RAF Strike Command

Strike Command
Strike Command
	Strike Command Badge
Active	30 April 1968–1 April 2007
Country	United Kingdom
Branch	Royal Air Force
Headquarters	RAF High Wycombe
Motto(s)	Defend and Strike

The Royal Air Force's Strike Command was the military formation which controlled the majority of the United Kingdom's bomber and fighter aircraft from 1968 until 2007 when it merged with Personnel and Training Command to form the single Air Command. It latterly consisted of two formations – No. 1 Group RAF and No. 2 Group RAF. The last Commander-in-Chief was Air Chief Marshal Sir Joe French.

History

Strike Command was formed on 30 April 1968 by the merger of Bomber Command and Fighter Command,^[2] which became No. 1 Group and No. 11 Group respectively. Signals Command was absorbed on 1 January 1969,^[3] Coastal Command was absorbed on 28 November 1969,^[4] becoming No. 18 Group RAF. The former component Coastal Command groups became the Northern Maritime Air Region and Southern Maritime Air Region. Air Support Command (formerly Transport Command) was absorbed on 1 September 1972, becoming No. 46 Group RAF.^[5]

NATO Role

In 1975, the Command doubled as NATO, Commander-in-Chief United Kingdom Air Forces (UKAIR).^[6] UKAIR fell under NATO's Allied Command Europe in Mons in Belgium. In case of war with the Warsaw Pact the command would have commanded all Royal Air Force units in the United Kingdom as well as the US Air Force's Third Air Force based at RAF Mildenhall with its subordinate wings and squadrons. Reinforcements coming from the continental United States, as well as units transitioning to other European fronts, would have also come under UKAIR.

Post Cold War

RAF Germany was absorbed as No. 2 (Bomber) Group on 1 April 1993.^[7] As of 1 April 2000, the structure was altered to leave No. 1 Group with tactical fast jet forces, No. 2 Group with air transport, air refueling, and reconnaissance, the RAF Regiment, and No. 32 (The Royal) Squadron RAF. No. 3 Group was to include Nimrod long-range Maritime Patrol aircraft, Search and rescue helicopters, and the Joint Force 2000, later to become Joint Force Harrier. Flag Officer Naval Aviation moved over to command No. 3 Group, the first incumbent becoming Rear Admiral Iain Henderson. "At the core of the structure [were] to be the central air staffs, responsible to Deputy Chief of Staff Operations for air power, ongoing operations, joint training, and force development."^[8] The Air Warfare Centre at Waddington and the Military Air Traffic Organisation at Uxbridge also joined Strike Command.

The RAF's Process and Organisation Review concluded that Strike Command and Personnel and Training Command should be co-located at a single command headquarters: it was subsequently decided that both commands should be located at High Wycombe and in 2007 Strike Command and Personnel and Training Command were merged into a single command – Air Command.^[9]

Structure

Headquarters Strike Command (often abbreviated to HQSTC) was located at RAF High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire. The Command was divided into a number of Groups, which at first reflected the function of the old Fighter, Bomber and Coastal Command. Subsequent reorganisations changed things greatly and before the final reorganization, the two Groups which made up Strike Command were:

No. 1 Group RAF – the "Air Combat Group"
No. 2 Group RAF – the "Air Combat Support Group"

Component groups of Strike Command included:

No. 1 Group RAF 1 April 1968 – 1 April 2007
No. 2 Group RAF 1 April 1993 – 1 April 1996, 7 January 2000 – 1 April 2007
No. 3 Group RAF 1 April 2000 – 1 April 2006
No. 11 Group RAF 1 April 1968 – 1 April 1996
No. 18 Group RAF 28 November 1969 – 1 April 1996
No. 11/18 Group RAF 1 April 1996 – 7 January 2000
No. 38 Group RAF 1 July 1972 – 17 November 1983
No. 46 Group RAF 1 September 1972 – 1 January 1976
No. 90 Group RAF 1 January 1969 – 1 September 1972
Royal Observer Corps 1 April 1968 – 31 December 1995

Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief

Air Officers Commanding-in-Chief included:^[10]

Air Chief Marshal Sir Wallace Kyle 1968–1968
Air Chief Marshal Sir Denis Spotswood 1968–1971
Air Chief Marshal Sir Andrew Humphrey 1971–1974
Air Chief Marshal Sir Denis Smallwood 1974–1976
Air Chief Marshal Sir Nigel Maynard 1976–1977
Air Chief Marshal Sir David Evans 1977–1980
Air Chief Marshal Sir Keith Williamson 1980–1982
Air Chief Marshal Sir David Craig 1982–1985
Air Chief Marshal Sir Peter Harding 1985–1988
Air Chief Marshal Sir Patrick Hine 1988–1991
Air Chief Marshal Sir Michael Graydon 1991–1992
Air Chief Marshal Sir John Thomson 1992–1994
Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Johns 1994
Air Chief Marshal Sir William Wratten 1994–1997
Air Chief Marshal Sir John Allison 1997–1999
Air Chief Marshal Sir Peter Squire 1999–2000
Air Chief Marshal Sir Anthony Bagnall 2000–2001
Air Chief Marshal Sir John Day 2001–2003
Air Chief Marshal Sir Brian Burridge 2003–2006
Air Chief Marshal Sir Joe French 2006–2007

Deputy Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief

Air Marshal Sir Nigel Maynard 1972–1973
Air Marshal Sir Peter Horsley 1973–1975
Air Marshal Sir Michael Beetham 1975–1976
Air Marshal Sir John Stacey 1976–1977
Air Marshal Sir Alan Davies 1977
Air Marshal Sir Alfred Ball 1977–1978
Air Marshal Sir Robert Freer 1978–1979
Air Marshal Sir Thomas Kennedy 1979–1981
Air Marshal Sir Peter Bairsto 1981–1984
Air Marshal Sir Joseph Gilbert 1984–1986
Air Marshal Sir Brendan Jackson 1986–1988
Air Marshal Sir Kenneth Hayr 1988–1989
Air Marshal Sir John Kemball 1989–1993
Air Marshal Sir Richard Johns 1993–1994
Air Marshal Sir John Allison 1994–1996
Air Marshal Graeme Robertson 1996–1998
Air Marshal Sir Timothy Jenner 1998–2000
Air Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup 2000–2002
Air Marshal Sir Brian Burridge 2002–2003
Air Marshal Sir Glenn Torpy 2003–2004
Air Marshal Sir Clive Loader 2004–2007

References

^ Pine, L.G. (1983). A dictionary of mottoes (1 ed.). London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. p. 46. ISBN 0-7100-9339-X.
^ "RAF Timeline 1960–1968". RAF. Archived from the original on 1 March 2012.
^ The history of RAF Watton in detail for 1969 Archived 27 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine
^ Ashworth 1992, p. 222.
^ RAF Support Command Round-the-World Global Flight
^ Commander UK Air Forces appointed Flight International, 17 April 1975
^ RAF Timeline 1990–1999 Archived 24 September 2015 at the Wayback Machine RAF
^ Royal Air Force, "New Millenium - New Strike Command: Royal Air Force Headquarters to Restructure," Release 430/99, 1 December 1999, accessed at http://www.mod.uk/news/prs/430_99.htm. Copy preserved at http://www.defense-aerospace.com/article-view/release/1182/uk-mod-restructures-raf-strike-command-(dec.-2).html.
^ RAF Command RAF
^ Air of Authority – A History of RAF Organisation – RAF Home Commands formed between 1958 – 2002 Archived 5 July 2014 at the Wayback Machine

Ashworth, Chris. RAF Coastal Command: 1936–1969. Patrick Stephens Ltd. 1992. ISBN 1-85260-345-3

External links

Royal Air Force Web Site – Strike Command

Preceded by Bomber Command From 30 April 1968	Strike Command 1968–2007	Succeeded by Air Command
Preceded by Fighter Command From 30 April 1968
Preceded by Signals Command From 1 January 1969
Preceded by Coastal Command From 28 November 1969
Preceded by Air Support Command From 1 September 1972
Preceded by RAF Germany From 1 April 1993