Editing RAF Transport Command (section)

==History==
===Second World War===
During the [[World War II|Second World War]], it at first ferried [[aircraft]] from [[factories]] to operational units and performed air transport.  Later it took over the job of dropping [[paratroops]] from [[RAF Army Cooperation Command|Army Cooperation Command]] as well.{{Citation needed|date=September 2021}}  Transport Command was the only RAF command in to which aircrew originating in the Caribbean were not posted due to the fact that they might be required to fly to the United States where racial discrimination was legally entrenched at the time.<ref>Air Force Blue, Patrick Bishop, William Collins, London, 2017, Page 310</ref>

In June 1944 the Command was made up of [[No. 38 Group RAF]]; No. 44 Group RAF; No. 45 Group RAF; [[No. 46 Group RAF]]; [[No. 216 Group RAF]]; No. 229 Group RAF;<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C2459097|title = Catalogue description India: Formation of 229 Group}}</ref> No. 114 Wing RAF, and No. 116 Wing RAF at [[RAF Hendon]].

'''[[No. 44 Group RAF]]''' - HQ at Gloucester{{sfn|Delve|1994|p=74}}
* "In the early days of the North Atlantic route, there was ..at the eastern end ..the Overseas Air Movements Control Unit (OAMCU) which in August 1941 was up-rated to become No 44 Group, thus becoming the second piece of the Transport Command jigsaw. With its Headquarters at Barnwood (near [[RAF Innsworth]]) in Gloucester, [the group] organised the receipt of all aircraft arriving from across the Atlantic, as well as the despatch of those going out to the Mediterranean and the Far East; it also co-ordinated the massive influx of USAAF aircraft and crews under [[Operation Bolero]]."{{sfn|Stephens|2000|p=32}} 
* Controlled airfields such as Bramcote (where 105 Operational Training Unit was located), Filton, Hendon, Hurn, Kemble, Llandow, Lyneham, Melton Mowbray, Pershore, Portreath, Prestwick, St Mawgan and Talbenny

'''No. 45 Group RAF''' - HQ at [[Dorval]] in Canada,{{sfn|Delve|1994|p=74}} (the former [[Atlantic Ferry Organization]])
* No. 112 Wing at Dorval
* No. 113 Wing at Nassau
* became No. 45 Wing for a short time before disbanding

'''[[No. 46 Group RAF]]''' - HQ at Harrow Weald{{sfn|Delve|1994|p=74}}
* Controlled airfields such as Blakehill Farm
* Units included Nos 233, 512 575 Squadrons

'''No. 216 Group RAF''' HQ in Egypt

'''No. 229 Group RAF''' HQ at Delhi,{{sfn|Delve|1994|p=74}} India (formed 1943–44);<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C2459097|title = Catalogue description India: Formation of 229 Group}}</ref> controlled '''No. 177 Wing'''{{sfn|Delve|1994|p=74}}

'''No. 114 Wing RAF''' - HQ at [[Accra]] in the [[Gold Coast (British colony)|Gold Coast]],{{sfn|Delve|1994|p=74}}
* Controlled airfields such as Heliopolis
* Units included No. 284 Wing

'''No. 116 Wing RAF''' at [[RAF Hendon]], which supervised scheduled services to India.<ref>Leo Niehorster, [http://niehorster.org/017_britain/44-06-06_Neptune/Air/z-air_Transport.htm Transport Command, 6 June 1944], accessed June 2020.</ref>

On 17 February 1945 [[No. 87 Group RAF]] was formed in Paris{{sfn|Delve|1994|p=128}} to control units in Paris and southern France. It was disbanded by being reduced to [[No. 87 Wing RAF]] on 15 July 1946.<ref name=HO6>{{Cite web|url=http://www.rafweb.org/Organsation/Grp06.htm|title = Groups 70-106_P}}</ref>

====Accidents====

Operating as it did under wartime conditions, Transport Command had a relatively high accident rate. Prominent accidents included a [[1943 Gibraltar Liberator AL523 crash|July 1943 crash at Gibraltar]], killing the Polish leader [[General Sikorski]] and several other senior figures in the exile government; a [[1945 Avro York crash|February 1945 crash in the Mediterranean]], killing eleven members of the British delegation to the [[Yalta Conference]]; and a [[Commando (aircraft)|March 1945 disappearance over the North Atlantic]] involving the aircraft formerly used as a private transport by Winston Churchill. 

Following these and other losses, in April 1945, concerns were raised in Parliament about the experience of crews and the maintenance of aircraft within Transport Command. One frequent issue reported was that VIP passengers were said to put pressure on crews to fly in difficult conditions; the Air Ministry reported that it had tried to put in place orders to prevent this.<ref>[https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/1945-04-10/debates/57cdc224-9a0e-4375-b82a-a03c66ca479e/TransportCommand(SafetyOfPassengers) "Transport Command (Safety Of Passengers)"], ''Hansard'', 10 April 1945</ref>

===Post war===

As the Second World War ended, on 7 May 1945, [[No. 4 Group RAF]] was transferred into the command, from [[Bomber Command]], but disbanded in early 1948; No. 44 Group disbanded by being amalgamated into No 46 Group on 14 August 1946; [[No. 48 Group RAF]] was established,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C2459084|title = Catalogue description H.Q., 48 Group: Formation}}</ref> but then disbanded on 15 May 1946; and No. 216 Group was transferred to [[RAF Mediterranean and Middle East]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C749062|title = Catalogue description No.216 Group: Transfer of control from Transport Command to Mediterranean and Middle East}}</ref> On 1 November 1949, [[No. 47 Group RAF]] disbanded by being renumbered 46 Group.<ref name=HO6 />

Overseas, two groups had been formed in India and Australia towards the end of the war.{{sfn|Delve|1994|p=128}} [[No. 232 Group RAF]] disbanded, now in [[Singapore]] on 15 August 1946, and 300 Group (24 April 1946 – 7 November 1946) in Sydney.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.rafweb.org/Organsation/Grp07.htm|title = Groups 200+_P}}</ref>

The Command took part in several big operations, including the [[Berlin Airlift]] in 1948, which reinforced the need for a large RAF transport fleet.<ref>[http://www.britains-smallwars.com/Cold-war/Berlin-Airlift.htm Berlin Airlift] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040404143246/http://www.britains-smallwars.com/Cold-war/Berlin-Airlift.htm |date=4 April 2004 }}</ref> The [[Handley Page Hastings]], a four-engined transport, was introduced during the Berlin Airlift<ref name=no99>[http://www.raf.mod.uk/organisation/99squadron.cfm No. 99 Squadron]</ref> and continued as a mainstay transport aircraft of the RAF for the next 15 years. In 1956, new aircraft designs became available, including  the [[de Havilland Comet]] (the first operational [[Jet aircraft|jet]] [[Military transport aircraft|transport]]), and the [[Blackburn Beverley]]. In 1959, the [[Bristol Britannia]] was introduced, with [[No. 99 Squadron RAF]].<ref name=no99/> [[No. 511 Squadron RAF]] was re-formed again at [[RAF Lyneham]] on 15 December 1959, as the second squadron to operate the Britannia on long-range trooping flights. 

During the 1960s the command was divided into three different forces:
* Strategic Force which operated the Comets, Britannias, VC-10s and Belfasts. Deliveries of the [[Vickers VC10]] to [[No. 10 Squadron RAF]] began in December 1966 and ended in August 1968.
* Medium Range Force which operated Beverleys, Hastings and Argosys
* Short Range Force which operated helicopters such as the [[Bristol Belvedere]], [[Westland Whirlwind (helicopter)|Westland Whirlwind]] and [[Westland Wessex]] and fixed wing aircraft such as [[Scottish Aviation Pioneer]]s, [[Scottish Aviation Twin Pioneer]]s and [[Hawker Siddeley Andover]]s.

During the 1950s and 1960s Transport Command evacuated military personnel from the [[Suez Canal|Suez Canal Zone]] prior and after the [[Suez Crisis]] of October–November 1956;<ref name=no99/> evacuated casualties from [[South Korea]] during the [[Korean War]] and from the [[Federation of Malaya|Malaya]] during the [[Malayan Emergency]]; moved essential supplies to [[Woomera, South Australia]], and ferried personnel and supplies out to [[Kiritimati|Christmas Island]] for the UK's [[atomic bomb]] tests. In addition, Transport Command ran scheduled routes to military staging posts and bases in the [[Indian Ocean]] region, [[Southeast Asia]] and the [[Far East]], to maintain contact between the UK and military bases of strategic importance. It also carried out special flights worldwide covering all the continents bar Antarctica. Many varied tasks were undertaken during the 1950s.{{Citation needed|date=September 2021}}

The 1960s saw a reduction of the RAF and a loss of independence of the former functional commands. Transport Command was renamed [[RAF Air Support Command|Air Support Command]] in 1967.<ref>[http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/milestones-of-flight/british_military/1967.cfm British Military Aviation in 1967] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081010182126/http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/milestones-of-flight/british_military/1967.cfm |date=10 October 2008 }} RAF Museum</ref>

=== Other tasks in the 1950s ===
Operation Becher's Brook was a major operation of Transport Command – the ferrying of 400 [[Canadair Sabre]] fighters from North America to the UK, circa 1952. This required pilots and ground crew to be transported to Canada. The Sabres were flown via [[Naval Air Station Keflavik|Keflavik]] ([[Iceland]]) on to [[Shetland]] and from there to mainland Scotland.{{Citation needed|date=September 2021}}

Transport Command also supported the [[British North Greenland expedition]] a research expedition from 1952–54 on the Greenland ice.{{Citation needed|date=September 2021}}