Editing RAF Ferry Command (section)

=== Reduction in status to No. 45 Group ===
Ferry Command was subsumed into the new [[RAF Transport Command|Transport Command]] on 25 March 1943 by being reduced to Group status as [[No. 45 Group RAF|No 45 (Atlantic Ferry) Group]].<ref name=air/> [[No. 45 Group RAF]]'s main task was the ferrying of U.S. and Canadian built aircraft across the Atlantic. It also administered trans-Atlantic passenger and freight services. The group still retained responsibility for Atlantic aircraft ferrying operations, but Transport Command was a worldwide formation, rather than a single-mission command. Bowhill became the first commander of Transport Command.<ref name=air/>

On 8 September 1944, [[No. 231 Squadron RAF]] reformed at [[Dorval]], Canada, from No. 45 Group Communications Squadron. The squadron's [[PB2Y Coronado|Coronado flying boats]] operated between North America, West Africa and the UK, using [[Largs]] on the [[Firth of Clyde]] as its British terminal. Other flights were flown with landplanes, using several of the types available to No. 45 Group as required. In September 1945 the squadron moved to [[Bermuda]], where it disbanded on 15 January 1946.<ref name="Halley1988">Halley 1988, p. 299.</ref>

In summer 1945, 45 Group included No. 112 (North Atlantic) Wing at Dorval, with 231 Squadron, 5 Aircraft Preparation Unit, 6 Ferry Unit all at Dorval; 6 APU at Bermuda; 313 Ferry Training Unit at North Bay; and RAF Station Reykjavik with the RAF Hospital there and No. 9 Mechanical Transport Company.<ref>[https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.3138/9781442677982-018/pdf Ocean Bridge, Appendix C].</ref>

By the end of the war, crossing the Atlantic had become an almost routine operation, presaging the inauguration of scheduled commercial air transport services after the war.<ref name="juno">{{cite web |url=http://www.junobeach.org/canada-in-wwii/articles/ferrying-aircrafts-overseas/ |title=Ferrying Aircraft Overseas |work=[[Juno Beach Centre]]|date=31 March 2014 }}</ref>