It was first formed on 19 December 1943 designated the Tactical Air Force (Burma) and renamed as the Third TAF on 28 December 1943. Along with parts of the USAAFTenth Air Force, it was subordinate to Joint Allied Eastern Air Command which was also formed in December 1943.[1]
As the Air Force was formed, it was felt that at last British forces could go over to the offensive against the Japanese in the Burma Campaign. A start was made towards establishing a general offensive in Arakan in early 1943, but this was forestalled by a Japanese offensive. The Japanese were decisively beaten, but they shifted the focus of their attack to central Burma. Third TAF gave sterling service to Fourteenth Army during the Battle of Kohima and the Battle of Imphal, strafing and bombing the besieging Japanese troops, often at very low level.
After the defeat of the Japanese by IV Corps and XXXIII Corps in Assam, the monsoon intervened before many counterattacks could take place. After the enforced period of reduced operations, the Third TAF supported the advance of Fourteenth Army against the Japanese forces. However, command arrangement changes at the end of 1944 cutting short the life of the Third TAF. It was redesignated HQ RAF Bengal and Burma on 4 December 1944.[1]
The Third TAF had two commanders, Air Marshal John Baldwin up until 15 August 1944, and then Air Marshal Sir Alec Coryton.
Composition
A Hawker Hurricane Mark Mk.IIC of No. 42 Squadron RAF based at Kangla, Burma, diving to attack a bridge near a small Burmese settlement on the Tiddim RoadSergeant Albert (Tinny) Martin, Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) of Wellington, New Zealand, of No. 20 Squadron, RAF, at Monywa, Central Burma, 17/18 March 1945
During the battle of Imphal there were seldom more than seven squadrons engaged at one time but over the three months' of the siege altogether 21 squadrons took part: including three from the Indian Air Force (Nos. 1, 2, 7 and 9). The RAF squadrons were Nos. 5, 11, 20, 28, 34, 42, 60, 81, 82, 84, 110, 113, 123, 136, 152, 176, No. 607 and No. 615.
No 222 (General Reconnaissance) Group was based in Ceylon. The group role was, amongst others, reconnaissance over the Bay of Bengal. The RAF squadrons were at one time Nos. 8, 17, 22, 81, 89, 132, 135, 160, 191, 203, 205, 212, 217, 230, 240, 273, 292, 321 and 413.[2]
226 group was one of the fighter groups based in Singapore. After the fall of Singapore the number of the group was transferred to the maintenance unit (No. 1301 MU RAF)[3] of the tactical air force.
229 Group was the transport part of the Tactical air force. The RAF squadrons were at one time Nos. 31, 52, 62, 96, 117, 194, 216, 232, 238, 267, 353, 435, 436, 668, 669, 670, 671 and 673.[4]
The role of the group was to provide heavy bombers for the campaign in Burma. The RAF bomber squadrons were at one time Nos. 99, 159, 200, No. 215, 355, 356, 357 and 358.[4]
Hawker Hurricane FR.IIb specialist reconnaissance to support the Fourteenth Army on this front, earning the name "The Eyes of the Fourteenth Army"[citation needed]
in 1942 they received American-built Curtiss Mohawks and became escorts to Bristol Blenheim light bombers over north west Burma. These were replaced in turn by Hawker Hurricanes and later American-supplied Republic P-47 Thunderbolts. Fought in the battle of Imphal.
Flew the Westland Lysander army cooperation aircraft and from December 1942 the Hawker Hurricane fighter-bomber. By 1943 the squadron was operating in Burma until 1945 when it started to re-equip with the Supermarine Spitfire. Fought in the battle of Imphal.
Flew Blenheim IVs. These carried out bombing raids on Japanese bases in Burma until April 1943. The Squadron converted to Hawker Hurricanes and then began fighter-bomber operations from November. It switched to Thunderbolts in March 1945. Fought in the battle of Imphal
Arrived at Alipore, India in December 1943, equipped with more modern Spitfire Mk VIII, starting operations in January. It flew fighter and ground attack missions in support of the Second Battle of Arakan and fought in the battle of Imphal.
Bristol Blenheim Mk IV and then converted to Hurricanes in March 1943. These were used for ground-attack duties being replaced by Thunderbolts in April 1945. Fought in the battle of Imphal
Flew Hurricanes into 1944 when it was moved again to India in the Chittagong area until June 1944 it re-equipped with the Thunderbolt. Fought in the battle of Imphal.
Equipped with Beaufighters and Hurricanes to provide night defence for Calcutta. Detachments of the squadron were then based at Chittagong Burma, Ratmalana Ceylon, Baigachi and Mingaladon where the Beaufighters were replaced with Mosquitoes in June 1945. Fought in the battle of Imphal.
Equipped with Beaufighters, twin-engined, long range, ground attack fighters. Canadians formed a significant percentage of the pilots. During its two year of operations in Burma, it destroyed or damaged 266 locomotives and trains, 673 vehicles, river and ocean-going vessels and nine aircraft on the ground.
flew Spitfires and was re-equipped with Republic Thunderbolts when the squadron was renumbered to No. 615 squadron on that same day and began training for the invasion of Malaya. Fought in the battle of Imphal.
A Third TAF Communications Squadron was established on 28 December 1943, but disestablished on 4 December 1944 at RAF Comilla.[6]
Postwar in Burma
HQ RAF Bengal and Burma was formed on 4 December 1944 by renaming the 3rd Tactical Air Force, still under Air Marshal Sir Alec Coryton.[1]
HQ RAF Bengal and Burma was renamed HQ RAF Burma on 27 February 1945.
Renamed Air Headquarters Burma on 1 June 1945. Air Marshal Sir Hugh Saunders became Air Marshal Commanding from 1 August 1945.[7]
Burma was relatively straightforward to deal with, although more complicated than Siam. Much of the colony had been conquered several months before the war ended, in the big British offensive of summer 1945. That gave Air Command, South East Asia, crucial breathing space to start getting the colony back on its feet before the massive increase in occupation duties postwar occurred. At the end of the war, it had 28 squadrons under its control. This quickly reduced as the demobilisation really kicked in. Again, the transport squadrons saw the largest amount of work, evacuating prisoners of war and internees and supplying garrisons and the civilian population. Second to the transport squadrons in workload were the photo reconnaissance aircraft. The opportunity was taken to complete the process of surveying SE Asia from the air, and using the survey to bring maps up to date. The survey was not completed until August 1947.
A light transport and liaison squadron, Air Headquarters Burma Communication Squadron, was established on 20 September 1945 at Baigachi, but disbanded within two months, on 14 November 1945 at RAF Mingaladon (now Yangon International Airport), by being downgraded to Air Headquarters Burma Communication Flight RAF.[8]
After the clean-up immediately postwar, came the task of preparing Burma for independence. AHQ Burma moved out of Rangoon to Mingaladon on 1 January 1947. The Burmese Air Force was established on 16 January 1947 with former British aircraft. AHQ Burma was disbanded on 31 December 1947, and three months later Burma became independent.
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 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 Second Tactical Air Force (2TAF) was one of three tactical air forces within the Royal Air Force (RAF) during and after the Second World War. It was made up of squadrons and personnel from the RAF, other British Commonwealth air forces, and exiles from German-occupied Europe. Renamed as British Air Forces of Occupation in 1945, 2TAF was recreated in 1951 and became Royal Air Force Germany in 1959.
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.
Air Chief Marshal Sir William Alec Coryton, was a senior Royal Air Force (RAF) commander in World War II. He was considered by his peers as one of the RAF's most capable group commanders.
No. 13 Group RAF was a group in the Royal Air Force for various periods in the 20th century. It is most famous for having the responsibility for defending the North of the United Kingdom during the Battle of Britain.
No. 1 Group of the Royal Air Force is one of the two operations groups in RAF Air Command. Today, the group is referred to as the Air Combat Group, as it controls the RAF's combat fast-jet aircraft and has airfields in the UK, as well as RAF Support Unit Goose Bay at CFB Goose Bay in Canada. The group headquarters is located alongside Headquarters Air Command at RAF High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. The other operational group is No. 2 Group RAF.
No. 3 Group RAF of the Royal Air Force was an RAF group first active in 1918, again between 1923 and 1926, then as part of RAF Bomber Command from 1936 to 1967, and recently part of RAF Strike Command from 2000 until it disbanded on 1 April 2006.
No. 356 Squadron RAF was a short-lived long-range bomber squadron of the Royal Air Force between 1944 and 1945.
No. 681 Squadron RAF was a photo-reconnaissance squadron of the Royal Air Force during the Second World War.
No. 355 Squadron RAF was a long-range bomber squadron based in British India from August 1943 until it disbanded in May 1946. Raised for service during the Second World War, the squadron was equipped with Consolidated Liberator aircraft and carried out operations against the Japanese during the Burma campaign.
The 12th Operations Group is the flying component of the 12th Flying Training Wing of United States Air Force's Air Education and Training Command. The group headquarters is located at Randolph Air Force Base, Texas. The unit's main missions include aircraft instructor pilot training in Beechcraft T-6 Texan II, Northrop T-38C Talon and Raytheon T-1 Jayhawk aircraft, Air Force and Navy undergraduate combat systems officer training and fighter fundamentals student pilot instructor training in the Northrop AT-38C.
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.
No. 273 Squadron RAF was a Royal Air Force squadron formed as reconnaissance unit in World War I, and re-formed in World War II in Ceylon - initially as a torpedo bomber and reconnaissance unit. In mid 1944 the squadron was re-equipped with Spitfire Mk VIIIs and flew and fought out of airfields in India and Burma. Following the end of the war, the squadron was moved first to Siam (Thailand), and then later, French Indo-China (Vietnam). It was re-equipped with Spitfire Mk XIVs in November 1945.
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.
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.
Air Vice Marshal Ranjan Dutt, VrC was a former air officer of the Indian Air Force. He last served as the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief Eastern Air Command. Prior to that, he was the managing director of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited.
References
Delve, Ken. The Source Book of the RAF. Shrewsbury, Shropshire, UK: Airlife Publishing Ltd., 1994. ISBN1-85310-451-5.
Franks, Norman L.R. The Air Battle of Imphal. London: William Kimber, 1985. ISBN0-7183-0552-3.
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