No. 19 Group RAF

No. 19 Group was a group of the Royal Air Force, active from 1918, and then from 1941-1969.

History

It was formed in April 1918 as No. 19 (Equipment) Group in York, but disbanded in June.

Second World War

It was reformed in early 1941 as No. 19 (General Reconnaissance) Group, Coastal Command, at Mount Wise, Plymouth. Among its squadrons during the war was No. 461 Squadron RAAF.

Its units in February 1942 included:

No. 19 Group RAF (GR), under command of Air Commodore G.R. Bromet, CBE, DSO^[1]

Squadron	Aircraft	Station
No. 22 Squadron RAF	Bristol Beaufort	RAF St Eval
No. 86 Squadron RAF	Bristol Beaufort	RAF St Eval
No. 209 Squadron RAF	Consolidated Catalina	RAF Pembroke Dock
No. 217 Squadron RAF	Bristol Beaufort	RAF St Eval
No. 224 Squadron RAF	Lockheed Hudson	RAF St Eval
No. 254 Squadron RAF	Bristol Blenheim	RAF Carew Cheriton
No. 502 (Ulster) Squadron RAF[2]	Armstrong Whitworth Whitley	RAF St Eval
No. 10 Squadron RAAF	Short Sunderland	RAF Mount Batten
No. 1404 (Meteorological) Flight RAF[3]	Lockheed Hudson	RAF St Eval
No. 1417 (Leigh Light Trials) Flight RAF[4]	Vickers Wellington	RAF Chivenor
No. 1 Photographic Reconnaissance Unit RAF	Bristol Blenheim	RAF St Eval (B Flight)

Cold War

19 Group assets during October 1946:^[5]

• 210 Sqn, RAF St Eval, Avro Lancaster GR.3
• 224 Sqn, RAF St Eval, Lancaster GR.3
• 210 Sqn, RAF Calshot, Sunderland GR.5
• 230 Sqn, RAF Calshot, Sunderland GR.5
• 36 Sqn, RAF Thorney Island, de Havilland Mosquito FB.6
• 42 Sqn, RAF Thorney Island, Bristol Beaufighter TF.10

The group relocated to RAF Mount Batten in 1947.

In 1953, initial NATO documents instructing Admiral Creasey, newly appointed Commander-in-Chief, Eastern Atlantic Area (CINCEASTLANT), wrote that Air Vice Marshal Thomas Traill, CB, OBE, DFC, Royal Air Force, Air Officer Commanding No. 19 Group RAF, had been appointed as Air Commander North-East Atlantic Sub-Area.^[6]

19 Group assets during July 1954:^[7]

• 42 Sqn, RAF St Eval, Shackleton MR.1 & MR.2
• 206 Sqn, RAF St Eval, Shackleton MR.1 & MR.2
• 220 Sqn, RAF St Eval, Shackleton MR.1 & MR.2
• 228 Sqn, RAF St Eval, Shackleton MR.1 & MR.2
• 201 Sqn, RAF Pembroke Dock, Sunderland GR.5
• 230 Sqn, RAF Pembroke Dock, Sunderland GR.5
• 36 Sqn, RAF Topcliffe, Neptune MR.1
• 203 Sqn, RAF Topcliffe, Neptune MR.1
• 210 Sqn, RAF Topcliffe, Neptune MR.1

Before it became HQ Southern Maritime Air Region in November 1969,^[8] its last commander appears to have been Air Vice-Marshal Cresswell Clementi.

References

Citations

1. Ashworth 1992, Appendix IV
2. Lake 1999, p. 264.
3. Lake 1999, p. 87.
4. Lake 1999, pp. 87-88.
5. Rawlings 1985, p. 217.
6. http://archives.nato.int/uploads/r/null/1/2/123871/SGM-1204-53_ENG_PDP.pdf
7. Rawlings 1985, p. 219.
8. Barrass, M. B. (2015). "Groups 10-19". Air of Authority - A History of RAF Organisation. Retrieved 29 April 2015.

Bibliography

• Rawlings, J D R (1985). The History of the Royal Air Force. Feltham Middlesex, UK: Temple Press.