1 Apr 1996 - 7 Jan 2000    Disbanded

 1 Apr 2000          AVM K D Filbey

 2 Aug 2002          AVM N D A Maddox          

xx Jan 2005           AVM I W McNicoll

 9 Feb 2007           AVM A D Pulford

xx xxx 2008           AVM S Hillier

xx Oct 2010:          AVM P C Osborn

18 Jan 2013           AVM S K P Reynolds

xx xxx 2015

xx xxx 2017            AVM D J E Cooper

xx Sep 2019           AVM A K Gillespie

 6 Oct 2021            AVM S A Marshall

Listings of units and personnel controlled by this Group available in the Members' Area

No 3 Group

It was originally planned to form at Castle Hotel, Cambridge on 1 April 1918 in No 1 Area but it was 10 May 1918 before formation took place, by which time No 1 Area had been redesignated South-Eastern Area.  In 1 July 1918 it was transferred to Midland Area and on 8 August the title (Training) was added.  It moved to Mousehold Heath, near Norwich on 1 July 1919 and with the disbanding of Midland Area it was transferred to Northern Area on 18 October 1919.  A further move was made to Spittlegate, on 10 November 1919, the title (Training) being dropped at the same time and on 1 April 1920 it was transferred to Inland Area.  It was disbanded on 31 August 1921 with most of its units being transferred to the control of No 1 Group.

No 3 (Training) Group was reformed in Inland Area from No 11 Wing on 1 April 1923, again at Spittlegate near Grantham being redesignated No 23 (Training) Group on 12 April 1926.

Its next incarnation began on 1 May 1936 as No 3 (Bomber) Group when Western Area, Air Defence of Great Britain was renamed and on 14 July was transferred to the control of the newly formed Bomber Command.  Initially located at Andover, it moved Mildenhall in January 1937.  In October 1938, one of its squadrons, No 99, received the first Vickers Wellington and the Group soon became fully equipped with this type.  On 29 March 1940 it moved again to Harraton House at Exning near Newmarket, where it remained throughout the war.  From late 1940 the Group began re-equipping with the Short Stirling, the first of the RAF's new four-engined heavy bombers. During 1943 some of its units began to replace their Stirlings with Lancasters but it was late 1944 before the Group was fully equipped with the new type. When the 'Pathfinder Force' was formed in 1942, it was placed under the administrative control of No 3 Group but soon achieved independent status as No 8 (Pathfinder) Group.  It also operated a number of 'Special Duties' units, involved in SOE supply missions and radio countermeasures, the latter being transferred to No 100 Group in 1944.  The group mainly operated as part of Bomber Command's 'Main Force' throughout the war and by the end of the war it had flown 66,613 sorties and lost 1,668 aircraft on operations.

The Group HQ returned to Mildenhall on 28 October 1946, with its units gradually replacing their Lancasters with Lincolns. but due to the expected time lag in converting to an all-jet force, No 3 Group was tasked with converting a number of its units to fly the Boeing Washington (B-29).  Canberras began to replace the Washingtons in 1953 and then in 1955 it began to introduce the first of the V-Bombers, the Vickers Valiant.  In 1957 it also began to receive the Handley Page Victor and in 1958, all but one of its Canberra squadrons were transferred to No 1 Group.  From 1959 to 1963 it controlled the RAF’s Southern Thor Force and following the withdrawal of the Thor IRBM in 1963, the Group was left in control of the Victor and Valiant squadrons of Bomber Command.  As the result of the forthcoming formation of Strike Command in 1968, No 3 Group was disbanded on 1 November 1967, with its units being transferred to No 1 Group.

It was reformed at High Wycombe on 1 April 2000 to control 'Joint Force Harrier' and Maritime resources.  This included all RAF Harriers and FAA Sea Harriers as well as Maritime resources such as the Nimrod and SAR helicopters.  In 2003/4 further re-structuring took place which saw the group becoming responsible for Air Battle Management, losing the Harrier force to No 1 Group, but gaining the AEW force from No 2 Group.  However, on 1 April 2006, its responsibilities were transferred to No 2 Group and it was disbanded.

Air Officers Commanding

30 Nov 1919         Gp Capt U J D Bourke

23 Nov 1920         Gp  Capt A M Longmore

31 Aug 1921 - 1 Apr 1923    Disbanded

16 Apr 1923        A/Cdre T I Webb-Bowen

7 Mar 1924         A/Cdre L E O Charlton

2 Jan 1925           A/Cdre R Gordon

1 Oct 1925          A/Cdre I M Bonham-Carter

12 Apr 1926 - 1 May 1936    Disbanded

1 May 1936          AVM P H L Playfair

18 Feb 1938         A/Cdre A A B Thomson

29 Aug 1939         AVM J E A Baldwin

14 Sep 1942         AVM The Hon R A Cochrane

27 Feb 1943         AVM R Harrison

28 Feb 1946         AVM A C Collier

xx xxx 1946          Vacant

9 Jul 1946             AVM R M Foster

18 Mar 1947         AVM L Darvall

14 Dec 1948         AVM A Hesketh

15Sep 1951           AVM W A D Brook

1 Sep 1953            AVM E C Hudleston

2 Feb 1956            AVM K B B Cross

4 May 1959           AVM M H Dwyer

9 Oct 1961            AVM B K Burnett

5 Aug 1964           AVM D F Spotswood

26 Nov 1965         AVM D G Smallwood

15 Feb 1967:         AVM J T Lawrence

 1 Nov 1967 - 1 Apr 2000    Disbanded

1 Apr 2000            R-Adm I R Henderson RN

24 Jul 2001            R-Adm  S. Lidbetter RN

 7 Oct 2003            AVM A D White

Listings of units and personnel controlled by this Group available in the Members' Area

This Group was originally formed in Great Yarmouth on 1 April 1918 under the control of No 1 Area, moving to Belmont House and Cliff in Felixstowe in May. It was transferred to South Eastern Area on 8 May 1918, when No 1 Area as redesignated and on 8 August became No 4 (Operations) Group and disbanded on 24 March 1919.

It reformed at Mildenhall on 1 April 1937 as No 4 (Bomber) Group within Bomber Command, moving north to Linton-on-Ouse on 29 June, but it was 1 September 1938 before it assumed executive control over it's units.  By the outbreak of war it controlled station in Yorkshire equipped with Whitley, which at that time were the only units in Bomber Command considered to be training in night bombing.  The Group carried out its first operation on  the night of 3/4 September 1939, following the declaration of war earlier that day.  It moved its HQ to Heslington Hall, near York on 7 April 1940, were it remained for the remainder of the war and for some time afterwards.  In late 1940 the first Halifax arrived to began the re-equipment of No 35 Squadron and through 1941 and into 1942 the other units in the group gradually replaced their Whitleys with Halifaxes.  When No 6 (RCAF) Group was formed, No 4 Group lost a number of its stations in North Yorkshire and County Durham but these were replaced by new ones further south in the East Riding and around York.  The group mainly operated as part of Bomber Command's 'Main Force' throughout the war and by the end of the war it had flown 57,407 sorties and lost 1,509 aircraft on operations.

However, No 4 Group wasn't destined to remain under Bomber Command and on 7 May 1945 it was transferred to Transport Command and its squadron began flying transport sorties to the continent, Middle East and Far East, many gradually replacing their Halifaxes with Liberators or Avro Yorks.  It finally disbanded on 2 February 1948.

Air Officers Commanding

1 Apr 1918         Col C R Samson

24 Mar 1919 - 1 Apr 1937    Disbanded

 1 Apr 1937         Vacant

12 Jun 1937         A/Cdre A T Harris

25 May 1938       A/Cdre C H B Blount

 3 Jul 1939           A/Cdre-AVM A Coningham

26 Jul 1941          AVM C R Carr

12 Feb 1945        AVM J R Whitley

7 May 1945         AVM H S P Walmsley

15 Dec 1945        AVM A C Stevens

2 Oct 1946           A/Cdre A P Revington

This Group was originally formed at 18 Marine Parade, Dover on 1 April 1918 in VII Brigade, No 1 Area from the Dover-Dunkirk Group RNAS. It was transferred to South-Eastern Area on 8 May 1918, when No 1 Area was redesignated.  By 3 June 1918 it was operating an Advanced HQ at Spycker and on 8 August 1918, it became No 5 (Operations) Group.  It was raised to Command status, under direct Air Ministry control on 15 August nut returned to Group status in South-Eastern Area on 25 February 1919, finally disbanding on 15 May 1919.

It reformed at Mildenhall on 1 September 1937 from a nucleus provided by No 3 Group as No 5 (Bomber) Group under the control of Bomber Command.  On 2 October 1937 it moved to 'St Vincents' in Grantham, remaining there until 14 November 1943 when it relocated to Morton Hall, near Swinderby.  Its units were initially equipped with a mixture of Hinds and Audaxes but these were replaced by Blenheims before the Group's standard equipment became the Handley Page Hampden.  The end of 1940 saw the first unit, No 207 Squadron, re-equip with the Avro Manchester, which during 1941 gradually began to replace the Hampdens, but unfortunately problems with the Manchester's Vulture engines led to them often being grounded for modifications to be undertaken.  Eventually, the Manchesters were replaced by the Avro Lancaster, which took the fuselage of the Manchester mated to a new wing fitted with four Merlin engines.  No 5 Group undertook a number of high profile raids with the Lancaster, the most famous probably being the daylight raid on the MAN engine works in Augsburg on 17 April 1942 and the attacks on the Ruhr dams on 16/17 May 1943 by No 617 Squadron, both of which resulted in the award of VC to their leaders, Sqn Ldr John Nettleton and Wg Cdr Guy Gibson, respectively.

Following the Dams raid, No 617 Squadron effectively became a 'special operations' unit and under Wg Cdr Leonard Cheshire soon began to acquire a reputation, with the squadron often acting as marker unit for the rest of the Group, rather than utilising the services of No 8 (Pathfinder) Group.  As a result No 5 Group was often tasked with carrying out other special operations, often involving No 617 Squadron and later No 9 Squadron, including the delivery of 12,000 lb 'Tallboy' and 22,000 lb 'Grand Slam' deep penetration bombs, against targets such as the Tirpitz and the Bielefeld viaduct.  By the end of the war it had flown 70,357 sorties and lost 1,888 aircraft on operations.  With the end of the war in Europe, No 5 Group began training to become part of 'Tiger Force', the proposed RAF bomber force to be sent to the Pacific to join in the final assault against Japan, but the dropping of the Atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki brought the war to an end before deployment could be made.  As a result the Group disbanded on 15 December 1945.

Air Officers Commanding

1 Apr 1918          Lt Col F C Halahan

xx May 1918         Brig-Gen C L Lambe

15 May 1919 - 1 Sep 1937    Disbanded

17 Aug 1937         A/Cdre W B Callaway

14 Sep 1939         AVM A T Harris

22 Nov 1940         AVM N H Bottomley

12 May 1941         AVM J C Slessor

25 Apr 1942          AVM W A Coryton

28 Feb 1943          AVM The Hon R A Cochrane

16 Jan 1945           AVM H A Constantine

Listings of units and personnel controlled by this Group available in the Members' Area

It was formed at Covent Garden Hotel, London WC2 as No 6 (Equipment) Group on 1 Apr 1918 under the control of No 1 Area, which was redesignated South-Eastern Area on 8 May and was redesignated  Technical Group on 15 August 1918.

On 27 September 1918 it reformed at Taranto in Italy as No 6 (Adriatic) Group, being disbanded into No 66 Wing on 20 December 1918.

It reformed again on 1 May 1924, this time at Kenley as No 6 (Fighter) Group, but disbanded again on 20 May 1926 on being absorbed into Fighting Area.

Its next incarnation began on 1 May 1936 as No 6 (Auxiliary) Group by redesignating No 1 (Air Defence Group). It was located at 33/34 Tavistock Place, London WC1 (renumbered No 11 on 1 January 1938) and was responsible for the squadrons of the Auxiliary Air Force (including the ex-Special Reserve units).  On 14 July 1936 to was transferred to the newly formed Bomber Command and on 1 January 1939 was renamed No 6 (Bomber) Group.  It relocated to North Walsham Road, Old Catton, Norwich on 3 April 1939 and then to Abingdon on 5 September,  On 3 September1939 it assumed control of the Bomber Command squadrons allocated operational training, which in 1940 were reorganised into Operational Training Units.  It was disbanded by being redesignated No 91 Group on 11 May 1942.

Following the outbreak of war, the RCAF began sending units to the UK to join the fight against Nazi Germany, operating under the control of the RAF.  A number of these units were bomber squadrons for service with Bomber Command and initially they were spread throughout the Groups within the Command but by the autumn of 1942, sufficient bombers units had arrived or been formed in the UK to permit a RCAF Group to be formed within Bomber Command.  Therefore on 25 October 1942, No 6 (RCAF) (Bomber) Group was formed at RAF Linton-on-Ouse, moving to Allerton Park, near Knaresborough on 1 December, assuming executive control on 1 January 1943.  The Group took over the most northerly stations within Bomber Command from No 4 Group situated in North Yorkshire and County Durham and initially operated Wellingtons but these were gradually replaced by Halifaxes and later Lancasters.  By the end of the war it had flown 39,584 sorties and lost 784 aircraft on operations.  The Group disbanded on 31 August 1945 but a rear HQ remained at Allerton Park until 1 November.

Air Officers Commanding

1 Apr 1918

15 Aug 1918 - 27 Sep 1918    Disbanded

15 Aug 1918         Col C R Samson

20 Dec 1918 - 1 May 1924    Disbanded

16 May 1924         A/Cdre C R Samson

20 May 1926 - 1 May 1936    Disbanded

14 Jul 1936            A/Cdre J C Quinnell

2 Sep 1939           AVM W F MacN Foster

16 Mar 1942         G/C - A/Cdre H S P Walmsley

25 Oct 1942          AVM G E Brookes RCAF  

This was formed at 'Rokeby', Waine-a-Long Road, Salisbury on 1 April 1918 by renaming Southern Training Brigade in No 2 Area, which was redesignated South-Western Area on 8 May 1918.  The title (Training) was added on 8 August 1918.  By the time it disbanded by being absorbed into HQ SW Area on 16 August 1919, it had moved to 'Delapre', Manor Road, Salisbury.

It reformed at 'Delapre', Manor Road, Salisbury when HQ South-Western Area was reduced to Group status, within Southern Area on 20 September 1919.  On 1 April 1920 it was transferred to Inland Area and disbanded into Wessex Bombing Area on 12 April 1926.

As the number of Operational Training Units increased during 1940 it was decided to form a second Group to relieve No 6 Group of sole responsibility so on 15 July 1940, it was reformed as No 7 (Operational Training) Group at Brampton Grange, Huntingdonshire.  It took over Nos 13, 14, 16 and 17 OTUs and moved to Winslow Hall, Winslow, Buckinghamshire on 1 September 1941 but was redesignated No 92 Group on 11 May 1942.  

It reformed on 1 November 1944, taking over No 5 Group's old HQ at "St Vincent's", Grantham to assume control over Bomber Command's Heavy Conversion Units.  The main HQ disbanded on 21 December 1945, with the remaining HCU's being transferred to No 91 Group but a Rear HQ remained until 10 February 1946.

Air Officers Commanding

1 Jul 1919         Gp Capt T C R Higgins

16 Aug 1919 - 20 Sep 1919    Disbanded

20 Sep 1919:      Gp Capt - A/Cdre T C R Higgins

 1 Sep 1922:        A/Cdre L E O Charlton

1 Jan 1923          A/Cdre E A D Masterman

26 Nov 1924      A/Cdre A M Longmore

1 Apr 1925         A/Cdre D Le G Pitcher

12 Apr 1926 - 15 Jul 1940    Disbanded

15 Jul 1940          A/Cdre The Hon R A Cochrane

 2 Nov 1940        A/Cdre L H Cockey

11 May 1942 - 1 Nov 1944    Disbanded

1 Nov 1944          AVM G S Hodson

23 Feb 1945         AVM E A B Rice

This Group formed at 1 Cumberland Place, Southampton on 1 April 1918 in No 2 Area, which became South-Western Area on 8 May 1918. The title (Training) was added on 8 August 1918 and it disbanded on 15 May 1919, with its units being taken over by No 7 Group.

It reformed at Brampton Grange, Huntingdonshire as No 8 (Light Day Bomber) Group on 1 September 1941 but disbanded on 28 January 1942 as the result of the arrival of USAAF units.  

The Pathfinder Force was formed at RAF Wyton under the administrative control of No 3 Group on 15 August 1942 but following expansion it was redesignated No 8 (Pathfinder Force) Group on 13 January 1943.  Moving to Castle Hill House, Huntingdon on 15 May 1943, it provided target making facilities to the rest of Bomber Command, except No 5 Group at times, for the remainder of the war and disbanded on 15 December 1945.  By the end of the war its heavy bombers had flown 22,838 sorties and lost 575 aircraft on operations, whilst the figures for its Mosquito units were 28,215 and 100 respectively.

Air Officers Commanding

xx xxx 1918         Brig-Gen J M Steel

15 May 1919 - 1 Sep 1941    Disbanded

 8 Sep 1941         A/Cdre F J Fogarty

xx Dec 1941         AVM D F Stevenson?

28 Jan 1942 - 13 Jan 1943    Disbanded

13 Jan 1943          AVM D C T Bennett

21 May 1945         AVM J R Whitley

Listings of units and personnel controlled by this Group available in the Members' Area

It was formed at Mount Wise, Plymouth on 1 April 1918 in No 2 Area, which became South-Western Area on 8 May 1918. The title (Operations) was added on 8 August 1918 and it disbanded on 15 May 1919.

It reformed as part of Fighter Command on 9 August 1940 as No 9 (Fighter) Group, to cover North-West England and Northern Ireland at Barton Hall, near Preston.  It's original Sector stations were located at Speke, Baginton, Jurby and Ternhill.  On 15 April 1943 it took over control of Fighter Command's OTUs on the disbandment of No 81 Group.  Its operational commitment was transferred to No 12 Group on 4 August 1944, retaining responsibility for operation training within the Command but on 17 September 1944 it was absorbed into No 12 Group.

Air Officers Commanding

1 Apr 1918             Brig-Gen E L Gerrard

xx xxx xxxx             Brig-Gen H D Briggs

15 May 1919 - 9 Aug 1940    Disbanded

16 Sep 1940          AVM W A McClaughry

xx Apr 1942          AVM L H Slatter

26 Jun 1942           AVM W F Dickson

xx xxx 1942:          A/Cdre C R Steele (Temp)

10 Nov 1942         AVM J Whitwoth Jones

 2 Jul 1943             AVM L N Hollinghurst

 6 Nov 1943          A/Cdre C A Stevens (Temp)

7 Dec 1943            AVM D F Stevenson

This page was last updated on 25/10/23

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