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List of Royal Air Force commands

This is a list of Royal Air Force commands, both past and present.[1]
Although the concept of a command dates back to the foundation of the Royal Air Force, the term command (as the name of a formation) was first used in purely RAF-context in 1936 when Bomber Command, Fighter Command, Coastal Command and Training Command were formed. Since that time the RAF has made considerable use of the term. Until early 2007, the RAF had two commands, Strike Command and Personnel and Training Command, which were co-located at RAF High Wycombe. On 1 April 2007, the two were merged to form Air Command.

Command Formation Disbandment Notes
Aden Command 1928 1961
Air Command 2007 present
Air Command Far East 1946 1949
Air Support Command 1967 1972
Army Cooperation Command 1940 1943
Balloon Command 1938 1945
Bomber Command 1936 1968
Coastal Command 1936 1969
Eastern Air Command Formed on the basis of No. 333 (Special Operations) Group, November 1942.
Far East Air Force 1943 1971
Ferry Command 1941 1943
Fighter Command 1936 1968
Flying Training Command 1940 1968
Home Command 1950 1959
Iraq Command 1922 1932
Joint Helicopter Command 1999 present Under British Army command
Logistics Command 1994 1999
Maintenance Command 1938 1973
Merranean Air Command 1943 1943
Near East Air Force 1961 1976
Middle East Command 1941 1943
Personnel and Training Command 1994 2007
Reserve Command 1939
1946		 1940
1950
Signals Command 1958 1969
Strike Command 1968 2007
Support Command 1973 1994
Technical Training Command 1940 1968
Training Command 1936 1977
Transport Command 1943 1967
Air Defence of Great Britain 1925 1936
Advanced Air Striking Force 1939 1940
British Air Forces in France
No. 1 Area
No. 2 Area
No. 3 Area
No. 4 Area
No. 5 Area
Training Division
Coastal Area 1919 1936
Central Area
North Eastern Area
North Western Area
Northern Area
South Eastern Area
South Western Area
Southern Area
Western Area
RAF Bengal and Burma
RAF Burma
RAF Germany 1959 1993
RAF Gibraltar 1942 present
RAF Iceland
RAF Northern Ireland
RAF India
RAF Iraq
RAF Ireland
RAF Merranean
RAF Merranean and Middle East 1943 1949
RAF Middle East 1949 1961
RAF Rhine 1918 1919
First Tactical Air Force (Desert Air Force)
Second Tactical Air Force 1943 1959
Third Tactical Air Force 1943 1944
Allied Expionary Air Force
Balkan Air Force 1944 1945
Far East Air Force (Royal Air Force) 1943 1971
Merranean Allied Air Forces 1943 1945
Merranean Allied Coastal Air Force 1943 1945
Merranean Allied Strategic Air Force
Merranean Allied Tactical Air Force
Merranean Coastal Air Force
Middle East Air Force 1949 1961
Near East Air Force 1961 1976
Northwest African Coastal Air Force 1943 1945
Northwest African Tactical Air Force 1943 1945
Northwest African Strategic Air Force 1943 1945

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Air of Authority – A History of RAF Organisation