Air Headquarters Levant (AHQ Levant) was a command of the British

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 ...

(RAF) established on 1 December 1941, by renaming the command known as H.Q. RAF Palestine and Transjordan. It controlled RAF units in the Mandate of Palestine and in the

Emirate of Transjordan The Emirate of Transjordan (), officially the Amirate of Trans-Jordan, was a British protectorate established on 11 April 1921,Middle East Command Middle East Command, later Middle East Land Forces, was a British Army Command established prior to the Second World War in Egypt. Its primary role was to command British land forces and co-ordinate with the relevant naval and air commands to ...

and its successors. RAF Web Mediterranean Commands

RAF Middle East Command Middle East Command was a command of the Royal Air Force (RAF) that was active during the Second World War. It had been preceded by RAF Middle East, which was established in 1918 by the redesignation of HQ Royal Flying Corps Middle East that h ...

became a sub-command of the

Mediterranean Air Command The Mediterranean Air Command (MAC) was a World War II Allied air force command that was active in the North African and Mediterranean Theater of Operations (MTO) between February 18 and December 10, 1943 . MAC was under the command of Air Chie ...

in February 1943. An AHQ Levant was reformed on 1 May 1955 when AHQ Iraq was renamed AHQ Levant as an interim measure following a new agreement with the

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

Government for the defence of

and use by the RAF of bases in

. On 1 December 1955 AHQ Levant started to transfer from

RAF Habbaniya Royal Air Force Habbaniya, more commonly known as RAF Habbaniya (), (originally RAF Dhibban), was a Royal Air Force station at Habbaniyah, about west of Baghdad in modern-day Iraq, on the banks of the Euphrates near Lake Habbaniyah. It was dev ...

to Cyprus (probably

RAF Nicosia Royal Air Force Nicosia or more simply RAF Nicosia is a former Royal Air Force station on the island of Cyprus, built in the 1930s. The station served as Headquarters Royal Air Force Cyprus from 8 June to 29 July 1941. The original principal a ...

) and on 15 January 1956, when the move was complete, AHQ Cyprus and AHQ Levant were amalgamated as AHQ Levant. AHQ Levant was disbanded, 1 Apr 1958.

Orders of battle (1941-1945)

;H.Q RAF Palestine and Transjordan 11 November 1941

Air Commodore Air commodore (Air Cdre or Air Cmde) is an air officer rank used by some air forces, with origins from 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 ...

Leslie Brown * No. 259 Wing * No. 263 Wing ;Air H.Q. Levant 27 October 1942 Group Capt Herbert Mermagen * No. 1438 Flight,

Bristol Blenheim The Bristol Blenheim is a British light bomber designed and built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company, which was used extensively in the first two years of the Second World War, with examples still being used as trainers until the end of the war. ...

s * No. 1413 Flight (Met.),

Gloster Gladiator The Gloster Gladiator is a British biplane fighter. It was used by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) (as the Sea Gladiator variant) and was exported to a number of other air forces during the late 1930s. Developed privat ...

s * No. 2 Photographic Reconnaissance Unit RAF (Detachment),

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 by ...

s * No. 213 Group * No. 241 Wing ** No. 451 Squadron RAAF, Hurricane ;Air H.Q. Levant 10 July 1943 A/Cdre Bernard McEntegart * No. 208 Squadron, Hurricane * No. 1413 Flight (Meteorological), Gladiator ;Air H.Q. Levant June, 1944 Air Commodore John Coleman ;Air H.Q. Levant January, 1945 Air Commodore Hector McGregor (

RNZAF The Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF; ) is the aerial service branch of the New Zealand Defence Force. It was formed initially in 1923 as a branch of the New Zealand Army, being known as the New Zealand Permanent Air Force, becoming an in ...

) ;Reformation of Air H.Q. Levant 1 May 1955 *1 May 1955 - April 1956, on renaming of A.H.Q. Iraq, A.V.M. Hugh Hamilton Brookes Met.= Meteorological Det.=Detachment;RAAF=Royal Australian Air Force.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* David Lee, Flight from the Middle East: A history of the Royal Air Force in the Arabian Peninsula and adjacent territories 1945-1972, HMSO 1980 {{DEFAULTSORT:Ahq Levant Royal Air Force overseas commands Military units and formations of the Royal Air Force in World War II Military units and formations established in 1941 Military units and formations disestablished in 1958 Military units and formations in Mandatory Palestine in World War II