List of communications units and formations of the Royal Air Force
This is a list of military communications ('Signals') units and formations of the Royal Air Force.
In the Royal Air Force sense, wings, groups, and commands can be considered formations. A formation is defined by the US Department of Defense as "two or more aircraft, ships, or units proceeding together under a commander".[1] "Formations are those military organisations which are formed from different speciality Arms and Services troop units to create a balanced, combined combat force."[2]
Higher level communications formations in the Royal Air Force included RAF Signals Command, which was later reduced to group status and incorporated into RAF Strike Command. Nos 26 and No. 60 Group RAF were established in the 1940s. No. 26 Group was reformed on 12 February 1940 within RAF Training Command, and transferred to RAF Technical Training Command on 27 May 1940. It was transferred to RAF Bomber Command on 10 February 1942, and then amalgamated with No. 60 (Signals) Group to form No. 90 (Signals) Group RAF on 25 April 1946.
The Radio Warfare Establishment (RWE) was established 21 July 1945 at RAF Swanton Morley, and later became the Central Signals Establishment (CSE). The CSE was formed 1 September 1946 at RAF Watton, equipped with Dominie and Tiger Moth, and disbanded there on 1 July 1965.[3] When the establishment disbanded, the Research Wing and civilian parts of the "..Installation Squadron became the RAF Signals Command Air Radio Laboratories, and the training and service elements of Installation Squadron became the EW Support Wing."[4] Many files regarding the CSE are accessible in the National Archives at Kew [1].
Radio units and formations[]
Radio Establishment[]
Name | Formed | Location | Aircraft | Disbanded at | Disbanded | Unit became |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Radio Warfare Establishment | 21 July 1945 | Swanton Morley | Fortress Halifax |
Watton | 1 September 1946 | Central Signals Establishment[5] |
Radio Schools[]
Name | Formed | Location | Aircraft | Disbanded at | Disbanded | Unit became |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 Radio School | 10 March 1941 | Cranwell | Botha Proctor |
N/A | N/A | [6] Active |
2 Radio School | 18 January 1940 | Yatesbury | Tiger Moth Botha |
Yatesbury | 31 October 1965 | Disbanded[5] |
3 Radio School | 27 December 1940 | Prestwick | Audax Blenheim |
Compton Basset | 30 November 1964 | Disbanded[5] |
4 Radio School | 1 January 1943 | Madley | Dominie Proctor |
Swanton Morley | 1 May 1951 | 1 Air Signallers School[5] |
6 Radio School | 1 January 1943 | Bolton | Blenheim Tiger Moth |
Cranwell | 1 December 1952 | Absorbed by 1 Radio School[5] |
10 Radio School | 1 January 1943 | Carew Cheriton | Anson Oxford |
Carew Cheriton | 24 November 1945 | Disbanded[5] |
11 Radio School | 11 December 1942 | Hooton Park | Botha Anson |
Hooton Park | 31 August 1944 | Disbanded[5] |
12 Radio School | 17 July 1943 | St Athan | Proctor Anson |
St Athan | 7 March 1946 | Empire Radio School[5] |
14 Radio School | 1 June 1944 | St Athan | Proctor Anson |
Debden | 7 March 1946 | Empire Radio School[5] |
3 Radio Direction Finding School | 19 August 1942 | Prestwick | Hart Botha |
Hooton Park | 13 December 1942 | 11 Radio School[6] |
Empire Radio School | 7 March 1946 | Debden | Tiger Moth Proctor |
Debden | 20 October 1949 | Royal Air Force Technical College, Signals Division[7] |
Radio Flights[]
Name | Formed | Location | Aircraft | Disbanded at | Disbanded | Unit became |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Radio Development Flight | December 1942 | Drem | Defiant Beaufighter |
Drem | 1 June 1943 | 1692 (Special Duties) Flight[6] |
1 Radio Maintenance Unit Calibration Flight | 1 July 1940 | Wick | Hornet Moth Blenheim |
N/A | 16 October 1940 | 1 Radio Servicing Section Calibration Flight[6] |
2 Radio Maintenance Unit Calibration Flight | 1 July 1940 | Dyce | Hornet Moth Blenheim |
N/A | 16 October 1940 | 2 Radio Servicing Section Calibration Flight[6] |
3 Radio Maintenance Unit Calibration Flight | 1 July 1940 | Usworth | Hornet Moth Blenheim |
N/A | 16 October 1940 | 3 Radio Servicing Section Calibration Flight[6] |
4 Radio Maintenance Unit Calibration Flight | 1 July 1940 | Church Fenton | Hornet Moth Blenheim |
N/A | 16 October 1940 | 4 Radio Servicing Section Calibration Flight[6] |
5 Radio Maintenance Unit Calibration Flight | 1 July 1940 | Duxford | Hornet Moth Blenheim |
N/A | 16 October 1940 | 5 Radio Servicing Section Calibration Flight[6] |
6 Radio Maintenance Unit Calibration Flight | 1 July 1940 | Biggin Hill | Hornet Moth Blenheim |
N/A | 16 October 1940 | 6 Radio Servicing Section Calibration Flight[6] |
7 Radio Maintenance Unit Calibration Flight | 15 July 1940 | Filton | Hornet Moth | N/A | 16 October 1940 | 7 Radio Servicing Section Calibration Flight[6] |
8 Radio Maintenance Unit Calibration Flight | 1 July 1940 | Speke | Hornet Moth Blenheim |
N/A | 16 October 1940 | 8 Radio Servicing Section Calibration Flight[6] |
1 Radio Servicing Section Calibration Flight | 16 October 1940 | N/A | Hornet Moth Blenheim |
Longman | 16 February 1941 | 70 Wing Calibration Flight[6] |
2 Radio Servicing Section Calibration Flight | 16 October 1940 | N/A | Hornet Moth Blenheim |
Dyce | 16 February 1941 | 71 Wing Calibration Flight[6] |
3 Radio Servicing Section Calibration Flight | 16 October 1940 | N/A | Hornet Moth Blenheim |
Usworth | 16 February 1941 | 72 Wing Calibration Flight[6] |
4 Radio Servicing Section Calibration Flight | 16 October 1940 | N/A | Hornet Moth Blenheim |
Church Fenton | 16 February 1941 | 73 Wing Calibration Flight[6] |
5 Radio Servicing Section Calibration Flight | 16 October 1940 | N/A | Hornet Moth Blenheim |
Duxford | 16 February 1941 | 74 Wing Calibration Flight[6] |
6 Radio Servicing Section Calibration Flight | 16 October 1940 | N/A | Hornet Moth Blenheim |
Biggin Hill | 16 February 1941 | 75 Wing Calibration Flight[6] |
7 Radio Servicing Section Calibration Flight | 16 October 1940 | N/A | Hornet Moth | Filton | 16 February 1941 | 76 Wing Calibration Flight[6] |
8 Radio Servicing Section Calibration Flight | 16 October 1940 | N/A | Hornet Moth Blenheim |
Speke | 16 February 1941 | 77 Wing Calibration Flight[6] |
Signals units and formations[]
Wings[]
Name | Formed | Location | Disbanded at | Disbanded | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
No. 33 Wing RAF | 7 December 1944 | Malines, Belgium | 30 May 1945 | [8] | |
No. 69 Wing RAF | 15 March 1945 | Everberg | 20 October 1945 | [9] | |
No. 70 Wing RAF | 1 July 1940 | Wick | 31 May 1946 | [9] | |
No. 71 Wing RAF | 31 July 1940 | Dyce | July 1943 | [9] | |
No. 72 Wing RAF | 1 July 1940 | Usworth | 31 July 1946 | [9] | |
No. 73 Wing RAF | 1 July 1940 | Church Fenton | 1 November 1946 | [9] | |
No. 74 Wing RAF | 1 July 1940 | Duxford | 1 July 1943 | [9] | |
No. 75 Wing RAF | 1 July 1940 | Biggin Hill | 1 November 1946 | [9] | |
No. 76 Wing RAF | 10 July 1940 | Filton | 1 July 1941 | [9] | |
17 February 1941 | Liverpool | 15 March 1944 | [9] | ||
25 April 1941 | Henbury | 31 July 1946 | [9] | ||
27 September 1941 | Portadown | July 1943 | [9] | ||
No. 80 Wing RAF | 7 September 1940 | Radlett | 24 September 1945 | [9] | |
2 June 1941 | Worcester | 30 April 1946 | [9] | ||
June 1943 | Bartway | September 1944 | [9] | ||
4 May 1942 | Newbold Revel, India | 30 April 1945 | [10] | ||
No. 180 Wing RAF | 9 June 1943 | Calcutta, India | 30 December 1945 | [11] | |
No. 181 Wing RAF | 9 June 1943 | Masinpur, India | 10 March 1946 | [11] | |
No. 182 Wing RAF | 1 August 1943 | Chittagong, India | 1 August 1945 | [11] | |
No. 183 Wing RAF | 1 January 1944 | Ridgeway, Ceylon | 30 December 1945 | [11] | |
No. 250 Wing RAF | 25 August 1939 | Ismailia, Egypt | 6 December 1942 | [11] | |
No. 276 Wing RAF | 1 August 1942 | Heliopolis | 31 August 1945 | [12] | |
No. 296 Wing RAF | 17 February 1942 | Freetown, West Africa | 30 April 1943 | [12] | |
No. 329 Wing RAF | July 1943 | Algiers | 23 November 1943 | [12] |
Squadrons[]
Name | Formed | Location | Aircraft | Disbanded at | Disbanded | Unit became |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Signals Command Development Squadron | N/A | Watton | Lincoln Hastings |
Watton | 1 January 1962 | No. 151 Squadron RAF[13] |
Signals Squadron | 4 January 1942 | Kabrit | Wellington | Kabrit | 1 March 1942 | No. 162 Squadron RAF[13] |
Units[]
Name | Formed | Location | Disbanded at | Disbanded | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
No. 1 Signals Unit RAF | |||||
No. 2 Signals Unit RAF | |||||
No. 6 Signals Unit RAF | RAF Rudloe Manor | ||||
No. 7 Signals Unit RAF | Byron Heights, West Falkland[14] | With British Forces South Atlantic Islands. Previously Kormakiti, Cyprus, from at least 1956 Sept-1959 Feb.[15] | |||
No. 9 Signals Unit RAF | RAF Boddington | RAF Boddington became No. 9 Signals Unit on 1st October 1978. Now ISS Boddington. | |||
No. 11 Signals Unit RAF | RAF Rheindahlen | RAF Rheindahlen, Monchengladbach 1975-1980; [16] still at Rheindahlen 1989[17] | |||
No. 12 Signals Unit RAF | 1 June 1969[18] | RAF Episkopi? | 1 July 2002[18] | ||
No. 26 Signals Unit RAF | RAF Gatow, 1989[19] | No. 5 Signals Wing was redesignated No. 26 Signals Unit at RAF Butzweilerhof some time in the 1961-66 time period.[20] RAF Gatow was closed in 1994. | |||
No. 33 Signals Unit RAF | |||||
No. 50 Signals Unit RAF | |||||
No. 54 Signals Unit RAF | Taunton Barracks, Celle, Bergen-Hohne Garrison, 1989.[21] Reformed at RAF Digby in 2014 as part of No. 1 Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Wing RAF in the electronic warfare role. | ||||
No. 59 Signals Unit RAF | |||||
No. 71 Signals Unit RAF | |||||
No. 75 Signals Unit RAF | Present at RAF Boulmer on 1 October 1994.[22] | ||||
No. 81 Signals Unit RAF | |||||
No. 90 Signals Unit RAF | |||||
No. 91 Signals Unit RAF | |||||
No. 101 Signals Unit RAF | |||||
No. 112 Signals Unit RAF | 1983 | ||||
No. 117 Signals Unit RAF | |||||
No. 123 Signals Unit RAF | |||||
No. 144 Signals Unit RAF | Present at RAF Boulmer on 1 October 1994.[23] | ||||
No. 146 Signals Unit RAF | |||||
No. 235 Signals Unit RAF | |||||
No. 244 Signals Unit RAF | |||||
No. 264 Signals Unit RAF | |||||
No. 271 Signals Unit RAF | |||||
No. 276 Signals Unit RAF | |||||
No. 280 Signals Unit RAF | 25 June 1956 | Akrotiri | Troodos | 31 March 1994 | Subsumed into Joint Services Signals Unit [2] |
No. 303 Signals Unit RAF | |||||
No. 336 Signals Unit RAF | |||||
No. 367 Signals Unit RAF | |||||
No. 388 Signals Unit RAF | |||||
No. 399 Signals Unit RAF | RAF Digby | 1 September 1998 | No. 399 Signals Unit arrived at RAF Digby in January 1955 and declared itself fully operational on 15 February, located in No. 2 hangar (now the station gymnasium). Active in 1983.[24] On 1 September 1998 the Unit merged with the newly arrived Special Signals Support Unit from Loughborough to form the Joint Service Signal Unit (Digby).[25] | ||
No. 405 Signals Unit RAF | |||||
No. 409 Signals Unit RAF | |||||
No. 425 Signals Unit RAF | |||||
No. 432 Signals Unit RAF | |||||
No. 444 Signals Unit RAF | |||||
No. 469 Signals Unit RAF | |||||
No. 477 Signals Unit RAF | Active at RAF Butzweilerhof, West Germany, for at least the period January 1956 - July 1958.[26] | ||||
No. 487 Signals Unit RAF | |||||
No. 500 Signals Unit RAF | RAF Boulmer, air defence. | ||||
No. 585 Signals Unit RAF | |||||
No. 591 Signals Unit RAF | Arrived at RAF Digby in July 1955 and set up in Hangar No. 1 (North).[27] | ||||
No. 615 Signals Unit RAF | |||||
No. 646 Signals Unit RAF | |||||
No. 719 Signals Unit RAF | 1 April 1953 | RAF Habbaniya, Iraq | [3], see also Lee, Flight from the Middle East. | ||
No. 721 Signals Unit RAF | |||||
No. 724 Signals Unit RAF | |||||
No. 751 Signals Unit RAF | Mount Alice (Falkland Islands)[14] | Located at Cape Greco, Cyprus, January 1956 - December 1959, as a mobile radar unit.[28] Moved from RAF Ayios Nikolaos after March 1956. | |||
No. 815 Signals Unit RAF | |||||
No. 840 Signals Unit RAF | RAF Siggiewi, Malta | ||||
No. 889 Signals Unit RAF | |||||
No. 926 Signals Unit RAF | |||||
No. 962 Signals Unit RAF | |||||
No. 966 Signals Unit RAF | |||||
No. 993 Signals Unit RAF | |||||
No. 1001 Signals Unit RAF | RAF Oakhanger | [29] | |||
Signals Development Unit RAF | 15 April 1943 | Hinton-in-the-Hedges | Henlow | 1 January 1950 | Equipped with Whitley, Wellington. Became Radio Engineering Unit RAF[13] |
Signals Flying Unit RAF | 20 July 1944 | Honiley | Honiley | 1 September 1946 | Equipped with Oxford and Vickers Wellington. Became part of Central Signals Establishment[13] |
Schools[]
Name | Formed | Location | Aircraft | Disbanded at | Disbanded | Unit became |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 Signals School | 26 August 1940 | Cranwell | Valentia Wallace |
Cranwell | 1 January 1943 | 1 Radio School[13] |
2 Signals School | 26 August 1940 | Yatesbury | Dragon Rapide Dominie |
Yatesbury | 1 January 1943 | 2 Radio School[13] |
3 Signals School | 26 August 1940 | Compton Bassett | N/A | Compton Bassett | 1 January 1943 | 3 Radio School[13] |
3 Signals School (India) | 19 August 1943 | Hakimpet | Blenheim | Hakimpet | 14 May 1944 | Absorbed by 10 School of Air Force Technical Training, Hakimpet[13] |
4 Signals School | 27 August 1941 | Madley | Dominie Proctor |
Madley | 1 January 1943 | 4 Radio School[13] |
Notes[]
- ^ United States Department of Defense, DOD Dictionary Archived 2008-12-23 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Fomin, N.N., Great Soviet Encyclopaedia (Russian: Большая Советская Энциклопедия), Moscow, 1978
- ^ Lake 1999, p. 47.
- ^ Air of Authority, Other Establishments - Experimental and Administrative, accessed May 2020.
- ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i Lake 1999, p. 160.
- ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Lake 1999, p. 159.
- ^ Lake 1999, p. 64.
- ^ Delve 1994, p. 133.
- ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Delve 1994, p. 134.
- ^ Delve 1994, p. 135.
- ^ Jump up to: a b c d e Delve 1994, p. 136.
- ^ Jump up to: a b c Delve 1994, p. 137.
- ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i Lake 1999, p. 186.
- ^ Jump up to: a b David Gledhill (2014). Fighters over the Falklands: Defending the Islanders' Way of Life. Fonthill Media.
- ^ National Archives
- ^ https://www.rafweb.org/Stations/Stations-R.htm#Rheindahlen; and National Archives
- ^ Alterfritz 2018, p. 81.
- ^ Jump up to: a b "No. 12 Signals Unit".
- ^ Alterfritz 2018.
- ^ https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C2645422
- ^ Alterfritz 2018, p. 94.
- ^ Peter R. March, "The Royal Air Force Almanac 1995," Benevolent Fund, 1994, p96.
- ^ March 1994, p96
- ^ National Archives.
- ^ Historic England. "RAF Digby (1393727)". Research records (formerly PastScape). Retrieved 5 April 2019.
- ^ The National Archives, Operations Record Book, No 477 Signals Unit (SU), Butzweilerhof (AIR 29/2551)
- ^ Hancock, T.N. (1978). Bomber county : a history of the Royal Air Force in Lincolnshire. Lincoln: Lincolnshire Library Service. p. 107. ISBN 0-86111-100-1.
- ^ Operational Record Book No 751 Signals Unit (SU), Cape Greco; Terry O'Reilly (2015). The Dustbin Bandits: A Story of RAF 751 Signals Unit in Cyprus 1956 to 1958. Amazon (Kindle Edition).
- ^ Kiralfy, R.J.C., Current issues for RAF Oakhanger and Number 1001 Signals Unit, Military Satellite Communications II (Ref. No: 1997/322), IEE Coilloquium on , vol., no., pp.5/1,5/6, 18 Nov 1997 URL: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/659612
References[]
- British Army of the Rhine & Royal Air Force (Germany): Organisation and Stationing of the British Armed Forces in Germany in 1989 (PDF). Alterfritz. 2018.
- Delve, K (1994). The Source Book of the RAF. Shrewsbury, UK: Airlife Publishing Ltd. ISBN 1-85310-451-5.
- Lake, Alan (1999). Flying Units of the RAF. Shrewsbury: Airlife Publishing. ISBN 1-84037-086-6.
- Lists of Commonwealth air force units
- Lists of Royal Air Force units and formations
- Military communications units and formations of the Royal Air Force
- Air force communications units and formations