RAF India, later called Air Forces in India (1938–47) was a

command Command may refer to: Computing * Command (computing), a statement in a computer language * command (Unix), a Unix command * COMMAND.COM, the default operating system shell and command-line interpreter for DOS * Command key, a modifier key on A ...

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 ...

(RAF) that was active from 1918 until Indian independence and partition in 1947. It was the

air force An air force in the broadest sense is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an army aviati ...

counterpart of the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

in India.

Origins and history

The command had its origins in units 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 ...

in India. In November 1915, the War Office despatched No. 31 Squadron to India, the squadron arriving at Nowshera in December. The squadron, including a basic aircraft park, was subsequently transferred to Risalpur. A period of intensive training ensued, during which flights were periodically sent on patrols over the North-West Frontier regions. A second squadron ( No. 114 Squadron) was added in 1917. When the RAF was formed in May 1918, the total strength of the air force in India was 80 officers and 600 men. During the 1920s and 1930s, RAF India suffered from under-funding and subordination to the

Commander-in-Chief, India During the period of the Company and Crown rule in India, the Commander-in-Chief, India (often "Commander-in-Chief ''in'' or ''of'' India") was the supreme commander of the Indian Army from 1833 to 1947. The Commander-in-Chief and most of his ...

; in July 1938,

Thomas Inskip Thomas Walker Hobart Inskip, 1st Viscount Caldecote, (5 March 1876 – 11 October 1947) was a British Conservative politician who served in many legal posts, culminating in serving as Lord Chancellor from 1939 until 1940. Despite legal posts d ...

, the Minister for Co-ordination of Defence, released a report highlighting the command's "deplorable obsolescence which rendered it un-employable against modern aircraft." At the time, RAF India only received from 4 to 7 per cent of the defence budget for British India, less than the allocation for the 16 horsed cavalry regiments in the

British Indian Army The Indian Army was the force of British Raj, British India, until Indian Independence Act 1947, national independence in 1947. Formed in 1895 by uniting the three Presidency armies, it was responsible for the defence of both British India and ...

Second World War

On 3 September 1939 under Air Marshal Sir Philip Joubert de la Ferte, the force comprised No. 1 Group (India) at Peshawar with 5, 20, 27, and 60 Squadrons; 28 and 32 Squadrons reported directly to de la Ferte's headquarters; the AHQ Communications Flight was at Lahore; a Target Towing Flight at Trincomalee; the India Aircraft Depot at RAF Drigh Road, Karachi; and No. 1 Squadron IAF split between Drigh Road and Ambala. On 1 July 1942 the force had four groups (221, 224, 225, 222, and 223) and two separate squadrons reporting directly to Air Headquarters. No. 221 Group RAF at Calcutta comprised Nos 60 and 113 Squadrons flying Bristol Blenheim Mk. IVs in the light bomber role from Asansol;

No. 215 Squadron RAF No. 215 Squadron RAF was a Royal Air Force aircraft squadron formed as a night bomber squadron in the First and Second World Wars, becoming a transport squadron near the end of the Second World War. History ;First World War No. 215 Squadron was ...

flying

Vickers Wellington The Vickers Wellington (nicknamed the Wimpy) is 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 t ...

medium bombers from Pandaveswar; Nos 62 and 353 Squadrons flying

Lockheed Hudson The Lockheed Hudson is a light bomber and coastal reconnaissance aircraft built by the American Lockheed Aircraft Corporation. It was initially put into service by the Royal Air Force shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War and ...

s in the General Reconnaissance role from

Dum Dum Dum Dum is a city and a municipality in the Kolkata Metropolitan Area of North 24 Parganas district in the Indian States and territories of India, state of West Bengal. It is a part of the area covered by Kolkata Metropolitan Development Author ...

; and two non-operational squadrons, Nos 20 and 28 flying

Westland Lysander The Westland Lysander is a British Army cooperation aircraft, army co-operation and liaison aircraft produced by Westland Aircraft that was used immediately before and during the Second World War. After becoming obsolete in the army co-operat ...

s in the Army Co-operation role from

Jamshedpur Jamshedpur (; ), also known as Tatanagar, is a major industrial city in eastern India. It is the List of cities in Jharkhand by population, largest city in the state of Jharkhand. With a population of 629,658 in the city limits and 1.3 million ...

and

Ranchi Ranchi (; ) is the capital city and also the largest district by population of the Indian state of Jharkhand. Ranchi was the centre of the Jharkhand movement, which called for a separate state for the tribal regions of South Bihar, northern ...

, respectively. No. 223 Group RAF had two squadrons at

Kohat Kohat (; ) is a city that serves as the capital of the Kohat District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. It is regarded as a centre of the Bangash tribe of Pashtuns, who have lived in the region since the late 15th century. With a population o ...

for operations along the North-West Frontier. The air component of the British-American

South East Asia Command South East Asia Command (SEAC) was the body set up to be in overall charge of Allied operations in the South-East Asian Theatre during the Second World War. History Organisation The initial supreme commander of the theatre was General Sir ...

became Air Command, South East Asia (ACSEA) on 30 December 1943, under Air Chief Marshal Sir

Richard Peirse Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Edmund Charles Peirse, (30 September 1892 – 5 August 1970), served as a senior Royal Air Force commander. RAF career The son of Admiral Sir Richard Peirse and his wife Blanche Melville Wemyss-Whittaker, Richard ...

, who had been appointed

Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief An atmosphere () is a layer of gases that envelop an astronomical object, held in place by the gravity of the object. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A stellar atmosphere ...

, Air Forces in India, in March 1942. It was based almost entirely in India and drew its administrative support from the RAF's Air Forces India. On 1 July 1944 ACSEA comprised

No. 222 Group RAF No. 222 Group was a group of the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. Formed on 1 September 1941, based at Ceylon. Squadrons were stationed around the Indian Ocean. The group undertook long-range bombing and mine-laying operations that to ...

, No. 225 Group RAF, No. 229 Group RAF, and Eastern Air Command, under U.S. Lieutenant General George E. Stratemeyer, itself being made up of the Strategic Air Force ( 7th Bombardment Group USAAF and No. 231 Group RAF, under Brigadier General Howard C. Davidson of the United States Army Air Force); the U.S.

Tenth Air Force The Tenth Air Force (10 AF) is a unit of the U.S. Air Force, specifically a numbered air force of the Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC). 10 AF is headquartered at Naval Air Station Fort Worth Joint Reserve Base/Carswell Field (formerly Carswel ...

(

80th Fighter Group 8 (eight) is the natural number following 7 and preceding 9. Etymology English ''eight'', from Old English '', æhta'', Proto-Germanic ''*ahto'' is a direct continuation of Proto-Indo-European '' *oḱtṓ(w)-'', and as such cognate wi ...

, 311th Fighter Group, and

443rd Troop Carrier Group The 443d Airlift Wing is an inactive unit of the United States Air Force. Its last assignment was with Air Mobility Command, being stationed at Altus Air Force Base, Oklahoma. It was inactivated on October 1, 1992. History : ''For additiona ...

); the

RAF Third Tactical Air Force The Third Tactical Air Force (Third TAF), which was formed in South Asia in December 1943, was one of three tactical air forces formed by the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the Second World War. It was made up of squadrons and personnel from the R ...

( Nos 221 and 224 Groups, No. 177 Wing RAF,

3d Combat Cargo Group 3D, 3-D, 3d, or Three D may refer to: Science, technology, and mathematics * A three-dimensional space in mathematics Relating to three-dimensionality * 3D computer graphics, computer graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geome ...

USAAF, and

12th Bombardment Group 012 may refer to: * Tyrrell 012, a Formula One racing car * The dialing code for Pretoria Pretoria ( ; ) is the Capital of South Africa, administrative capital of South Africa, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive bra ...

USAAF); the Photographic Reconnaissance Force ( No. 171 Wing RAF and U.S.

8th Photographic Reconnaissance Group Eighth is ordinal form of the number eight. Eighth may refer to: * One eighth, , a fraction, one of eight equal parts of a whole * Eighth note (quaver), a musical note played for half the value of a quarter note (crotchet) * Octave, an interval b ...

); and No. 293 Wing RAF.APPENDIX XII Order of Battle, Air Command, South-East Asia, 1st July 1944
/ref> By January 1945 ACSEA's subsidiary Base Air Forces South East Asia, under Air Marshal Sir

Roderick Carr Air Marshal Sir Charles Roderick Carr, (31 August 1891 – 15 December 1971) was a senior Royal Air Force commander from New Zealand. He held high command in the Second World War and served as Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief in India. Educa ...

, comprised No. 223 Group RAF on the North West Frontier at RAF Peshawar, No. 225 Group RAF (responsible for the "air defence of southern India and the whole coastline from Bengal to Karachi," by January 1943 controlling Nos 172 and 173 Wings), No. 226 Group RAF, No. 227 Group RAF, and No. 230 Group RAF, carrying out maintenance, training, and administration. Thomas and Carr from March 1944 were Air Officers Commanding, Air Headquarters India. When

Hugh Walmsley Air Marshal Sir Hugh Sidney Porter Walmsley, (6 June 1898 – 2 September 1985) was a senior commander in the Royal Air Force during and after the Second World War. He was the final commander of RAF India and the unified Royal Indian Air Force ...

arrived at the headquarters he was initially appointed as Air Officer Administration. But by the time Walmsley was appointed as AOC, the command's title had become RAF India once more.

Postwar

Strikes in January 1946

A series of demonstrations and strikes occurred at several dozen

stations in the Indian subcontinent beginning on 22 January 1946. As these incidents involved refusals to obey orders, they technically constituted a form of

mutiny Mutiny is a revolt among a group of people (typically of a military or a crew) to oppose, change, or remove superiors or their orders. The term is commonly used for insubordination by members of the military against an officer or superior, ...

. The protests arose in response to slow demobilization and return of British troops to Britain, and use of British shipping facilities for transporting

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

troops. The "mutiny" began at either

Maripur Maripur or Mauripur () is a Pakistani village to the west of Karachi, near Hawke's Bay Beach. Air Force Base PAF Base Masroor is the largest airbase operated by the Pakistan Air Force. It is located in the Mauripur area of Karachi, in the Sin ...

or nearby

Karachi Karachi is the capital city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Sindh, Pakistan. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, largest city in Pakistan and 12th List of largest cities, largest in the world, with a popul ...

( RAF Drigh Road) and later spread to involve nearly 50,000 men over 60 RAF stations in India, Burma, Ceylon and as far away as Singapore, Egypt, North Africa, and Gibraltar. The peaceful protests lasted between three and eleven days. For their part, the British Government argued that there was insufficient shipping available to immediately repatriate British personnel. However, later declassified reports have shown that British troops were deliberately retained in India to control possible unrest from the

Indian independence movement The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events in South Asia with the ultimate aim of ending British Raj, British colonial rule. It lasted until 1947, when the Indian Independence Act 1947 was passed. The first nationalistic ...

. Some of the airmen involved faced

courts-martial A court-martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of members of the arme ...

. However, the precedent set by this event was important in instigating subsequent actions by the

Royal Indian Air Force The Royal Indian Air Force (RIAF) was the aerial force of British Raj, British India and later the Dominion of India. Along with the British Indian Army, and the Royal Indian Navy, it was one of the Armed Forces of British Indian Empire. The ...

and later, the

Royal Indian Navy The Royal Indian Navy (RIN) was the naval force of British Raj, British India and the Dominion of India. Along with the Presidency armies, later the British Indian Army, Indian Army, and from 1932 the Royal Indian Air Force, it was one of the ...

in February 1946, in which mutinies on 78 ships broke out.

Lord Wavell Field Marshal (United Kingdom), Field Marshal Archibald Percival Wavell, 1st Earl Wavell, (5 May 1883 – 24 May 1950) was a senior officer of the British Army. He served in the Second Boer War, the Bazar Valley Campaign and the First World Wa ...

Viceroy A viceroy () is an official who reigns over a polity in the name of and as the representative of the monarch of the territory. The term derives from the Latin prefix ''vice-'', meaning "in the place of" and the Anglo-Norman ''roy'' (Old Frenc ...

of India, commented at the time, "I am afraid that heexample of the Royal Air Force, who got away with what was really a mutiny, has some responsibility for the present situation."

Drawdown and disbandment

The four major RAF formations under HQ Air Command South East Asia in India and Ceylon at the end of the war were HQ Base Air Forces South East Asia (BAFSEA); Air Headquarters Burma; HQ 222 Group at Columbo, controlling all operational squadrons in Ceylon, largely carrying out maritime duties; and 229 Group, a Transport Command group located in New Delhi. 222 Group disbanded by being renamed AHQ Ceylon on 15 October 1945; it inherited six Liberator squadrons (Nos 99, 356, 203, 8, 160, and 321 RNLAF); four Sunderland squadrons (205, 209, 230, and 240); and No. 136 Squadron with Spitfires. No. 223 Group was disbanded at Peshawar by being redesignated No 1 (Indian) Group on 15 August 1945; No. 225 Group disbanded at Hindustan near Bangalore by being redesignated No 2 (Indian) Group on 1 May 1946; No. 226 Group disbanded at Palam on 31 July 1946, with its units being transferred to No.2 (Indian) Group; No. 227 Group disbanded at

Agra Agra ( ) is a city on the banks of the Yamuna river in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, about south-east of the national capital Delhi and 330 km west of the state capital Lucknow. With a population of roughly 1.6 million, Agra is the ...

on 1 May 1946 by becoming No. 4 (Indian) Group. In May 1945 No. 228 Group had moved to

Barrackpore Barrackpore (), also known as Barrackpore,is a city and municipality in North 24 Parganas district in the India, Indian state of West Bengal. It is the headquarters of the Barrackpore subdivision. The city is a part of the area covered by Ko ...

and absorbed No. 230 Group, and then on 1 May 1946 becoming No. 3 (Indian) Group. No. 229 Group disbanded on 31 March 1947 and its responsibilities were taken over by No. 1 (Indian) Group; and No. 231 Group ceased operations on 1 August 1945, with by that time no units assigned, and disbanded on 30 September. AHQ India was reformed on 1 April 1946, taking over the role of BAFSEA. A month before, on 1 March 1946, Air Headquarters India Communication Squadron had been established at Safdarjung Airport ( RAF Willingdon). Twelve RAF squadrons (225 Group: Nos 5, 30 at Bhopal, 45 at St Thomas Mount; 227 Group: 298 Squadron at Samungli with a detachment at Chaklala; No. 228 Group RAF: 176, 658 AOP, 355 at Digri, 159 at Salbani; 229 Group: 353 and 232 at Palam; and 10 and 76 with Dakotas at Poona) remained in India after 1 April 1946, and AHQ India was placed under joint command of the Indian Government and the Air Ministry. On 15 August 1947, the unified RIAF was separated into the

and the

Royal Pakistan Air Force The Pakistan Air Force (PAF) (; ) is the aerial warfare branch of the Pakistan Armed Forces, tasked primarily with the aerial defence of Pakistan, with a secondary role of providing air support to the Pakistan Army and Pakistan Navy when requi ...

, and AHQ India was disbanded. Air Marshal

, the final commander of RAF India and the unified RIAF, then became Deputy Supreme Commander (Air), India and Pakistan, serving as head of the AHQ, Supreme Commander's Headquarters (India and Pakistan), which had become operational from 11 August. Following the dissolution of AHQ India, two new air force headquarters for India and Pakistan were established, with two and 13 RAF officers, respectively, being assigned to each AHQ to assist with reconstituting the former RIAF into a new RIAF and Royal Pakistan Air Force. A fortnight after the partition of India, 125 RAF officers continued to serve in the subcontinent. On 10 November 1947, Walmsley formally relinquished his appointments as Deputy Supreme Commander (Air), India and Pakistan, and as Air Officer Commanding RAF Units in India and Pakistan. He then left India for the United Kingdom, transferring his duties to his deputy, Air Commodore

Richard Jordan Robert Anson Jordan Jr. (July 19, 1937 – August 30, 1993), known professionally as Richard Jordan, was an American actor. A long-time member of the New York Shakespeare Festival, he performed in many Off Broadway and Broadway plays. His films ...

, who closed the AHQ, Supreme Commander's Headquarters (India and Pakistan) on 17 November. On 15 December, the RIAF took command of Palam Air Station from the RAF.

Commanders

Commander, Indian Group (1919 to 1920)

Air Officer Commanding RAF, India (1920–1938)

Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Air Forces in India (1938–1947)

(''On 15 August 1947, the unified RIAF was separated into the

and the

'')

Deputy Supreme Commander (Air) India and Pakistan, and Air Officer Commanding RAF Units in India and Pakistan (1947)

Notes

References

*British Broadcasting Corporation
BBC. People's war
*

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves filmmaking and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...

Secret History: Mutiny in the RAF
*John W. Cell, in Reviews of Books; Asia. ''White Mutiny: British Military Culture in India'' by Peter Stanley. The American Historical Review, Vol. 104, No. 3. (Jun., 1999), pp. 888–889. * * *David Duncan
Mutiny in the RAF - the Air Force Strikes of 1946
. *JCC

* *Sir

David Lee (RAF officer) Air Chief Marshal Sir David John Pryer Lee, (4 September 1912 – 13 February 2004) was a Royal Air Force officer during the Second World War and a senior commander in the 1950s and early 1960s. RAF career Educated at Bedford School,

, ''Eastward: A history of the Royal Air Force in the Far East 1945–1972'', HMSO 1984. *{{cite book, title=The Army in India and Its Evolution, including an Account of the Establishment of the Royal Air Force in India , year=1924 , location=Calcutta , publisher=Superintendent, Government Printing, India , url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.207847/page/n5/mode/2up , ref={{harvid, Government of India, 1924 *Gerry Rubin, Murder, Mutiny and the Military: British Court Martial Cases 1940–1966. ''Journal of Conflict and Security Law'' 2006 11(3):511-513.
Review of Richard Woodman's A brief history of mutiny
''Journal for Maritime research''. August 2005. Royal Air Force overseas commands Military units and formations established in 1918 Military of British India Military units and formations disestablished in 1947 Military history of India during World War II 1946 labor disputes and strikes