No. 205 Group RAF

No. 205 (Heavy Bomber) Group was a long-range, heavy bomber group of the Royal Air Force (RAF) established on October 23, 1941 by boosting No. 257 Wing to Group status.^[1]

During the RAF campaigns in Egypt and Libya, the successful coordination of No. 205 (Heavy Bomber) Group under Air Commodore Alan P. Ritchie with No. 201 (Naval Co-operation) Group under Air Vice Marshal Hugh Lloyd, and Air Headquarters (H.Q.) Western Desert under Air Vice Marshal Arthur Coningham, provided the practical model upon which British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, American President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and their staffs reorganized the Allied air forces in the North African and Mediterranean Theater of Operations (MTO) at the Casablanca Conference in January of 1943. The result of this reorganization was the Mediterranean Air Command commanded by Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Tedder and its major sub-command, the Northwest African Air Forces (NAAF) under Lieutenant General Carl Spaatz, was structured according to the tri-force model.^[2][3]

The air interdiction model with its separate strategic, coastal, and tactical air forces was presented to the Casablanca planners by Tedder who along with primarily Ritchie, Lloyd, and especially Coningham, implemented and developed the tri-force model in Egypt and Libya during 1942.

As the strategic component of the original tri-force, No. 205 Group contributed significantly to the organization of NAAF established on February 18, 1943, Mediterranean Allied Air Forces (MAAF) in December of 1943, Allied Expeditionary Air Forces (AEAF) of the Normandy Campaign, and even today's air forces.

Throughout this important period of World War II during which air interdiction was practiced and developed, Tedder was always at the forefront as Air Commander-in-Chief of RAF Middle East Command, Mediterranean Air Command (MAC), Mediterranean Allied Air Forces, and as General Dwight D. Eisenhower's Deputy Supreme Allied Commander for planning the air operations for D-Day Normandy.

Appropriately, in the MAC organization following the Casablanca Conference, No. 205 Group was part of the Northwest African Strategic Air Force (NASAF), an Allied command under Major General James H. Doolittle consisting of American (daytime) and British (primarily nighttime) long-range heavy bomber units.^[4] NASAF, along with the Northwest African Coastal Air Force (NACAF) and the Northwest African Tactical Air Force (NATAF), formed a complete tri-force under a single unified command (NAAF). The components of No. 205 Group at various times during World War II are illustrated below.

No. 205 Group Order of Battle, 1941-1944, data from^[5]

11 November 1941 Operation Crusader A/Cdre Lachlan MacLean	Summer 1942 Egyptian Defensive A/Cdre MacLean or Ritchie	27 October 1942 Second Battle of El Alamein A/Cdre A. P. Ritchie	10 July 1943 Operation Husky A/Cdre John Simpson	1944 & 1945 Part of +MASAF A/Cdre John Simpson
No. 37 Squadron, Wellington No. 38 Squadron, Wellington No. 70 Squadron, Wellington	No. 37 Squadron, Wellington No. 70 Squadron, Wellington	No. 231 Wing No. 37 Squadron, Wellington No. 70 Squadron, Wellington - -	No. 231 Wing No. 37 Squadron, Wellington No. 40 Squadron, Wellington No. 70 Squadron, Wellington -	No. 231 Wing No. 37 Squadron, Wellington X to B-24 Liberator VI in October 1944. No. 70 Squadron, Wellington X to B-24 Liberator VI in January 1945.
No. 108 Squadron, Wellington No. 148 Squadron, Wellington	No. 108 Squadron, Wellington No. 148 Squadron, Wellington	No. 236 Wing No. 108 Squadron, Wellington No. 148 Squadron, Wellington - -	No. 236 Wing No. 104 Squadron, Wellington No. 462 Squadron, Halifax - -	No. 236 Wing No. 40 Squadron, Wellington X to B-24 Liberator VI in March 1945. No. 104 Squadron, Wellington X to B-24 Liberator VI in February 1945.
		No. 238 Wing No. 40 Squadron, Wellington No. 104 Squadron, Wellington - -	No. 330 Wing No. 142 Squadron, Wellington No. 150 Squadron, Wellington - -	No. 240 Wing No. 178 Squadron, B-24 Liberator VI No. 462 Squadron, Halifax II renamed No. 614 Squadron on March 3, 1944. Used some B-24s after August 1944.
	No. 160 Squadron, Liberator	No. 242 Wing No. 147 Squadron, Liberator No. 160 Squadron, Liberator -	No. 331 Wing (RCAF) No. 420 Squadron, Wellington No. 424 Squadron, Wellington No. 425 Squadron, Wellington	No. 330 Wing No. 142 Squadron, Wellington X, to UK, Mosquito No. 150 Squadron, Wellington X, to UK, Lancaster when No. 330 Wing disbanded on October 5, 1944.
		No. 245 Wing No. 14 Squadron (RAF), Marauder, Boston No. 227 Squadron (RAF) Det., Halifax No. 462 Squadron (RAAF), Halifax		No. 2 Wing SAAF (Joined 205 Group in 6/44) No. 31 Squadron SAAF, B-24 Liberator VI No. 34 Squadron SAAF, B-24 Liberator VI -
		Special Liberator Flight, Liberator

Notes:
A/Cdre=Air Commodore; RCAF=Royal Canadian Air Force
+MASAF=Mediterranean Allied Strategic Air Force under Major General Nathan Twining was a sub-command of the Mediterranean Allied Air Forces.

^It's not absolutely certain which RAF squadrons were operating in No. 205 Group during the summer of 1942. American heavy bomber units began arriving in the Middle East at this time. The first was Colonel Harry A. Halverson's detachment of B-24 Liberators known as the Halverson Project (HALPRO). On June 12, 1942, thirteen B-24s of the Halverson Detachment bombed the Ploesti oil refineries in Romania. This was the first strategic bombing mission by an American unit in World War II. On June 28, 1942, Major General Lewis H. Brereton arrived from India with the 9th Bombardment Squadron of B-17 Flying Fortresses. The Halverson Detachment and the 9th Bombardment Squadron were both under control of No. 205 (Heavy Bomber) Group for target selection and operations.

^[6] "Between 26 June and 5 July, nine missions were flown, all but one against Tobruk. The B-17's of the 9th Squadron participated in two attacks, one by night, and the B-24's (Halverson's Detachment), sometimes in company with the RAF's Liberator squadron (No. 160 Squadron), also operated both by day and by night."

RAF operational control of the American heavy bomber units continued even after Halverson's Detachment of B-24s and Brereton's 9th Bombardment Squadron of B-17s were consolidated to form the 1st Provisional Bombardment Group on July 20, 1942 under Halverson's command. When the American 98th Bombardment Group with four squadrons of B-24s arrived and began flying combat missions in August of 1942, the RAF selected its mission targets as well. This situation caused some concern among officers of the 9th Air Force's IX Bomber Command and the United States Army Middle East Air Force (USAMEAF).

^[7] "A development of some importance in the career of USAMEAF manifested itself administratively on 12 October when orders were cut assigning nine officers to the IX Bomber Command, which organization was then and for a month afterwards unofficial. This command had its roots in a discussion on 5 September between Tedder's senior air staff officer, Air Vice Marshal H. E. P. Wigglesworth, and G-3 officers of USAMEAF, during which Wigglesworth asserted that he had control, delegated by Tedder, over the target selection for the U.S. heavy bombers. Col. Patrick W Timberlake, G-3 of Brereton's staff, took a serious view of this assertion in that it violated the Arnold-Portal-Towers agreement that American combat units assigned to theaters of British strategic responsibility were to be organized in "homogeneous American formations" under the "strategic control" of the appropriate British commander in chief. In a memo of 7 September, Timberlake granted that this canon might be justifiably violated in the case of the 12th Bombardment (M) and 57th Fighter Groups, but he could see no reason why operational control of the 1st Provisional and 98th Groups, comprising four-fifths of the heavy bomber force in the Middle East, should not be vested in American hands. Subsequent negotiations carried the point with the British, who even turned over their 160 Squadron (Liberators) to the operational control of Bomber Command. On 12 October a small staff moved into Grey Pillars, RAF headquarters at Cairo, and thenceforth USAMEAF's bombers operated only under the "strategic" direction of the British. Timberlake headed the organization, with Kalberer as his A-3 and Lt. Col. Donald M. Keiser as his chief of staff."

When MAC was disbanded on December 10, 1943, No. 205 (Heavy Bomber) Group was assigned to the Mediterranean Allied Strategic Air Force, the strategic arm of the Mediterranean Allied Air Forces. No. 205 Group eventually converted to Consolidated B-24 Liberator aircraft, and remained under Simpson's command for the duration of World War II in Europe. No. 205 Group was disbanded on April 15, 1956.^[8] Unfortunately, many of the records of No. 205 Group are apparently unavailable for the period prior to the air force reorganization in February 1943 (Mediterranean Air Command).^[9]

References

Notes

1. ^ http://www.rafweb.org/Grp07.htm RAF Web Groups
2. ^ Craven and Cate, Vol. II, Figure on p. 497, 1949.
3. ^ Davis, p.107, 2006.
4. ^ USAAF 1945, p. ?.
5. ^ Richards and Saunders, Vol. I & II, Figures depicting Orders of Battles, 1953.
6. ^ Craven and Cate, Vol. II, p. 18, 1949.
7. ^ Craven and Cate, Vol. II, p. 33, 1949.
8. ^ http://www.rafweb.org/Grp07.htm Royal Air Force Web
9. ^ Davis, Preface, p. viii, 2006.

Bibliography

• Craven, Wesley F. and James L. Cate. The Army Air Forces in World War II, Volume 2. Chicago, Illinois: Chicago University Press, 1949 (Reprinted 1983). ISBN 0-912799-03-X.
• Davis, Richard G. Bombing the European Axis Powers: A historical digest of the combined bomber offensive, 1939-1945. Maxwell Air Force Base, AL: Air University Press, 2006.
• Richards, D. and H. Saunders. The Royal Air Force, 1939-1945 Volumes 1 & 2. HMSO, 1953.
• Howe, George F. Northwest Africa: Seizing the Initiative in the West. Washington, DC: Center of Military History, 1991.
• US Army AIr Force. Participation of the Ninth & Twelfth Air Forces in the Sicilian Campaign, Army Air Forces Historical Study No. 37. Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama: Army Air Forces Historical Office Headquarters, 1945.

External links

• Royal Air Force Web