The Tactical Supply Wing (TSW) is a helicopter support unit 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 ...

, based at MOD Stafford (also known as Beacon Barracks) in Staffordshire. The wing specialises in the refuelling of helicopters in the field.

History

The Tactical Supply Wing concept was devised by Group Captain Craven-Griffiths, who developed the idea during his time at the Ministry of Defence in London during the late 1960s. Griffiths and colleagues spent many hours discussing the concept in The Old Shades public house, located on

Whitehall Whitehall is a road and area in the City of Westminster, Central London. The road forms the first part of the A3212 road from Trafalgar Square to Chelsea. It is the main thoroughfare running south from Trafalgar Square towards Parliament Sq ...

. Ever since, the Old Shades has been considered as the birthplace of the TSW. Also known by some former members as "Tiswas", the TSW was formed at

RAF Stafford RAF Stafford was a non-flying Royal Air Force station in Stafford, Staffordshire, England. History The station was originally established as the home of No. 16 Maintenance Unit in the 1930s. It became home to No 2 Mechanical Transport Squadron ...

in late 1970 and became operational in January 1971. TSW was sent on its first operational deployment to

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

in 1971. Elements of TSW have deployed around the world to support

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and

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helicopter units in most major exercises and conflicts since it was formed.

Role and operations

TSW's primary role is supporting the

deployment Deployment may refer to: Engineering and software Concepts * Blue-green deployment, a method of installing changes to a web, app, or database server by swapping alternating production and staging servers * Continuous deployment, a software e ...

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...

operations, specialising in providing rotors-turning refuelling to helicopters and field refuelling of fixed-wing aircraft; this can done from the back of a

transport aircraft Transport aircraft is a broad category of aircraft that includes: * Airliners, aircraft, usually large and most often operated by airlines, intended for carrying multiple passengers or cargo in commercial service * Cargo aircraft or freighters, fix ...

, or deploy-able storage facilities, such as bowsers or pillow tanks, often in the field or at austere temporary sites. The unit is still at Stafford, but the base is now called Beacon Barracks which houses 22 Signal Regiment, 16 Signal Regiment and 1 Signal Regiment.

Heritage

The wing's

badge A badge is a device or accessory, often containing the insignia of an organization, which is presented or displayed to indicate some feat of service, a special accomplishment, a symbol of authority granted by taking an oath (e.g., police and ...

, awarded in March 1992, features a Peregrine falcon in a flying position, against a background of a three-arched bridge and a body of water. The aggressive falcon with its wings fully extended resonates with a “Supply Wing” whereas the bridge represents communication and is portrayed with three arches, which is a reference to three RAF commands and all three services of the British Armed Forces. The wing's

motto A motto (derived from the Latin , 'mutter', by way of Italian , 'word' or 'sentence') is a sentence or phrase expressing a belief or purpose, or the general motivation or intention of an individual, family, social group, or organisation. Mot ...

is ''Support to Strike'', acknowledging its support role which supports combat operations.

References

Royal Air Force wings Military units and formations established in 1970 {{RAF-stub