178 Squadrons (334 Wing) and the SAAF 31 and 34 Squadrons (2 Wing). [7] No. 205 Group, including the Polish unit, lost 23 aircraft during the operation. [8]
In the MAC organization following the Casablanca Conference, No. 205 Group was part of the Northwest African Strategic Air Force (NASAF), an Allied command under Major General James H. Doolittle consisting of American (daytime) and British (primarily nighttime) long-range heavy bomber units. [9] NASAF, along with the Northwest African Coastal Air Force (NACAF) and the Northwest African Tactical Air Force (NATAF), formed a complete tri-force under a single unified command (NAAF). The components of No. 205 Group at various times during World War II are illustrated below.
Unfortunately, many of the records of No. 205 Group are apparently unavailable for the period prior to the air force reorganization in February 1943 (Mediterranean Air Command). [10]
| 11 November 1941 Operation Crusader A/Cdre Lachlan MacLean | Summer 1942 Egyptian Defensive A/Cdre MacLean or Ritchie | 27 October 1942 Second Battle of El Alamein A/Cdre A. P. Ritchie | 10 July 1943 Operation Husky A/Cdre John Simpson | 1944 & 1945 Part of +MASAF A/Cdre John Simpson (until July 1944) [12] Brigadier Jimmy Durrant |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. 37 Squadron, Wellington No. 38 Squadron, Wellington No. 70 Squadron, Wellington | No. 37 Squadron, Wellington No. 70 Squadron, Wellington | No. 231 Wing No. 37 Squadron, Wellington | No. 231 Wing No. 37 Squadron, Wellington | No. 231 Wing No. 37 Squadron, Wellington X |
| No. 108 Squadron, Wellington No. 148 Squadron, Wellington | No. 108 Squadron, Wellington No. 148 Squadron, Wellington | No. 236 Wing No. 108 Squadron, Wellington | No. 236 Wing No. 104 Squadron, Wellington | No. 236 Wing No. 40 Squadron, Wellington X |
| No. 238 Wing No. 40 Squadron, Wellington | No. 330 Wing No. 142 Squadron, Wellington | No. 240 Wing No. 178 Squadron, B-24 Liberator VI | ||
| No. 160 Squadron, Liberator | No. 242 Wing No. 147 Squadron, Liberator | No. 331 Wing RCAF No. 420 Squadron RCAF, Wellington | No. 330 Wing No. 142 Squadron, Wellington X, to UK, Mosquito | |
| No. 245 Wing No. 14 Squadron (RAF), Marauder, Boston | No. 2 Wing SAAF (Joined 205 Group in 6/44) 31 Squadron SAAF, B-24 Liberator VI | |||
| Special Liberator Flight, Liberator |
Notes:
It is not absolutely certain which RAF squadrons were operating in No. 205 Group during the summer of 1942. American heavy bomber units began arriving in the Middle East at this time. The first was Colonel Harry A. Halverson's detachment of B-24 Liberators known as the Halverson Project (HALPRO). On 12 June 1942, thirteen B-24s of the Halverson Detachment bombed the Ploesti oil refineries in Romania. This was the first strategic bombing mission by an American unit in World War II. On 28 June 1942, Major General Lewis H. Brereton arrived from India with the 9th Bombardment Squadron of B-17 Flying Fortresses. The Halverson Detachment and the 9th Bombardment Squadron were both under control of No. 205 (Heavy Bomber) Group for target selection and operations.
RAF operational control of the American heavy bomber units continued even after Halverson's Detachment of B-24s and Brereton's 9th Bombardment Squadron of B-17s were consolidated to form the 1st Provisional Bombardment Group on 20 July 1942 under Halverson's command. When the American 98th Bombardment Group with four squadrons of B-24s arrived and began flying combat missions in August 1942, the RAF selected its mission targets as well. This situation caused some concern among officers of the 9th Air Force's IX Bomber Command and the United States Army Middle East Air Force (USAMEAF). [14]
When MAC was disbanded on 10 December 1943, No. 205 Group was assigned to the Mediterranean Allied Strategic Air Force. No. 205 Group eventually converted to Consolidated B-24 Liberator aircraft, and remained under Simpson's command for the duration of the Second World War.
Immediately as the war ended the group headquarters was at Heliopolis, and it appears to have included the Lancasters which at that time formed MEDME's strike force. [15] The squadrons concerned appear to have been Nos 37 and 38 Squadrons, both located at Ein Shemer in Palestine. [16] Both squadrons appear to have been moved to Malta as the final withdrawal from Palestine began after October 1947.
Commanders from 1945 were: [2]
The group headquarters was established at RAF Fayid in 1947, and appears to have included Nos 13, 39, and 208 Squadrons, respectively flying Spitfire XVIIIs, photo-reconnaissance Mosquitos, and night-fighter Mosquitos, at that time. [17] No. 78 Wing RAAF (Nos 75 and 76 Squadrons) with de Havilland Vampires operated under the group's control from RAF Hal Far, Malta during the early 1950s.
On 7 June 1952, the AOC 205 Group, Air Vice Marshal David Atcherley disappeared during a flight over the eastern Mediterranean. [18]
No. 205 Group was made responsible for supervising the evacuation programme for the RAF from the Canal Zone from 1953. Air Vice Marshal Barnett moved his rear headquarters over to Cyprus in October 1955, and Abu Sueir was the last station to be handed over to the Egyptians. This was despite the fact that Abu Sueir and Fanara were the two bases to be retained, to be maintained by civilian contractors. Abu Sueir was handed over to Egypt on 14 April 1956, [19] and the group was disbanded at Ismaila (Lee FFME 29) the following day. [2]
The Desert Air Force (DAF), also known chronologically as Air Headquarters Western Desert, Air Headquarters Libya, the Western Desert Air Force, and the First Tactical Air Force (1TAF), was an Allied tactical air force created from No. 204 Group RAF under RAF Middle East Command in North Africa in 1941 to provide close air support to the British Eighth Army against Axis forces. Throughout the Second World War, the DAF was made up of squadrons from the Royal Air Force (RAF), the South African Air Force (SAAF), the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) and other Allied air forces.
The Egypt–Libya Campaign is the name used by the United States military for the US contribution to the Allied Western Desert Campaign, during World War II. From 1942, U.S. forces assisted the British Empire in fighting Axis forces in Egypt and Libya. The U.S. Egypt–Libya Campaign was part of what the US military called the Mediterranean Theater of Operations.
The Ninth Air Force (Air Forces Central) is a Numbered Air Force of the United States Air Force headquartered at Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina. It is the Air Force Service Component of United States Central Command (USCENTCOM), a joint Department of Defense combatant command responsible for U.S. security interests in 27 nations that stretch from the Horn of Africa through the Persian Gulf region, into Central Asia.
No. 37 Squadron was a Royal Air Force squadron of the First and Second World Wars.
Royal Air Force Shipdham or more simply RAF Shipdham is a former Royal Air Force station located 3 miles south of Dereham, Norfolk, England.
The 831st Bombardment Squadron was a squadron of the United States Army Air Forces. It was activated in 1942 as the 516th Bombardment Squadron and flew antisubmarine missions off the Atlantic coast as the 11th Antisubmarine Squadron. Later, it saw combat in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations as a Consolidated B-24 Liberator unit, where it earned a Distinguished Unit Citation during the strategic bombing campaign against Germany. Following V-E Day, the squadron returned to the United States and was inactivated at Sioux City Army Air Base, Iowa on 20 August 1945.
The 859th Special Operations Squadron is a reserve unit of the United States Air Force. It was first activated in October 1942 as the 517th Bombardment Squadron, when the Army Air Forces replaced National Guard observation units that had been mobilized and were performing antisubmarine patrols off the Atlantic coastline. A month after its activation, the squadron was redesignated the 12th Antisubmarine Squadron. In August 1943, the Army Air forces began turning the antisubmarine patrol mission over to the Navy and the squadron moved to California, where, as the 859th Bombardment Squadron, it formed the cadre for the 492d Bombardment Group.
The 492nd Special Operations Wing is a United States Air Forces unit stationed at Hurlburt Field, Florida. It was activated in May 2017 to replace the Air Force Special Operations Air Warfare Center.
Royal Air Force Cheddington or more simply RAF Cheddington is a former Royal Air Force station located 1 mile (1.6 km) south-west of Cheddington, Buckinghamshire, England. The airfield was closed in 1952.
Northwest African Air Forces (NAAF) was a component of the Allied Mediterranean Air Command (MAC) during February–December 1943. It was responsible primarily for air operations during the Tunisian Campaign and bombing of Italy. Its commander was Lieutenant General Carl Spaatz of the United States Army Air Force. NAAF was created following a reorganization of the command structure of Allied air forces in the Mediterranean Theatre. The other components of MAC were Middle East Command (MEC), AHQ Malta, RAF Gibraltar and 216 Group.
The Mediterranean Allied Air Forces (MAAF) was the major Allied air force command organization in the Mediterranean theater from mid-December 1943 until the end of the Second World War.
The Mediterranean Air Command (MAC) was a World War II Allied air-force command that was active in the North African and Mediterranean Theater of Operations (MTO) between February 18 and December 10, 1943. MAC was under the command of Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Tedder, whose headquarters were next to those of the Supreme Allied Commander, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, in Algiers, Algeria, during the planning of the Allied campaigns in Tunisia, Pantelleria, Sicily, and the invasion of mainland Italy during the war.
No. 201 Group was a group of the Royal Air Force during the Second World War.
Air Headquarters Malta was an overseas command of the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the Second World War. It was established on 28 December 1941 by renaming RAF Mediterranean under Air Vice Marshal Hugh Lloyd. Lloyd was named Air Officer Commanding in Malta on 1 June 1941.
The 763rd Bombardment Squadron was a former United States Army Air Forces unit, activated during World War II. After training in the United States, it deployed to the Mediterranean Theater of Operations, where it participated in the strategic bombing campaign against Germany, and earned a Distinguished Unit Citation for its actions. Following V-E Day, the squadron moved to Brazil, where it became part of Air Transport Command, returning troops to the United States. It was inactivated on 26 September 1945.
This is a list of United States Army Air Forces Consolidated B-24 Liberator units and formations during World War II including variants and other historical information. Heavy bomber training organizations primarily under II Bomber Command in the United States and non-combat units are not included.
The 376th Expeditionary Operations Group was a provisional United States Air Force Air Combat Command unit. It was stationed at the Transit Center at Manas International Airport, Kyrgyz Republic, up until 2014.
The 4th Bombardment Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. It was last assigned to the 34th Bombardment Group at Sioux Falls Army Air Field, South Dakota, where it was inactivated on 28 August 1945.
This is a list of United States Army Air Forces B-17 Flying Fortress units of the United States Army Air Forces, including variants and other historical information. Heavy bomber training organizations primarily under II Bomber Command in the United States and non-combat units are not included.
| formations and units |
| ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| branches and components | |||||||
| reserve forces | |||||||
| equipment | |||||||
| personnel | |||||||
| appointments | |||||||
| symbols and uniform | |||||||
| associated civil organisations | |||||||
| Active |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Disbanded |
| |
