Par Nobile Fratrum (Latin for 'A noble pair of brothers')[1]
Insignia
Group badge heraldry
An eagle's leg grasping a sword
Military unit
No. 38 Group RAF was a group of the Royal Air Force which disbanded on 31 December 2020. It was formed on 6 November 1943 from the former 38 Wing with nine squadrons as part of RAF Transport Command. It was disbanded on 31 January 1951, but re-formed on 1 January 1960, became part of RAF Air Support Command in 1967 and then, in 1972, the air support group within RAF Strike Command. It was temporarily disbanded from 18 Nov 1983 to 31 Oct 1992 and from 1 April 2000 to 1 July 2014. It subsequently became part of RAF Air Command, bringing together the Royal Air Force’s Engineering, Logistics, Communications and Medical Operations units.[2] Air Officer Commanding No. 38 Group was also responsible for UK-based United States Visiting Forces (USVF) units and for RAF personnel attached to other global armed forces.[3]
The predecessor of 38 Group was No. 38 Wing RAF, initially formed on 15 January 1942 from 296 and 297 Squadrons and based at RAF Netheravon in Wiltshire under Group Captain Sir Nigel Norman. 295 Squadron was additionally formed at Netheravon on 3 August 1942. To these were added 570, 298, 299, 190, 196, 620 Squadrons to form No. 38 Group on 11 October 1943. At that time four squadrons were equipped with Armstrong Whitworth Albemarles (295, 296, 297, 570), one with Handley Page Halifaxes (298) and four with Short Stirlings (299, 190, 196, 620). A further Halifax unit, 644 Squadron, was added in February 1944.
During 1943, changes of all aircraft types and operational bases were made. Nevertheless 295, 296 and 297 Squadrons were heavily involved that year in operations Beggar, Ladbroke and Fustian, during the invasion of Sicily. From February 1944 many sorties were made over mainland Europe in support of Special Operations Executive and detachments of the Special Air Service.
But by 5 June 1944 the group’s updated resources had been fully redeployed between RAF Brize Norton, RAF Fairford, RAF Harwell, RAF Keevil and RAF Tarrant Rushton in preparation for Operation Overlord, the invasion of Europe. From then to 16 June the Group was fully involved in operations Tonga (the delivery of paratroop-filled gliders at the onset of Overlord) and Mallard (the delivery of the main airborne forces and their equipment by glider).
On 24 March 1945 the squadrons were fully employed in delivering airborne troops to the far bank of the Rhine as part of Operation Varsity, an operation which proved costly in terms of aircrew lives lost.
After the war most 38 Group squadrons were either disbanded or relocated to the Far East and the HQ moved to RAF Upavon. 295 and 297 Squadrons merged and moved to Fairford. 38 Group became part of RAF Transport Command on 1 June 1945.
In 1972, Headquarters 38 Group moved from RAF Odiham, Hants, where it had been since 1960, to RAF Benson, Oxon.[4] Also that year, on 1 July 1972, it became part of the new RAF Strike Command. No. 46 Group RAF was merged into 38 Group on 1 January 1976.[5] On 17 November 1983, 38 Group was subsumed within Headquarters No. 1 Group RAF at RAF Upavon in Wiltshire.[6]
38 Group was again active during the 1990s from 1 November 1992[7] to 2000.
38 Group was disbanded on 31 December 2020, with the units under its command dispersed to other groups and areas of the RAF, including the newly formed integrated Support Force.[8]
Orders of battle
1944
Order of battle for No. 38 Group RAF, 6 June 1944[9]
Royal Air Force Leeming or more simply RAF Leeming is a Royal Air Force station located near Leeming, North Yorkshire, England. It was opened in 1940 and was jointly used by the RAF and the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF). Between 1950 and 1991, it operated mostly as a training base with Quick Reaction Force (QRF) Panavia Tornado F3 fighters based there in the latter stages of the Cold War and into the early 21st century. Since 2006, it has become the home of the deployable RAF communications cadre and the home of No. 135 Expeditionary Air Wing.
Royal Air Force Brize Norton or RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, about 75 mi (121 km) west north-west of London, is the largest station of the Royal Air Force. It is close to the village of Brize Norton, and the towns of Carterton and Witney.
Royal Air Force Fairford or more simply RAF Fairford is a Royal Air Force (RAF) station in Gloucestershire, United Kingdom. While being an RAF station, Fairford hosts United States Air Force personnel. Since 2019, the base has played host to a Lockheed U-2S Dragon Lady detachment from the 99th Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron. It is the USAF's only European airfield for heavy bombers and routinely supports Bomber Task Force (BTF) operations. Its most prominent use in recent years has been as an airfield for United States Air Force B-52s during the 2003 Iraq War, Operation Allied Force in 1999, and the first Gulf War in 1991.
RAF Transport Command was a Royal Air Force command that controlled all transport aircraft of the RAF. It was established on 25 March 1943 by the renaming of the RAF Ferry Command, and was subsequently renamed RAF Air Support Command in 1967.
The Armstrong Whitworth A.W.41 Albemarle was a twin-engine transport aircraft developed by the British aircraft manufacturer Armstrong Whitworth and primarily produced by A.W. Hawksley Ltd, a subsidiary of the Gloster Aircraft Company. It was one of many aircraft which entered service with the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the Second World War.
Royal Air Force Dishforth or more simply RAF Dishforth is a former Royal Air Force station near Thirsk in North Yorkshire, England. Opened in 1936, the base was used as a bomber airfield during the Second World War with both British and Canadian squadrons flying missions from the airfield. After the war, the base was used by various squadrons and training units before being disposed of in 1992 and handed over to the Army Air Corps.
The RAF Army Co-operation Command was a short-lived command of the Royal Air Force during the Second World War, comprising the army cooperation units of the RAF.
No. 2 Group is a group of the Royal Air Force which was first activated in 1918, served from 1918–20, from 1936 through the Second World War to 1947, from 1948 to 1958, from 1993 to 1996, was reactivated in 2000, and is today part of Air Command.
No. 298 Squadron was a Royal Air Force special operations squadron during the Second World War. Later in that war it changed to the transport role, disbanding after the end of the hostilities.
No. 190 Squadron was a Royal Air Force squadron with a relatively short existence, but a very broad career. It served as a trainer squadron during the first World War and as convoy escort, airborne support and transport squadron during World War II.
No 620 Squadron was a squadron of the Royal Air Force during World War II. During its existence it served as a bomber squadron, airborne forces and a transport squadron.
No 297 Squadron was a squadron of the Royal Air Force. It was notable for being the first airborne forces squadron formed. With sister No 296 Squadron it formed No 38 Wing RAF in January 1942, joined in August by No 295 Squadron; the Wing expanded in 1943 to become No 38 Group RAF. The squadron saw action in Sicily and took part in the D-Day invasion and Operation Market Garden. It was disbanded in 1950.
Netheravon Airfield is a Ministry of Defence grass strip airfield on Salisbury Plain, in Wiltshire, England. Established in 1913 by the Royal Flying Corps, it became RAF Netheravon from 1918 until 1963, then AAC Netheravon until 2012. Buildings from 1913 and 1914 survive on part of the site. The site forms part of the Tidworth, Netheravon and Bulford (TidNBul) Garrison.
No 295 Squadron RAF was an airborne forces and transport squadron of the Royal Air Force during World War II. It was the first unit to be equipped with the Armstrong Whitworth Albemarle transport and glider tug aircraft.
No. 296 Squadron RAF was a transport squadron of the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. With sister squadrons 295 and 297 it formed 38 Wing, which later expanded to create No. 38 Group RAF.
Air Vice Marshal James Rowland Scarlett-Streatfeild, was a senior commander in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. He was killed in an air crash as he travelled to accept the surrender of German forces in Norway.
No. 46 Group RAF was a group of the Royal Air Force.
No. 135 Expeditionary Air Wing previously No. 135 Wing is a wing of the Royal Air Force. It was stationed at RAF Leeming, controlling the deployable subunits of the base. It was activated on 1 April 2006 as part of a modernisation package to make the RAF more deployable on an expeditionary basis.
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