No. 6 Group RCAF

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No. 6 Group RCAF
Active 1 January 1943 - 8 May 1945
Country Canada
Branch Royal Canadian Air Force
Role Strategic and tactical bombing
Size 14 squadrons at peak strength
Part of RAF Bomber Command
Garrison/HQ Allerton Park, near Harrogate
Motto Sollertia et ingenium
"Initiative and skill"
Commanders
Notable
commanders		 Air Vice-Marshal G.E. Brookes, Air Vice-Marshal C.M. McEwen

No. 6 Group RCAF was an organization of Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) bomber squadrons which operated from airfields in Yorkshire, England during the Second World War. Although 6 Group was RCAF, it was controlled by the Royal Air Force as part of Bomber Command. No. 6 Group had been previously active in the RAF in 1918, from 1924 to 1926, and from 1936 to 1939.[1] Before the war, 6 Group was an RAF training group; at the beginning of the war, the group was non-operational.[2]

Bomber Command Lancaster over Hamburg
Bomber Command Lancaster over Hamburg

Contents

[edit] Formation

Canadian bomber squadrons began participating in the war effort in 1941 and were attached to RAF Bomber Command groups. Canada, however, wanted its own identifiable presence in Allied air operations overseas, and it did not want its air force to be merely a source of manpower for the Royal Air Force. To this end, 6 (RCAF) Group was formed on 1 January 1943 with eight squadrons. At the peak of its strength, 6 Group consisted of 14 squadrons.[3] Fifteen squadrons would eventually serve with the group, which was almost every RCAF heavy bomber squadron.[4][5]

[edit] Operations

The Canadian squadrons reported directly to Bomber Command headquarters in High Wycombe rather than to an RAF group. Headquarters for 6 Group was at Allerton Park near Knaresborough.

Significant operations involving 6 Group included raids on U-boat bases in Lorient and Saint-Nazaire, France and night bombing raids on industrial complexes and urban centres in Germany.

No. 6 Group flew 40,822 operational sorties. A total of 814 aircrews (approximately 5700 airmen) did not return from operations and 4,203 [6] airmen lost their lives.

[edit] Operational squadrons

[edit] Bases

Several RAF stations were allocated to No. 6 Group. Like most other groups within Bomber Command, the "base" system was used for station organization. A base consisted of a main base station, or headquarters, and a number of sub-stations. No. 6 Group consisted of four bases which were made up of 11 stations. Late in 1943, Bomber Command bases were designated with a two-number identifier. The first number represented the group number, and the second number represented the base within that group. The first base within the group was the group's training base. No. 61 Base was therefore the training base for No. 6 Group. Each base was commanded by an Air Commodore and each station was commanded by a Group Captain.

No. 61 Base RAF Topcliffe (Headquarters) RAF Dishforth RAF Dalton RAF Wombleton
No. 62 Base RAF Linton-on-Ouse (Headquarters) RAF East Moor RAF Tholthorpe
No. 63 Base RAF Leeming (Headquarters) RAF Skipton-on-Swale
No. 64 Base RAF Middleton St. George (Headquarters) RAF Croft

[edit] References

Notes
  1. ^ Air of Authority - A History of RAF Organisation, Group No's 1 - 9
  2. ^ Dunmore 1991, p. 4.
  3. ^ Millberry 1984, p. 166.
  4. ^ Dunmore 1991, p. 375.
  5. ^ Millberry 1984, p. 166.
  6. ^ Bashow 2005, p. 458.
Bibliography
  • Bashow, David L. No Prouder Place: Canadians and the Bomber Command Experience 1939-1945. St. Catharine's, Ontario: Vanwell Publishing Limited, 2005. ISBN 1-55125-098-5.
  • Dunmore, Spencer and Carter, William. Reap the Whirlwind: The Untold Story of 6 Group, Canada's Bomber Force of World War II. Toronto: McLelland and Stewart Inc., 1991. ISBN 0-7710-2924-1.
  • Milberry, Larry, ed. Sixty Years - The RCAF and CF Air Command 1924 - 1984. Toronto: Canav Books, 1984. ISBN 0-9690703-4-9.

[edit] External links