No. 5 Wing of the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

was a

wing A wing is a type of fin that produces both Lift (force), lift and drag while moving through air. Wings are defined by two shape characteristics, an airfoil section and a planform (aeronautics), planform. Wing efficiency is expressed as lift-to-d ...

of aircraft squadrons which was originally established as the Fifth Wing of the

Royal Flying Corps The Royal Flying Corps (RFC) was the air arm of the British Army before and during the First World War until it merged with the Royal Naval Air Service on 1 April 1918 to form the Royal Air Force. During the early part of the war, the RFC sup ...

. Currently inactive, the wing has been formed and disbanded five times over the course of its history.

First World War

The Fifth (Corps) Wing of the

was one of the earliest wings to be established. On 15 April 1915 No. 8 Squadron and No. 13 Squadron of the RFC were grouped together at Fort Grange,

Gosport Gosport ( ) is a town and non-metropolitan district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Hampshire, England. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 Census, the town had a population of 70,131 and the district had a pop ...

to form the 5th Wing. Major L.E.O. Charlton, No. 8 Squadron commander, temporarily took command of the Wing until he travelled to France.

Middle East

In November 1915 the 5th Wing, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel W. G. H. Salmond, arrived in the Middle East. At this time it consisted of No. 14 Squadron, No. 17 Squadron and an aircraft park. Between June 1916 and October 1917, No. 1 Squadron, Australian Flying Corps – which was known as 67 Squadron in British military circles (to avoid confusion with similarly named RFC and RNAS units) – was also part of the wing. In February 1916, 5th Wing HQ was at Ismailia, with auxiliary aerodromes for Nos 14 and 17 Squadrons (flying mostly BE2c aircraft) at Heliopolis, El Qantara and

Suez Suez (, , , ) is a Port#Seaport, seaport city with a population of about 800,000 in north-eastern Egypt, located on the north coast of the Gulf of Suez on the Red Sea, near the southern terminus of the Suez Canal. It is the capital and largest c ...

. X Aircraft Park for repair and supply was at Abbasia. Unusually, the Qantara flight of No. 14 Sqn was made self-sufficient by being given 80 camels to transport petrol, and a number of sand carts for hauling tents and aircraft spares. At the opening of the Second Battle of Gaza (19 April 1917), 5th Wing was disposed as follows: IWMQ15841AerodromeIsmailia

* Wing HQ at

Rafah Rafah ( ) is a city in the southern Gaza Strip, Palestine, and the capital of the Rafah Governorate. It is located south-west of Gaza City. In 2017, Rafah had a population of 171,889. Due to the Gaza war, about 1.4 million people from Gaza C ...

* Advanced HQ at

Deir al-Balah Deir al-Balah or Deir al Balah () is a city in the center of the Gaza Strip, Palestine, and the administrative capital of the Deir al-Balah Governorate. It is located over south of Gaza City. The city had a population of 75,132 in 2017. The ci ...

* No 14 Sqn, HQ and A Flight at Rafah ** B Flight at Deir el Balah * No 67 Sqn, AFC, at Rafah * X Aircraft Park at Abbasia * Advanced Aircraft Park at El Qantara The wing had 25 aircraft at its disposal: 17 BE2s and 8 Martinsydes. A further 5 aircraft were detached to Arabia. Although the Martinsydes were the best fighting machines available, they were prone to overheating in the hot climate, and were inferior to the two German Halberstadts that had caused several casualties during the

First Battle of Gaza The First Battle of Gaza was fought on 26 March 1917 during the first attempt by the Egyptian Expeditionary Force (EEF), which was a British Empire military formation, formed on 10 March 1916 under the command of General Archibald Murray from th ...

. In October 1917, before the Third Battle of Gaza, 5th Wing consisted of Nos 14 (16 BE2e) and 113 Sqn (8 BE2e, 5 RE8) and was now under the command of Palestine Brigade, RFC. In September 1918, at the time of the victory of

Megiddo Megiddo may refer to: Places and sites in Israel * Tel Megiddo, site of an ancient city in Israel's Jezreel valley * Megiddo Airport, a domestic airport in Israel * Megiddo church (Israel) * Megiddo, Israel, a kibbutz in Israel * Megiddo Juncti ...

, it comprised: * Wing HQ at Er-Ramleh * No 14 Sqn at Junction Station – 16 RE8s, 3 Nieuport Scouts * No 113 Sqn at Sarona – 16 RE8s, 5 Nieuports * No 142 Sqn at Sarona – 7 Armstrong-Whitworth F.K.8s ** Detached flight at

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

– 5 RE8s When hostilities ended the Fifth Wing was headquartered at RAF Ramleh in Palestine. The 5th Wing was disbanded on 1 April 1920.Wings 1–50 at Air of Authority.
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Commanders

*15 April 1915 L E O Charlton *November 1915 Lieutenant-Colonel W G H Salmond *1 July 1916 Lieutenant-Colonel P B Joubert de la Ferté *5 February 1917 Lieutenant-Colonel A E Borton *8 October 1917 Lieutenant-Colonel C S Burnett

1923 to 1924

No. 5 Wing was reformed on 1 April 1923 and its function was to control all RAF fighter squadrons north of the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, s ...

. On 30 April,

Wing Commander Wing commander (Wg Cdr or W/C) is a senior officer rank used by some air forces, with origins from the Royal Air Force. The rank is used by air forces of many countries that have historical British influence. Wing commander is immediately se ...

John Tyssen was appointed as the Officer Commanding.Tyssen at Air of Authority.
/ref> However, this period of the Wing's existence was short-lived and it was disbanded in April 1924.

Commanders

*30 April 1923 Wing Commander J H S Tyssen

1935 to 1936

Following the tensions surrounding the

Abyssinia Crisis The Abyssinia Crisis, also known in Italy as the Walwal incident, was an international crisis in 1935 that originated in a dispute over the town of Walwal, which then turned into a conflict between Fascist Italy and the Ethiopian Empire (then co ...

, the Wing was reformed on 26 October 1935. The Officer Commanding was

Group Captain Group captain (Gp Capt or G/C) is a senior officer rank used by some air forces, with origins from the Royal Air Force. The rank is used by air forces of many Commonwealth of Nations, countries that have historical British influence. Group cap ...

Raymond Collishaw.Collishaw at Air of Authority.
/ref> It controlled No. 3 Squadron RAF, No. 35 Squadron RAF, No. 47 Squadron RAF and No. 207 Squadron RAF during the

Second Italo-Abyssinian War The Second Italo-Ethiopian War, also referred to as the Second Italo-Abyssinian War, was a war of aggression waged by Italy against Ethiopia, which lasted from October 1935 to February 1937. In Ethiopia it is often referred to simply as the Ita ...

. The Wing was disbanded on 14 August 1936.

Second World War

During the first year of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

(13 December 1939 to 6 July 1940, after the

Dunkirk evacuation The Dunkirk evacuation, codenamed Operation Dynamo and also known as the Miracle of Dunkirk, or just Dunkirk, was the evacuation of more than 338,000 Allied soldiers during the Second World War from the beaches and harbour of Dunkirk, in the ...

) No. 5 Wing was responsible for controlling radar units based in France.

1953 to 1966

No. 5 Wing was a Signals Wing within the

RAF Second Tactical Air Force The Second Tactical Air Force (2TAF) was one of three tactical air forces within the Royal Air Force (RAF) during and after the World War II, Second World War. It was made up of Squadron (aviation), squadrons and personnel from the RAF, other Co ...

based in

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

, its last base was RAF Butzweilerhof.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * David L. Bullock, ''Allenby's War: The Palestine-Arabian Campaigns 1916–1918'', London: Blandford Press, 1988, . * Lt-Gen Sir George MacMunn & Capt

Cyril Falls Cyril Bentham Falls CBE (2 March 1888 – 23 April 1971) was a British military historian, journalist, and academic, noted for his works on the First World War. He was born in Ireland and spent most of his life in England. Early life Falls was ...

, ''History of the Great War: Military Operations, Egypt and Palestine'', Vol I, ''From the Outbreak of War with Germany to June 1917'', London: HM Stationery Office, 1928/Imperial War Museum and Battery Press, 1992, .

External sources

Air of Authority – A History of RAF Organisation

RAF Museum

No 8 Squadron

{{DEFAULTSORT:No. 5 Wing Raf Royal Flying Corps wings Royal Air Force wings Military units and formations established in 1915 Military units and formations of the Royal Air Force in World War I 1915 establishments in England

First World War

Middle East

Commanders

1923 to 1924

Commanders

1935 to 1936

Second World War

1953 to 1966

See also

References

Citations

Bibliography

External sources