| No. 2 Group | |
|---|---|
|
File:2 Group badge.jpg Official No. 2 Group Badge | |
| Active |
1 April 1918 – 31 March 1920 20 March 1936 – 1 May 1947 1 December 1948 – 15 November 1958 1 April 1993 – 1 April 1996 7 January 2000 – present |
| Country |
 United Kingdom |
| Branch |
 Royal Air Force |
| Part of | RAF Air Command |
| Headquarters | RAF High Wycombe (present) |
| Motto(s) |
Latin: Vincemus ("We will conquer")[1] |
| Commanders | |
| Air Officer Commanding | Air Vice-Marshal S K P Reynolds |
| Insignia | |
| Group Badge |
Perched on a helmet an eagle, wings expanded The Badge is symbolic of the Group's co-operation and close alliance with the Army[1] |
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.
The group is currently referred to as the Air Combat Support Group, as it controls the aircraft used to support the Royal Navy and RAF's front line combat force. Assets under command includes the Strategic and Tactical Air Transport aircraft (including VIP/Communication), the RAF Police (including RAF Regiment assets), the Air-to-Air Refuelling aircraft. As from 1 April 2006, with the disbandment of No. 3 Group RAF, it controls also the Airborne Early Warning aircraft, ground based radar installations, Maritime Reconnaissance aircraft and the Search & Rescue Force with Sea King helicopters at six UK coastal bases and Mountain Rescue Teams at four locations, RAF Kinloss, RAF Leuchars, RAF Leeming and RAF Valley. The group is based alongside Air Command at RAF High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire.
Subordinate stations[]
As of 1 April 2006, the following stations and squadrons are under the command of 2 Group.
- RAF Brize Norton: 99, 101 and 216 Squadrons
- RAF Lyneham: 24, 30, 47 and 70 Squadrons
- RAF Northolt: 32 Squadron
- RAF Waddington: 5, 8 and 51 Squadrons
- RAF Kinloss: 120, 201 and 42(R) Squadrons
- RAF St. Mawgan SARF / 203(R) Squadron
- RMB Chivenor A Flt 22 & HQ
- RAF Wattisham B Flt 22
- RAF Valley C Flt 22
- RAF Boulmer A Flt 202 & HQ
- RAF Lossiemouth D Flt 202
- RAF Leconfield E Flt 202
- RAF Honington: RAF Regiment HQ. Squadrons and Flights at various stations.
- Defence NBC Centre Winterbourne Gunner
- RAF Wittering and RAF Scampton based Air Combat Service Support Units.
History[]
No. 2 Group was originally formed as No. 2 (Training) Group on 1 April 1918 at Oxford. The unit was disbanded at RAF Uxbridge on 31 March 1920 as the need for training had lessened following the armistice.[2]
The Group was reformed as No. 2 (Bombing) Group on 20 March 1936, with it headquarters base at Abingdon. By the outbreak of war Group Headquarters were at RAF Wyton and composed of the following squadrons and Wings; Nos. 18 and 57 Squadrons (composing 70 Wing at Upper Heyford) ; Nos. 21 and 82 Squadrons (79 Wing, Watton) Nos. 90 and 101 Squadrons (81 Wing, West Raynham), Nos. 114 and 139 Squadrons (82 Wing, Wyton) and Nos. 107 and 110 Squadrons (83 Wing, Wattisham)
79, 81, 82 and 83 Wings formed part of the Advanced Air Striking Force, and 70 Wing was earmarked for service with the Field Force in France. The force consisted of Bristol Blenheim Mk. IVs and the Blenheim Mk. I.
On 3 September 1939, the day war broke out, a Blenheim from 2 Group made the first British operational sortie to cross the German frontier in the Second World War. The following day saw the Group's Blenheims make the first British bombing attack of the war.
In April 1940, Norway was invaded by the Germans. In response to a request for air support two Blenheim squadrons, Nos. 110 and 107, were placed on temporary detachment to RAF Lossiemouth, from where they could attack shipping and the German held airfield at Stavanger in southern Norway.
The Group carried out intensive operations against the advancing Germans following their breakthrough of 10 May 1940, suffering heavy losses. On 17 May, twelve crews of No. 82 Squadron left Watton to attack enemy columns near Gembloux. A severe flak barrage split the formation up, allowing Messerschmitt Bf 109s to attack. Only one Blenheim, managed to return to Watton, the rest shot down. No.82 Squadron was again operational just three days later. During June, Blenheims began a new phase by bombing Luftwaffe airfields in France. In July the twelve Blenheim squadrons of 2 Group lost 31 aircraft, along with three Wing Commanders.
During the summer the light bomber force also supported defensive operations during the Battle of Britain, bombing German invasion barges concentrated in the Channel ports.
By mid 1941 the Group was engaged in daylight raids on coastal shipping and heavily defended objectives in Occupied Europe. At that stage stage of the war the Group’s Blenheims were near obsolete and sustaining heavy operational casualties. Nevertheless operations continued unabated under Air Vice-Marshal D F Stevenson, a man who was infamous throughout the RAF at the time for his ruthless aggressiveness, his ambition and his lack of concern for the high loss rates suffered by his crews. Even Churchill was greatly disturbed by the loss rates on the attacks Stevenson was ordering his crews to fly. Upon his removal as AOC in December 1941 his crews were greatly relieved (all Max Hasting "Bomber Command" pages 84 and 85). No. 2 Group carried out a low-level attack on Bremen in 2 July 1941 in which the leader, Wing Commander Hughie Edwards of No. 105 Squadron, won the Victoria Cross.
In December 1942 Edwards led a combined force of de Havilland Mosquitoes, Douglas Bostons and Lockheed Venturas on ‘Operation Oyster’, a pin-point daylight raid on the Philips electrical works at Eindhoven in Holland. RAF losses were 14 aircraft brought down by flak and fighters. Substantial damage was inflicted on the factory, but with few casualties suffered by the Dutch workers and civilian population.
2 group supported the ill-fated Commando raid on Dieppe in August 1942. Mosquitoes Mk IV's also made the first daylight attack on Berlin.
At the end of May 1943 the Group left RAF Bomber Command to join the new Second Tactical Air Force, and came under Fighter Command control until the formation of the Allied Expeditionary Air Force five months later
2 Group Mosquitoes also made the famous wall-breaching operation against Amiens gaol in early 1944 which cost Group Captain Percy Pickard (of Target for Tonight film fame) his life. By the D-day landings, No. 2 Group consisted of four wings of Douglas Bostons, North American B-25 Mitchells, and Mosquito light and medium bombers.
During Operation Market Garden in September 1944 it the Group included 136, 138, & 140 Wings, flying Mosquitoes. and 137 & 139 Wings, flying the Mitchell.
No. 2 Group flew just over 57,000 operational sorties at a cost of 2,671 men killed or missing and 396 wounded.
It was disbanded on 1 May 1947 and reformed on 1 December 1948 within the British Air Force of Occupation. It was transferred again to Second Tactical Air Force on 1 September 1951. On 1 July 1956, No. 2 Group appeared to encompass wings at RAF Ahlhorn (No. 125 Wing RAF), RAF Fassberg (No. 121 Wing RAF), RAF Gutersloh (No. 551 Wing RAF, under the control of Bomber Command), Jever (No. 122 Wing RAF), RAF Laarbruch (No. 34 Wing RAF), RAF Oldenburg (No. 124 Wing RAF), and RAF Wunstorf (No. 123 Wing RAF).[3] No. 2 Group was disbanded on 15 November 1958.
It was reformed 1 April 1993 by renaming RAF Germany and was then disbanded on 1 April 1996 with absorption into No. 1 Group RAF. It was reformed on 7 January 2000 to take control of air transport, air-to-air refuelling and airborne early warning within the RAF. The AOC's two principal subordinates were Air Commodore AT/AAR & C3I (directing air transport, AAR, and C3I) and Air Commodore Regiment & Survive to Operate. On 1 April 2006 it took over the responsibilities of No. 3 Group RAF, which was disbanded.
Commanders[]
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| Components |
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| History |
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| Aircraft |
| Structure |
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| Personnel |
1918 to 1920[]
- 1 April 1918 Lieutenant Colonel W R Freeman
1936 to 1947[]
- 1936 Air Commodore B E Sutton
- 1 September 1936 Air Commodore S J Goble (RAAF)
- 2 December 1937 Air Commodore C H B Blount
- 16 May 1938 Air Vice-Marshal C T Maclean
- 17 April 1940 Air Vice-Marshal J M Robb
- 12 February 1941 Air Vice-Marshal D F Stevenson
- 17 December 1941 Air Vice-Marshal A Lees
- 29 December 1942 Air Vice-Marshal J H D'Albiac
- 1 June 1943 Air Vice-Marshal B E Embry
- 8 August 1945 Air Vice-Marshal P E Maitland
- 18 March 1946 Air Commodore L W Cannon
- 3 June 1946 Air Vice-Marshal A L Paxton
1948 to 1958[]
- 1 December 1948 Air Commodore L F Sinclair
- 16 January 1950 Air Commodore The Earl of Bandon
- 18 June 1951 Air Commodore H D McGregor
- 9 November 1953 Air Vice-Marshal J R Hallings-Pott
- 1 July 1955 Air Vice-Marshal S R Ubee
1993 to 1996[]
- 1 April 1993 Air Vice-Marshal G A Robertson
- 17 January 1994 Air Vice-Marshal R H Goodall
2000 to present[]
- 1 April 2000 Air Vice-Marshal K D Filbey
- 2 August 2002 Air Vice-Marshal N D A Maddox
- January 2005 Air Vice-Marshal I W McNicoll
- 9 February 2007 Air Vice-Marshal A D Pulford
- 16 September 2008 Air Vice-Marshal S J Hillier
- October 2010 Air Vice-Marshal P C Osborn[5]
- 18 January 2013 Air Vice-Marshal S K P Reynolds[6]
See also[]
References[]
Citations[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Moyes 1976, pp. 332–333.
- ↑ Delve 1994, p. 126.
- ↑ http://www.laarbruch-museum.net/ENG/Squadrons/second_taf.htm
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Hunt ca.1958, p. 41.
- ↑ "Air Rank Appointments Lists". RAF. 19 April 2010. https://cms.raf.mod.uk/rafcms/mediafiles/1796DE51_5056_A318_A84060B07945066F.doc. Retrieved 22 May 2010.
- ↑ Royal Air Force Air Rank Appointments List 01/13 [1] Retrieved 8 May 2013
Bibliography[]
- Bowyer, Michael J.F. 2 Group RAF: A Complete History, 1936–1945. London: Faber and Faber Ltd., 1974. ISBN 0-571-09491-0.
- Delve, Ken. The Source Book of the RAF. Shrewsbury, Shropshire, UK: Airlife Publishing Ltd., 1994. ISBN 1-85310-451-5.
- Hunt, Leslie. From Hind to Hunter: A Short History of N°. 2 (B) Group RAF. Chelmsford, UK: Leslie Hunt, ca.1958.
- Moyes, Philip J.R. Bomber Squadrons of the RAF and their Aircraft. London: Macdonald and Jane's (Publishers) Ltd., 1964 (New revised edition 1976, ISBN 0-354-01027-1.)
External links[]
- No 2 Group at Royal Air Force Website
- Air of Authority – A History of RAF Organisation – Group No's 1 – 9
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The original article can be found at No. 2 Group RAF and the edit history here.