No. 222 Group | |
---|---|
Active | 1 September 1941 – 15 October 1945 |
Country | United Kingdom |
Branch | Royal Air Force |
Type | Royal Air Force group |
Part of | Air Forces in India (RAF) |
No. 222 Group was a group of the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. Formed on 1 September 1941, based at Ceylon. Squadrons were stationed around the Indian Ocean. The group undertook long-range bombing and mine-laying operations that took them as far afield as Sumatra and Singapore.
When it became clear that Japanese forces posed an imminent threat to Ceylon, the airfield at Ratmalana was requisitioned to form part of the air defences for Colombo. [1] It opened as RAF Ratmalana on March 1, 1942, when No. 258 Squadron RAF was reformed. They were followed by the arrival of No. 30 Squadron RAF. RAF Station Ratmalana closed in October 1945.
No. 99 Squadron RAF (Liberators) was based at Dhubulia in West Bengal from August 1944 - August 1945. It then moved to the Cocos Islands.
The group was disbanded on 15 October 1945 becoming Air Headquarters Ceylon (AHQ Ceylon). It had inherited six Liberator squadrons (Nos 99, 356, 203, 8, 160, and 321 RNLAF); four Sunderland squadrons (No. 205, 209, No. 230 at RAF Koggala on the southern tip of the island, and No. 240 Squadron RAF); and No. 136 Squadron RAF with Spitfires (Lee, Eastward).
In turn, AHQ Ceylon was disbanded on 1 November 1957 as RAF installations in Ceylon were handed over to the Royal Ceylon Air Force. [2] AHQ Ceylon was a sub-formation of Far East Air Force. (Flight)
The following squadrons formed part of No. 222 Group. [3]
The former Royal Air Force Far East Air Force, more simply known as RAF Far East Air Force, was the Command organisation that controlled all Royal Air Force assets in the east of Asia. It was originally formed as Air Command, South East Asia in 1943 during the Second World War. In 1946, this was renamed RAF Air Command Far East, and finally Far East Air Force in June 1949.
The RAF Third Tactical Air Force, which was formed in South Asia in December 1943, was one of three tactical air forces formed by the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the Second World War. It was made up of squadrons and personnel from the RAF, Indian Air Force (IAF) and the air forces of other Commonwealth countries. Third TAF was formed shortly after the establishment of South East Asia Command to provide close air support to the Fourteenth Army.
Seletar Airport is a civilian international airport serving the north-east region of Singapore. It is located approximately 16 kilometres (9.9 mi) northwest from Changi Airport, the country's main airport, and about 16 kilometres (9.9 mi) north from the main commercial city-centre.
Tain Air Weapons Range is a Ministry of Defence air weapons range on the Dornoch Firth near Tain in Scotland. Royal Air Force aircrews from RAF Lossiemouth are trained in air weaponry on the range, along with NATO aircrew.
Koggala Airport in Sri Lanka was originally a Royal Air Force (RAF) Station RAF Koggala. It is now the SLAF Koggala, used for domestic flights and for military purposes.
The Easter Sunday Raid was an air attack on Colombo, Ceylon during the Indian Ocean raid by carrier-based aircraft of the Imperial Japanese Navy on 5 April 1942. The Japanese objective was to destroy the Ceylon-based British Eastern Fleet in harbour. The British preemptively dispersed shipping from the harbours before the attacks due to advance warning from intelligence in March 1942, and air reconnaissance during the raid.
China Bay Airport is an air force base and domestic airport in China Bay in eastern Sri Lanka. Located approximately 7 km (4.3 mi) south west of the city of Trincomalee, the airport is also known as Trincomalee Airport and SLAF China Bay.
No. 205 Squadron was a Royal Air Force unit formed on 1 April 1918. Prior to this it had existed as No. 5 Squadron of the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS). In 1929, it became the first RAF squadron to be permanently based in Singapore, taking as its motto Pertama di Malaya. No. 205 Squadron operated during the Second World War and the Cold War before disbanding on 31 October 1971.
No. 104 Squadron RAF is a former squadron of the British Royal Air Force.
No. 108 Squadron RAF was originally a squadron of the Royal Flying Corps during the First World War which continued to serve with the Royal Air Force in the Second World War.
No. 217 Squadron RAF was a squadron of the RAF. It was formed and disbanded four times between 1 April 1918 and 13 November 1959. In World War I it served in a strike role against enemy bases and airfields in Belgium. In World War II as part of RAF Coastal Command it served first in a maritime patrol role along the Western Approaches and later in an anti-shipping role in the English Channel. Ordered to the Far East in 1942, the squadron was retained for two months in Malta in an anti-shipping role, protecting Allied convoys, before moving to Ceylon to defend the approaches to India, serving in an anti-submarine and anti-shipping role. It was equipped and training for a strike role, when the war ended. In the postwar period, it served for five years in a maritime reconnaissance role, and then briefly in a support role for Operation Grapple, the British hydrogen bomb tests on Christmas Island.
No. 321 (Dutch) Squadron RAF was a unit of the Royal Air Force during the Second World War formed from the personnel of the Marineluchtvaartdienst (MLD), the Royal Netherlands Naval Air Service.
No. 232 Squadron of the Royal Air Force was active in both the First and Second World Wars in a variety of roles, having seen action as an anti-submarine patrol, fighter and transport squadron.
No. 205 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.
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.
No. 15 Group was a group of the Royal Air Force, which disbanded in 1945. It was operational in the last year of, and just after, the First World War, a reformation saw it active throughout the Second World War.
No. 16 Group RAF was a group of the Royal Air Force. It existed over two periods in two different roles. No. 16 Group was initially a training group, from 1918 to 1920, that had been transferred from the Royal Flying Corps. It reformed as a reconnaissance group under RAF Coastal Command, in 1936.
No. 17 Group RAF was a group of the Royal Air Force which was operational in the last year of the First World War, and throughout the Second World War.
No. 224 Group of the Royal Air Force was established during the Second World War and was operational during the Cold War.
RAF India, later called Air Forces in India (1938–47) was a command of the Royal Air Force (RAF) that was active from 1918 until Indian independence and partition in 1947. It was the air force counterpart of the British Army in India.