RAF Fighter Command

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Fighter Command was one of three functional commands that dominated the public perception of the RAF for much of the mid-20th century. It was formed in 1936 to reflect the fact that as the RAF expanded prior to World War II, more specialised control of each type of aircraft: fighter, bomber and maritime patrol was needed.

1 Origins
2 Battle of Britain
3 Winning air superiority over the Luftwaffe
4 Invasion of Europe
5 Cold War Years
6 Strike Command
7 Air Officers Commanding-in-Chief
8 See also

[edit] Origins

On 20 May 1926, Fighter Command's precursor organization was established as a group within Inland Area. On 1 June 1926, Fighting Area (as it was then called) was transferred to the Air Defence of Great Britain. Fighting Area was raised to Command status in 1932 and renamed Fighter Command on 1 May 1936. U SUCK

[edit] Battle of Britain

Over the next few years the Command expanded greatly and replaced its obsolescent biplane squadrons with two of the most famous aircraft ever to fly with the RAF, the Hawker Hurricane and the Supermarine Spitfire. The supreme test of Fighter Command came during the summer of 1940 when the German Luftwaffe launched an offensive aimed at attaining air superiority over the Channel and UK as a perequisite to the launch of a sea-borne invasion force (code named Operation Sea Lion). Fighter Command was divided into a number of Groups, each controlling a different part of the UK. No. 11 Group took the brunt of the German attack, as it controlled southeast England and London. It was reinforced by No. 10 Group, which covered southwest England and No. 12 Group, which covered the Midlands and the North. In the end, the Germans failed to attain air superiotity, although the RAF had been eating into its reserves during the middle of the battle. A shortage of aircraft was never a problem. The problem was a shortage of pilots. Pilots were getting shot down and killed faster than they could be trained. It took Fighter Command some months to recover from those losses and to go over to the offensive.

[edit] Winning air superiority over the Luftwaffe

As 1941 began, Fighter Command began the onerous task of winning air superiority over North Western France from the Germans. By May 1941 the Squadrons based at all the main fighter airfields were now to operate together as integral Fighter Wings, under the tactical control of the newly created post of 'Wing Leader', invariably an experienced 1940 veteran of Wing Commander rank. Various types of short-penetration fighter operations were tried out in a bid to draw the Luftwaffe into a war of attrition, and keep inordinate numbers of fighters tied down in France, particularly after the German attack on the Soviets in June 1941. Large numbers of Spitfires were sent out with small groups of medium bombers in often vain attempts to lure the German fighters into combat. Results of these operations through 1941 were decidedly mixed, as the short range of the Spitfire precluded an overly aggressive stance, and with just two experienced Jagdgeschwader units left in Western Europe (JG 2 & JG 26; comprising 180 fighters at most) targets were often few but dangerous. Most of the factors that had allowed Fighter Command to win the Battle of Britain were now reversed. For example, British pilots shot down in 1940 and surviving would be patched up and sent back to their units as quickly as possible. In 1941, over France, a shot down pilot would, likely as not, end up a prisoner of war. The year saw RAF Fighter Command claim some 731 Luftwaffe fighters shot down (although only 236 were lost from all causes) for losses of approximately 530 RAF fighters lost. As 1941 ended, the appearance of the new Focke Wulf FW-190, with its obvious technical superiority over the current Spitfire Mark V, would make Fighter Command's job that much harder in 1942.

By August 1941 AOC Air Vice Marshal Sholto Douglas himself expressed doubts over the wisdom of continuing such European fighter operations,. However, the Western Allies needed to emphasis their continuing support for the Soviet war effort by pressing on with high profile offensive operations such as the fighter sweeps, irrespective of their material effect on the minimal Luftwaffe presence in North Western Europe.

Parallel to the day offensive in 1941 was the ongoing night bomber attacks against the UK. By this time, until May 1941, the Luftwaffe effort was aimed against both civilians and industrial targets. Fighter Command's defences, however improved almost daily during the first six months of 1941.The Bristol Beaufighter became the prime nightfighter, and equipped with airborne radar proved ever more effective against the bombers, with the ground-based organisation that proved so efficient in 1940 now guiding the night fighters to their targets. An increasing number of anti-aircraft guns and searchlights were also radar-controlled, improving accuracy. From the start of 1941 the Luftwaffe's losses mounted ( from 28 in January to 124 in May). With the impending invasion of Russia requiring the movement of air power to the East, the Blitz ended in May 1941 with Fighter Command in complete control of the night sky over the UK. This was to remain so until the end of the war.

The difficult task of slowly grinding down the Germans continued into 1942 and 1943. The widening nature of the war now drew many of the most experienced pilots and Squadrons into service overseas, leaving those units remaining in No. 11 Group struggling on against the tough and well-equipped Luftwaffe fighter groups. Squadrons also found themselves on tiring defensive patrols as small formations of FW-190s started to fly 'hit and run' nuisance raids all along the South Coast, though Fighter Command's new Hawker Typhoon units proved capable of catching these fighter-bomber interdictions. The most notable offensive battle took place over Dieppe, France when an ill-fated commando-style raid was mounted there in August 1942. The Luftwaffe and RAF clashed in the skies over the French city. Although the RAF succeeded in preventing the Luftwaffe from interfering with the shipping, which was its primary aim, its perceived success was misleading. Despite claims at the time that more German aircraft than British had been shot down (106 kills were claimed by the RAF) postwar analysis showed 88 Spitfires were lost for just 23 Luftwaffe fighters shot down. 1942 statistics yielded 560 claims (272 German fighters were lost from all causes) for 574 RAF day fighters destroyed. By the autumn of 1942 the arrival of the USAAF 8th Air Force and its daylight bombers would add bomber escort to Fighter Command's tasks. Until American P-47 fighter groups were operational in May 1943, the Command's Spitfires performed a vital role in protecting the increasing numbers of B-17's and B-24's operating over Occupied Europe. The Spitfire's chronic lack of operational range however meant such protection was limited to the Channel and the European coast.

In 1943, the most notable event was a very important administrative one. Fighter Command was split up into the Air Defence of Great Britain and the Second Tactical Air Force. As the name of the former suggests, its primary aim was defence of the UK from attack, with the latter concentrating on supporting ground forces after the eventual invasion of Europe.

[edit] Invasion of Europe

1944 saw the greatest effort by the Air Defence of Great Britain in its history. Operation Overlord, the invasion of France was launched on 6 June 1944. RAF fighters swarmed over the battle area and, along with their American counterparts, suppressed the meagre German opposition. They also directly supported ground forces by strafing enemy positions and transport. Later in the year, the final major test of Fighter Command (renamed back in October 1944) in the war occurred. The Germans began launching the world's first cruise missiles from Belgium and Northern France toward targets in England. The V1s, or Doodlebugs or Buzz Bombs were a major challenge for the air defences. They were small and thus hard to spot, both visually and by radar (although by night their exhaust made them easy to see visually). They were also so fast that only a handful of the fastest RAF fighters could catch them and shoot them down. The primary successes in combating this menace went to the Hawker Tempest and De Havilland Mosquito, although the newly operational Gloster Meteor jet did shoot a handful of V1s down as well.

During 1939-45 RAF Fighter Command lost 3,690 killed, 1,215 wounded and 601 POW. 4,790 aircraft were lost.

[edit] Cold War Years

In the aftermath of World War II, the role of Fighter Command was still to protect the UK from air attack. However, its target changed from Germany to the Soviet Union. The Cold War saw the threat of Soviet bombers attacking the United Kingdom loom large. After 1949, those Soviet bombers could be carrying nuclear weapons, and so intercepting them was crucial if the United Kingdom was to be saved during a war. A long succession of fighter aircraft saw service with Fighter Command during the 1950s and 1960s. Particularly notable were the Hawker Hunter and the English Electric Lightning. The latter was the only purely British supersonic aircraft ever developed (developed? see TSR2). That was due to a disastrous defence review in 1957. During the mid-1950s, the performance of the new surface to air missiles was improving at an enormous rate. Duncan Sandys, the Minister of Defence at the time needed to find cuts in the British defence budget, since the UK was in serious danger of being bankrupted by its defence spending. The rate of improvement of surface to air missiles seemed to indicate that they would soon be able to shoot any manned aircraft out of the sky. Consequently, in an infamous statement, the Sandys' review declared that manned aircraft were obsolescent and would soon become obsolete. All programmes for manned aircraft that were not too far along were cancelled. The Lightning was the only one of a number of new supersonic aircraft that was too far along to cancel. That decision, combined with the increasing costs of developing aircraft crippled the British aircraft industry and made Fighter Command and the RAF reliant on foreign or jointly developed aircraft.

[edit] Strike Command

As the 1960s dawned, the RAF continued to shrink. The three functional commands, Fighter Command, Bomber Command, and Coastal Command had all been formed in 1936 to help command an expanding RAF. It was now becoming clear that the RAF was simply becoming too small to justify their continued existence as separate entities. Consequently, in 1968, Fighter Command and Bomber Command were joined together to form Strike Command, each becoming groups within the new command.

Fighter Command had only existed for 32 years, but in that time it had fought in the largest war in history and had progressed from biplanes to supersonic jets. Its record was glorious, and many mourned its passing.