List of Royal Air Force commands

This is a list of Royal Air Force commands, both past and present. Although the concept of a command dates back to the foundation of the Royal Air Force, the term command (as the name of a formation) was first used in purely RAF-context in 1936 when Bomber Command, Fighter Command, Coastal Command and Training Command were formed. Since that time the RAF has made considerable use of the term. Until early 2007, the RAF had two commands, Strike Command and Personnel and Training Command, which were co-located at RAF High Wycombe. On 1 April 2007, the two were merged to form Air Command.

Commands

Command	Formation	Disbandment	Notes
Aden Command	1928	1961
Air Command	2007	present
Air Command Far East	1946	1949
Air Support Command	1967	1972
Army Cooperation Command	1940	1943
Balloon Command	1938	1945
Bomber Command	1936	1968
Coastal Command	1936	1969
Eastern Air Command			Formed on the basis of No. 333 (Special Operations) Group, November 1942.
Far East Air Force	1943	1971
Ferry Command	1941	1943
Fighter Command	1936	1968
Flying Training Command	1940	1968
Home Command	1950	1959
Iraq Command	1922	1932
Joint Helicopter Command	1999	present	Under British Army command
Logistics Command	1994	1999
Maintenance Command	1938	1973
Mediterranean Air Command	1943	1943
Middle East Command	1941	1943
Personnel and Training Command	1994	2007
Reserve Command	1939 1946	1940 1950
Signals Command	1958	1969
Strike Command	1968	2007
Support Command	1973	1994
Technical Training Command	1940	1968
Training Command	1936	1977
Transport Command	1943	1967
Air Defence of Great Britain	1925	1936
Advanced Air Striking Force	1939	1940
British Air Forces in France
No. 1 Area
No. 2 Area
No. 3 Area
No. 4 Area
No. 5 Area
Training Division
Coastal Area	1919	1936
Central Area
North Eastern Area
North Western Area
Northern Area
South Eastern Area
South Western Area
Southern Area
Western Area
RAF Bengal and Burma
RAF Burma
RAF Germany	1959	1993
RAF Gibraltar	1942	present
RAF Iceland
RAF Northern Ireland	1 August 1940	31 March 1950
RAF India
RAF Iraq
RAF Ireland
RAF Mediterranean
RAF Mediterranean and Middle East	1943	1949
RAF Middle East	1949	1961
RAF Rhine	1918	1919
First Tactical Air Force			(Desert Air Force)
Second Tactical Air Force	1943	1959
Third Tactical Air Force	1943	1944
Allied Expeditionary Air Force
Balkan Air Force	1944	1945
Far East Air Force (Royal Air Force)	1943	1971
Mediterranean Allied Air Forces	1943	1945
Mediterranean Allied Coastal Air Force	1943	1945
Mediterranean Allied Strategic Air Force
Mediterranean Allied Tactical Air Force
Mediterranean Coastal Air Force
Middle East Air Force	1949	1961
Near East Air Force	1961	1976
Northwest African Coastal Air Force	1943	1945
Northwest African Tactical Air Force	1943	1945
Northwest African Strategic Air Force	1943	1945

See also

• Command (military formation)
• Royal Air Force
• British Armed Forces

References

Bibliography

• Sturtivant, R; Hamlin, J; Halley, J (1997). Royal Air Force flying training and support units. UK: Air-Britain (Historians). ISBN 0-85130-252-1.