No. 1 Group of the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

is one of the two operations

groups A group is a number of persons or things that are located, gathered, or classed together. Groups of people * Cultural group, a group whose members share the same cultural identity * Ethnic group, a group whose members share the same ethnic ide ...

in RAF Air Command. Today, the group is referred to as the Air Combat Group, as it controls the RAF's combat fast-jet aircraft and has airfields in the UK, as well as RAF Support Unit Goose Bay in Canada. The group headquarters is located alongside Headquarters Air Command at RAF High Wycombe,

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-e ...

. The other operational group is No. 2 Group RAF. The current Air Officer Commanding No 1 Group is

Air Vice-Marshal Air vice-marshal (AVM) is a two-star air officer rank which originated in and continues to be used by the Royal Air Force. The rank is also used by the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence and it is sometimes ...

Ian Duguid Air Vice-Marshal Ian W. Duguid, (born 1 December 1966) is a senior Royal Air Force serving as air office commanding No. 1 Group RAF, headquartered at RAF High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire. Duguid was a Harrier pilot and Typhoon Force Commander ...

. He succeeded Air Vice-Marshal Allan Marshall in November 2021.

Subordinate units

The following stations and squadrons are under the command of No. 1 Group: *

RAF Coningsby Royal Air Force Coningsby or RAF Coningsby , is a Royal Air Force (RAF) station located south-west of Horncastle, and north-west of Boston, in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. It is a Main Operating Base of the RAF and ho ...

** No. 3(Fighter) Squadron with Typhoon FGR4 ** No. XI(F) Squadron with Typhoon FGR4 ** No. 12 Squadron with Typhoon FGR4 ** No. 29 Squadron with Typhoon FGR4 Operational conversion unit (OCU) ** Battle of Britain Memorial Flight *

RAF Leeming Royal Air Force Leeming or RAF Leeming is a Royal Air Force (RAF) station located near Leeming, North Yorkshire, England. It was opened in 1940 and was jointly used by the RAF and the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF). Between 1950 and 1991, it ...

Joint Forward Air Controller Training and Standards Unit The Joint Forward Air Controller Training and Standards Unit (JFACTSU)Some sources list it as the Joint Forward Air Control Training and ''Standardisation'' Unit. is a training unit located at RAF Leeming in North Yorkshire, England. The unit ...

* RAF Lossiemouth ** No. 1(F) Squadron with Typhoon FGR4 ** No. II(Army Co-operation) Squadron with Typhoon FGR4 ** No. 6 Squadron with Typhoon FGR4 ** No. IX(Bomber) Squadron with Typhoon Tranche 1/FGR4 ** No. 120 Squadron with Poseidon MRA1 ** No. 201 Squadron with Poseidon MRA1 ** No. 602 (City of Glasgow) Squadron (Royal Auxiliary Air Force) – Moray Flight *

RAF Marham RAF Marham is a Royal Air Force station and military airbase near the village of Marham in the English county of Norfolk, East Anglia. It is home to No. 138 Expeditionary Air Wing (138 EAW) and, as such, is one of the RAF's "Main Operating Ba ...

** No. 207 Squadron with F-35B Lightning (OCU) ** No. 617 Squadron with F-35B Lightning * RAF Waddington ** No. 8 Squadron formerly with Sentry AEW1 (withdrawn from service 2021; to re-equip with

E-7A Wedgetail The Boeing 737 AEW&C is a twin-engine airborne early warning and control aircraft based on the Boeing 737 Next Generation design. It is lighter than the 707-based Boeing E-3 Sentry, and has a fixed, active electronically scanned array radar ant ...

and reform at RAF Lossiemouth starting in 2024) ** No. 13 Squadron with MQ-9A Reaper ** No. 14 Squadron with Shadow R1 ** No. 39 Squadron with MQ-9A Reaper ** No. 51 Squadron with RC-135W Airseeker ** No. 54 Squadron ISTAR crews Operational Conversion Unit (OCU) on multiple types of Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) aircraft ** No. 1 Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Wing

History

First World War

No. 1 Group was originally formed on Saturday 1 April 1918 in No. 1 Area, which was renamed the South-Eastern Area on 8 May 1918, Southern Area on 20 September 1919 and Inland Area on 1 April 1920. The Group was renumbered as No. 6 Group on 19 May 1924 at RAF Kenley, and was reformed on the same day at

RAF Kidbrooke RAF Kidbrooke was a Royal Air Force base, situated in Kidbrooke in south-east London, in the Royal Borough of Greenwich. The site was operational from 1917 to 1965 and was mainly used as a stores, maintenance and training facility. History Esta ...

. Two years later on 12 April 1926 the Group disappeared from the order of battle by being renumbered as No. 21 Group. The next year the Group was reformed on 25 August 1927 by the renaming of Air Defence Group. This designation lasted until 1936 when it became No. 6 Group again. As in 1924 the Group was reformed the same day, this time as a bomber formation. By this time the Group had shrunk to ten squadrons, all equipped with

Fairey Battle The Fairey Battle is a British single-engine light bomber that was designed and manufactured by the Fairey Aviation Company. It was developed during the mid-1930s for the Royal Air Force (RAF) as a monoplane successor to the Hawker Hart and ...

aircraft and located in pairs at

RAF Abingdon Royal Air Force Abingdon or more simply RAF Abingdon was a Royal Air Force station near Abingdon, Oxfordshire. It is now known as Dalton Barracks and is used by the Royal Logistic Corps. History The airfield was opened in 1932, initially a ...

RAF Harwell Royal Air Force Harwell or more simply RAF Harwell is a former Royal Air Force station, near the village of Harwell, located south east of Wantage, Oxfordshire and north west of Reading, Berkshire, England. The site is now the Harwell Sci ...

RAF Benson Royal Air Force Benson or RAF Benson is a Royal Air Force (RAF) station located at Benson, near Wallingford, in South Oxfordshire, England. It is a front-line station and home to the RAF's fleet of Westland Puma HC2 support helicopters, us ...

, RAF Boscombe Down and RAF Bicester.

Second World War

On receipt of orders to move to

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

in 1939, Headquarters No. 1 Group became Headquarters Advanced Air Striking Force and the station headquarters and associated squadrons became Nos. 71, 72, 74, 75 and 76 Wings respectively. The Group re-emerged a few days later within Bomber Command on 12 September, but only lasted just over three months, being dropped on 22 December 1939. It was reformed at Hucknall in Nottinghamshire on 22 June 1940. On 20 July the Group Headquarters moved to Bawtry Hall ( RAF Bawtry) near Doncaster, where it was based for 44 years, until 1983. During the Second World War, the Group was primarily based at airfields in north Lincolnshire, like RAF Swinderby. During 1940–45, the group included substantial numbers of Polish and

Royal Australian Air Force "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...

(RAAF) personnel. By the beginning of March 1943, the aircraft operated by its squadrons were: *

Vickers Wellington The Vickers Wellington was a British twin-engined, long-range medium bomber. It was designed during the mid-1930s at Brooklands in Weybridge, Surrey. Led by Vickers-Armstrongs' chief designer Rex Pierson; a key feature of the aircraft is its ...

: 166 & 199 Sqns RAF, and 300 Polish, 301 Polish & 305 Polish Sqns. *

Avro Lancaster The Avro Lancaster is a British Second World War heavy bomber. It was designed and manufactured by Avro as a contemporary of the Handley Page Halifax, both bombers having been developed to the same specification, as well as the Short Stir ...

: 12, 100, 101, 150 & 103 Sqns RAF, and 460 Sqn RAAF. All of the Wellington squadrons subsequently converted to Lancasters. No. 1 Group was later augmented with other units, including 304 Polish Squadron. During Bomber Command's Second World War campaign, No. 1 Group dropped a higher tonnage of bombs per aircraft than any other group, this was mainly due to Air Commodore Edward Rice who was determined to maximise bomb loads, though it was a policy which contributed in no small measure to No. 1 Group having higher than average losses. Rice would later be involved in the development of the

Rose turret The Rose turret (sometimes known as the Rose-Rice turret) was a gun turret fit to the rear position of some British Avro Lancaster heavy bombers in 1944–45. It was armed with two American light-barrel Browning .50-calibre AN/M2 heavy machine ...

, sometimes known as the "Rose-Rice turret".

Battle of Normandy

Although No.1 (B) Group wasn't directly involved in the Battle of Normandy, they did participate in the bombing of the shore and area. During this period, the group was organised as: * No. 1 (B) Group HQ, RAF Bawtry,

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...

* RAF Hemswell ** Station HQ ** No. 1 Lancaster Finishing School (training with Lancaster I/III) ** Night Bomber Tactical School **150 Squadron Lancaster Mrk I (C flight from 550 Squadron) * RAF Ingham (satellite of RAF Hemswell) ** Station HQ ** No. 1481 (Bomber) Gunnery Flight RAF equipped with

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by ...

III and

Miles Martinet The Miles M.25 Martinet was a target tug aircraft of the Royal Air Force (RAF) and Fleet Air Arm (FAA) that was in service during the Second World War. It was the first British aircraft to be designed specifically for target towing. Work o ...

** No. 1687 Bomber (Defence) Training Flight RAF equipped with

Supermarine Spitfire The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. Many variants of the Spitfire were built, from the Mk 1 to the Rolls-Royce Gri ...

Hawker Hurricane The Hawker Hurricane is a British single-seat fighter aircraft of the 1930s–40s which was designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd. for service with the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was overshadowed in the public consciousness b ...

* RAF Sturgate (satellite of RAF Hemswell) * No. 11 Base ** RAF Lindholme Station HQ ** No. 1656 Heavy Conversion Unit RAF, RAF Lindholme equipped with

I/III ** No. 1662 Heavy Conversion Unit RAF, RAF Blyton equipped with

I/III & Handley Page Halifax II/V ** No. 1667 Heavy Conversion Unit RAF,

RAF Sandtoft Royal Air Force Sandtoft or more simply RAF Sandtoft is a former Royal Air Force station in North Lincolnshire between Doncaster, South Yorkshire and Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire, England. History Second World War RAF Sandtoft opened in Fe ...

equipped with Handley Page Halifax V ** No. 1 Group Servicing Section, RAF Lindholme * No. 12 Base ** RAF Binbrook Station HQ ** No. 100 Squadron RAF,

RAF Grimsby Royal Air Force Grimsby or more simply RAF Grimsby is a former Royal Air Force station located near Grimsby, Lincolnshire, England. The site was operational during the Second World War as part of RAF Bomber Command initially as a satellite stati ...

equipped with

I/III ***No. 9100 Servicing Echelon ** No. 460 Squadron RAAF, RAF Binbrook equipped with

I/III ***No. 9460 Servicing Echelon **

No. 625 Squadron RAF No. 625 Squadron RAF was a heavy bomber squadron of the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. History The squadron was formed on 1 October 1943 at Kelstern, RAF Kelstern, Lincolnshire from 'C' flight of No. 100 Squadron RAF, 100 Squadron. ...

, RAF Kelstern, equipped with

I/III *** No. 9625 Servicing Echelon ** No. 1 Ground Gunnery School, RAF Binbrook *No. 13 Base ** RAF Elsham Wolds Station HQ ** No. 103 Squadron RAF, RAF Elsham Wolds equipped with

I/III ***No. 9103 Servicing Echelon ** No. 166 Squadron RAF,

RAF Kirmington Royal Air Force Kirmington or more simply RAF Kirmington was a Royal Air Force station located north east of Brigg, Lincolnshire and south west of Grimsby, Lincolnshire, England. History Second World War It took its name from the village o ...

equipped with

I/III ***No. 9166 Servicing Echelon ** No. 550 Squadron RAF, RAF North Killingholme equipped with

I/III ***No. 9550 Servicing Echelon ** No. 576 Squadron RAF, RAF Elsham Wolds equipped with

I/III ***No. 9576 Servicing Echelon *No.14 Base ** RAF Ludford Magna Station HQ **

No. 12 Squadron RAF Number 12 Squadron, also known as No. 12 (Bomber) Squadron and occasionally as No. XII Squadron, is a flying squadron of the Royal Air Force (RAF). The squadron reformed in July 2018 as a joint RAF/Qatar Emiri Air Force squadron. It is currently ...

, RAF Wickenby equipped with

I/III ***No. 9012 Servicing Echelon ** No. 101 Squadron RAF, RAF Ludford Magna equipped with

I/III ***No. 9101 Servicing Echelon ** No. 300 Polish Bomber Squadron, RAF Faldingworth with

I/III ***No. 9300 Servicing Echelon ** No. 626 Squadron RAF, RAF Wickenby equipped with

I/III ***No. 9626 Servicing Echelon

Cold War

By June 1948, 1 Group consisted of: * 9 Sqn, RAF Binbrook,

Avro Lincoln The Avro Type 694 Lincoln is a British four-engined heavy bomber, which first flew on 9 June 1944. Developed from the Avro Lancaster, the first Lincoln variants were initially known as the Lancaster IV and V; these were renamed Lincoln I and I ...

B.2 * 12 Sqn, RAF Binbrook, Lincoln B.2 * 101 Sqn, RAF Binbrook, Lincoln B.2 * 617 Sqn, RAF Binbrook, Lincoln B.2 * 83 Sqn, RAF Hemswell, Lincoln B.2 * 97 Sqn, RAF Hemswell, Lincoln B.2 * 100 Sqn, RAF Hemswell, Lincoln B.2 * 50 Sqn, RAF Waddington, Lincoln B.2 * 57 Sqn, RAF Waddington, Lincoln B.2 * 61 Sqn, RAF Waddington, Lincoln B.2 * 109 Sqn,

de Havilland Mosquito The de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito is a British twin-engined, shoulder-winged, multirole combat aircraft, introduced during the World War II, Second World War. Unusual in that its frame was constructed mostly of wood, it was nicknamed the "Wooden ...

B.35 * 139 Sqn, RAF Coningsby, Mosquito B.35 During the Cold War, No. 1 Group also operated the

Thor Thor (; from non, Þórr ) is a prominent god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred groves and trees, strength, the protection of humankind, hallowing, ...

ballistic missile between 1958 and August 1963 (" Project Emily"), with ten squadrons each with three missiles being equipped with the weapon. 1 Group had two sets of five stations, centred respectively on Hemswell and

RAF Driffield Royal Air Force Driffield or RAF Driffield is a former Royal Air Force station in the East Riding of Yorkshire, in England. It lies about south-west of Driffield and north-west of Beverley. It is now operated by the Defence Infrastructure Org ...

. When Bomber Command was subsumed into the new Strike Command on 1 April 1968, No. 1 Group took on the old role of the command, directing the bomber and strike aircraft of Strike Command. On 17 November 1983,

No. 38 Group RAF No. 38 Group RAF was a group of the Royal Air Force which disbanded on 31 December 2020. It was formed on 6 November 1943 from the former 38 Wing with nine squadrons as part of Transport Command. It was disbanded on 31 January 1951, but re-forme ...

was subsumed within Headquarters No. 1 Group. In around 1984, Headquarters No. 1 Group moved from RAF Bawtry in South Yorkshire to RAF Upavon in

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

. No. 207 Squadron RAF, part of 1 Group flying Devons from

RAF Northolt ("Ready to carry or to fight") , pushpin_map = Greater London , pushpin_label = RAF Northolt , pushpin_map_caption = Shown within Greater London , coordinates = , type = Royal Air Force station , code = , site_area = , height = , owner ...

alongside

No. 32 Squadron RAF Number 32 (The Royal) Squadron (sometimes abbreviated as No. 32 (TR) Squadron) of the Royal Air Force operates in the VIP and general air transport roles from RAF Northolt in Greater London. Originally formed in 1916 as part of the Royal Fl ...

, was disbanded on retirement of the remaining Devons on 30 June 1984. After the end of the Cold War,

RAF Germany The former Royal Air Force Germany (RAFG) was a command of the Royal Air Force and part of British Forces Germany. It consisted of units located in Germany, initially as part of the occupation following the Second World War, and later as part o ...

was reduced in status to become No. 2 Group RAF. 2 Group was then disbanded by being absorbed into No. 1 Group on 1 April 1996. 2 Group was then reformed on 7 January 2000, splitting out of 1 Group. 1 Group transferred over the RAF's air transport, air-to-air refuelling and airborne early warning functions.

Post 2000

In January 2000 the RAF was restructured and the Group took on its present role. The Group is responsible for UK air defence operations through QRA North at RAF Lossiemouth and QRA South at

. However, since the disestablishment of

Combined Air Operations Centre Combined Air Operations Centres (CAOCs) are multinational headquarters for tactical and operational control of NATO Air Forces below the Joint Force Command level''. They operate within the NATO Integrated Air Defense System (NATINADS) framework. ...

9 at RAF High Wycombe, actual control of the fighters is now carried out from a NATO Combined Air Operations Centre in Denmark, CAOC 1 at Finderup. However, High Wycombe retains an air defence direction capability, and the UK Representative there could take back control over QRA South if it was necessary to respond to a terrorist threat from the air.Andrew Brooks, UK AIR DEFENC
Air Forces Monthly – October 2008
/ref> No. 1 Group also has responsibility for the UK's Carrier Strike capability, with the joint RN/RAF

Lightning Force ''Lightning Force'' is an American action television series starring Matthew Walker, Wings Hauser and Guylaine St-Onge that aired in syndication. The series premiered in 1991 and went off in 1992, in all 22 episodes were produced. Synopsis Ligh ...

, eventually planned to consist of two squadrons from the RAF and two from the

Fleet Air Arm The Fleet Air Arm (FAA) is one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy and is responsible for the delivery of naval air power both from land and at sea. The Fleet Air Arm operates the F-35 Lightning II for maritime strike, the AW159 Wi ...

, which will be based at RAF Marham when not operating from the UK's .

Air Officer Commanding

Air Officers Commanding have included:

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * Wing Commander C. G. Jefford, MBE, ''RAF Squadrons; A Comprehensive Record of the Movement and Equipment of all RAF Squadrons and their Antecedents since 1912''.1994: Airlife Publishing Ltd.,

Shrewsbury Shrewsbury ( , also ) is a market town, civil parish, and the county town of Shropshire, England, on the River Severn, north-west of London; at the 2021 census, it had a population of 76,782. The town's name can be pronounced as either 'Sh ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

. .

External links

No 1 Group at Royal Air Force Website

{{Royal Air Force 001 Military units and formations established in 1918 Military units and formations of the Royal Air Force in World War I 1918 establishments in the United Kingdom Bawtry Bomber aircraft units and formations of the Royal Air Force