Editing RAF Bomber Command (section)

==Organisation==
Bomber Command comprised a number of [[List of Royal Air Force groups|Groups]]. It began the war with Nos. [[No. 1 Group RAF|1]], [[No. 2 Group RAF|2]], [[No. 3 Group RAF|3]], [[No. 4 Group RAF|4]] and [[No. 5 Group RAF|5]] Groups. No. 1 Group was soon sent to France and then returned to Bomber Command control after the evacuation of France. No. 2 Group consisted of light and medium bombers who, although operating both by day and night, remained part of Bomber Command until 1943, when it was removed to the control of [[RAF Second Tactical Air Force|Second Tactical Air Force]], to form the [[light bomber]] component of that command. Bomber Command also gained two new groups during the war: the [[Royal Canadian Air Force]] (RCAF) squadrons were organised into [[No. 6 Group RCAF|No. 6 Group]] and the [[Pathfinder (RAF)|Pathfinder Force]] was expanded to form [[No. 8 Group RAF|No. 8 (Pathfinder) Group]] from existing squadrons on 8 January 1943.{{sfn|Moyes|1976|p=348}} 

Many squadrons and personnel from Commonwealth and other European countries flew in Bomber Command. No. 6 Group, which was activated on 1 January 1943, was unique among Bomber Command groups, in that it was not an RAF unit; it was a Canadian unit attached to Bomber Command. At its peak strength, 6 Group consisted of 14 operational RCAF bomber squadrons and 15 squadrons served with the group.{{sfn|Milberry|1984|p=166}}{{sfn|Dunmore|Carter|1991|p=375}} No. 8 Group, also known as the Pathfinder Force, was activated on 15 August 1942. It was a critical part of solving the navigational and aiming problems experienced. Bomber Command solved its navigational problems using two methods. One was the use of a range of increasingly sophisticated electronic aids to navigation and the other was the use of specialist [[Pathfinder (RAF)|Pathfinders]]. The technical aids to navigation took two forms. One was external [[radio navigation]] aids, as exemplified by [[GEE (navigation)|Gee]] and the later highly accurate [[Oboe (navigation)|Oboe]] systems. The other was the centimetric navigation equipment [[H2S radar]] carried in the bombers. The Pathfinders were a group of elite, specially trained and experienced crews who flew ahead of the main bombing forces and marked the targets with flares and special marker-bombs. No. 8 Group controlled the Pathfinder squadrons.{{sfn|Moyes|1976|p=348}} 

A number of other groups were part of the command, including, in June 1944, [[No. 26 Group RAF]], three operational training groups – [[No. 91 Group RAF]] at Morton Hall, Swinderby, which was merged into [[No. 21 Group RAF]], part of [[RAF Flying Training Command]], on 1 May 1947;<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rafweb.org/Grp03.htm|title=Group No's 20 - 29|publisher=Air of Authority - A History of RAF Organisation|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100328154750/http://www.rafweb.org/Grp03.htm |access-date=20 November 2024|archive-date=28 March 2010 }}</ref> [[No. 92 Group RAF|Nos 92]] and [[No. 93 Group RAF|93 Group]]s; and [[No. 100 Group RAF]] (of which last was responsible for development, operational trial and use of electronic warfare and countermeasures equipment).<ref>{{Cite web |last=Niehorster |first=Leo |title=Bomber Command, RAF, 06.06.1944 |url=http://niehorster.org/017_britain/44-06-06_Neptune/Air/z-air_Bomber-Command.htm |website=niehorster.org}}</ref>