RAF Coastal Command was a
formation
Formation may refer to:
Linguistics
* Back-formation, the process of creating a new lexeme by removing or affixes
* Word formation, the creation of a new word by adding affixes
Mathematics and science
* Cave formation or speleothem, a secondar ...
within the
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...
(RAF). It was founded in 1936, when the RAF was restructured into
Fighter,
Bomber
A bomber is a military combat aircraft designed to attack ground and naval targets by dropping air-to-ground weaponry (such as bombs), launching aerial torpedo, torpedoes, or deploying air-launched cruise missiles. The first use of bombs dropped ...
and Coastal Commands and played an important role during the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. Maritime Aviation had been neglected in the inter-war period, due to disagreements between the
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
(RN) and RAF over the ownership, roles and investment in maritime air power.
The Admiralty's main concern until 1937 was the return of the
Fleet Air Arm
The Fleet Air Arm (FAA) is one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy and is responsible for the delivery of naval air power both from land and at sea. The Fleet Air Arm operates the F-35 Lightning II for maritime strike, the AW159 Wil ...
to the Royal Navy while the RAF prioritised the development of a bombing force to provide a deterrent. Coastal Command was referred to as the "Cinderella Service" by
A V Alexander, the
First Lord of the Admiralty
The First Lord of the Admiralty, or formally the Office of the First Lord of the Admiralty, was the political head of the English and later British Royal Navy. He was the government's senior adviser on all naval affairs, responsible for the di ...
in November 1940.
Soon after
RAF Coastal Area
RAF Coastal Area was a formation within the Royal Air Force (RAF). Founded in 1919, it was to act as the RAF's premier maritime arm. It was replaced by RAF Coastal Command on 14 July 1936.
Beginnings of maritime aviation
The Committee of Imper ...
was elevated to Coastal Command, its headquarters moved from
Lee-on-Solent
Lee-on-the-Solent, often referred to as Lee-on-Solent, is a seaside district of the Borough of Gosport in Hampshire, England, about five miles (8 km) west of Portsmouth. The area is located on the coast of the Solent. It is primarily a res ...
to
Northwood in northwest London.
During the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, Coastal Command's most important contribution was the protection of Allied
convoy
A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support and can help maintain cohesion within a unit. It may also be used ...
s from attacks by the German ''
Kriegsmarine
The (, ) was the navy of Germany from 1935 to 1945. It superseded the Imperial German Navy of the German Empire (1871–1918) and the inter-war (1919–1935) of the Weimar Republic. The was one of three official branches, along with the a ...
s
U-boat
U-boats were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were most effectively used in an economic warfare role ...
s.
It also protected Allied shipping from aerial attacks by the ''
Luftwaffe
The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...
''. The main operations of Coastal Command were defensive, defending supply lines in the
Battle of the Atlantic
The Battle of the Atlantic, the longest continuous military campaign in World War II, ran from 1939 to the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945, covering a major part of the naval history of World War II. At its core was the Allied naval blockade ...
, as well as the Mediterranean, Middle East, and African theatres. It operated from bases in the United Kingdom,
Iceland
Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...
,
Gibraltar
)
, anthem = " God Save the King"
, song = " Gibraltar Anthem"
, image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg
, map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe
, map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green
, mapsize =
, image_map2 = Gib ...
, the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
, West Africa and North Africa. It also had an offensive capacity. In the
North Sea
The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...
,
Arctic
The Arctic ( or ) is a polar regions of Earth, polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Canada (Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), Danish Realm (Greenla ...
, Mediterranean, and
Baltic
Baltic may refer to:
Peoples and languages
* Baltic languages, a subfamily of Indo-European languages, including Lithuanian, Latvian and extinct Old Prussian
*Balts (or Baltic peoples), ethnic groups speaking the Baltic languages and/or originati ...
, strike wings attacked German shipping carrying war materials from Italy to North Africa and from
Scandinavia
Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion#Europe, subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, ...
to Germany.
By 1943 Coastal Command finally received sufficient Very Long Range
LRaircraft it needed and its operations proved decisive in the victory over the U-boats. These aircraft were Consolidated B-24 Liberators and, from early 1943, these, and other Coastal Command aircraft, were fitted with Mark III ASV
ir-to-surface vesselcentimetric radar, the latest depth charges, including homing torpedoes, officially classed as Mark 24 mines
icknamed 'Wandering Annie' or 'Wandering Willie'and even rockets. The Command saw action from the first day of hostilities until the last day of the Second World War. It completed one million flying hours,
[Bowyer 1979, p.43.] 240,000 operations and destroyed 212 U-boats.
[Hendrie 2006, p. 179.] Coastal Command's casualties amounted to 2,060 aircraft to all causes. From 1940 to 1945 Coastal Command sank 366 German transport vessels and damaged 134. The total tonnage sunk was 512,330 tons and another 513,454 tons damaged.
10,663 persons were rescued by the Command, comprising 5,721 Allied crew members, 277 enemy personnel, and 4,665 non-aircrews. 5,866 Coastal Command personnel were killed in action.
During the
Cold War
The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
, Coastal Command concentrated on
anti-submarine
An anti-submarine weapon (ASW) is any one of a number of devices that are intended to act against a submarine and its crew, to destroy (sink) the vessel or reduce its capability as a weapon of war. In its simplest sense, an anti-submarine weapo ...
duties. The perceived main threat was vessels of the
Soviet Navy and other fleets of the
Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw Pact (WP) or Treaty of Warsaw, formally the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance, was a collective defense treaty signed in Warsaw, Poland, between the Soviet Union and seven other Eastern Bloc socialist republic ...
.
In 1969, Coastal Command was subsumed into the newly formed Strike Command, which had also absorbed the former Bomber, Fighter and Signals Commands and later also absorbed Air Support Command, the former Transport Command.
Formation and neglect
![Joubert de la Ferte](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/83/Joubert_de_la_Ferte.jpg)
In 1936, almost 18 years after the end of the First World War, there was a major change in the command structure of the RAF. Several
Expansion Schemes were heading at such pace to re-arm the British military in face of the
Nazi
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
threat that "Area" formations were now to be called "Commands". Fighter and Bomber Areas became Fighter and Bomber Commands and Coastal Area was renamed Coastal Command. Its headquarters was located at
Lee-on-Solent
Lee-on-the-Solent, often referred to as Lee-on-Solent, is a seaside district of the Borough of Gosport in Hampshire, England, about five miles (8 km) west of Portsmouth. The area is located on the coast of the Solent. It is primarily a res ...
.
Air Marshal Sir Arthur Longmore, AOC
RAF Coastal Area
RAF Coastal Area was a formation within the Royal Air Force (RAF). Founded in 1919, it was to act as the RAF's premier maritime arm. It was replaced by RAF Coastal Command on 14 July 1936.
Beginnings of maritime aviation
The Committee of Imper ...
oversaw the renaming and handed over command to Air Marshal
Philip Joubert de la Ferté
Air Chief Marshal Sir Philip Bennet Joubert de la Ferté, (21 May 1887 – 21 January 1965) was a senior commander in the Royal Air Force during the 1930s and the Second World War.
Early life
Joubert de la Ferté was born in Darjeeling, India t ...
on 24 August 1936.
In March 1935 the threat from Nazi Germany prompted a series of expansion schemes which pushed the number of squadrons up to 163 (as per Expansion Scheme M, the last before the outbreak of war) and the number of aircraft to 2,549. But it was never fully implemented, and Scheme F, 124 Squadrons and 1,736 aircraft, was the only scheme that ran its full course. It did produce modern aircraft and it made adequate provision for reserves (75 percent), but again, the bomber forces received no less than 50 percent which averaged 57 percent over all schemes. Maritime air units never made up more than 12 per cent of British air strength. From a pre-expansion strength of just five squadrons, four of which were flying boats, the figure of maritime squadrons rose to 18 by September 1939, with a strength of just 176 aircraft. Some 16 of these were allocated to trade defence, but given Trenchard's policy (which was still in place after his retirement) of developing bombers for the maritime arm which could bolster the air offensive, most were not specialised
ASW aircraft, and the Air Ministry was thoroughly uninterested in any aircraft which fell outside the bomber function.
De la Ferté was highly critical of the Air Ministry's attitude to his service. In 1937 several exercises were carried out by Coastal Command in co-operation with submarines against the
Home Fleet
The Home Fleet was a fleet of the Royal Navy that operated from the United Kingdom's territorial waters from 1902 with intervals until 1967. In 1967, it was merged with the Mediterranean Fleet creating the new Western Fleet.
Before the First ...
to judge the surface fleet's defence against submarine and air attack. However, despite the experiences of the First World War, no attention was paid to the problem of attacking submarines from the air as part of trade protection measures. Owing to misplaced faith in the imperfect
ASDIC
Sonar (sound navigation and ranging or sonic navigation and ranging) is a technique that uses sound propagation (usually underwater, as in submarine navigation) to navigate, measure distances (ranging), communicate with or detect objects on or ...
invention which was never intended to detect surface-running submarines, it appeared the Royal Navy no longer considered U-boats a threat to Britain's sea lanes. The Air Ministry, keen to concentrate on strategic air forces, did not dispute the Admiralty's conclusions and Coastal Command did not receive any guidance from the Air Ministry. The saving grace for both services was the construction of the Combined Headquarters which enabled rapid collaboration in maritime operations. This was one of the few successes in organisation and preparation made before the outbreak of war.
When the review of the role Coastal Command was to play in war was assessed in 1937, the then AOC
Sir Frederick Bowhill was informed by his Senior Air Staff Officer Air Commodore
Geoffrey Bromet that the other two commands (Bomber and Fighter) had clear mission objectives while Coastal Command had been given no clear mandate. It was assumed that Coastal Command was to keep sea communications open for merchant shipping and prevent seaborne raids on British coastlines and ports. No mention of U-boats was made by either man. Both apparently assumed aircraft and surface raiders presented the greater threat in British waters, thus following the then Admiralty line that U-boats were no longer a threat. When
Admiral
Admiral is one of the highest ranks in some navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force, and is above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet, ...
Sir Dudley Pound
Admiral of the Fleet Sir Alfred Dudley Pickman Rogers Pound, (29 August 1877 – 21 October 1943) was a British senior officer of the Royal Navy. He served in the First World War as a battleship commander, taking part in the Battle of Jutland ...
enquired about aerial assets in trade and commerce defence,
Chief of the Air Staff Cyril Newall, 1st Baron Newall
Marshal of the Royal Air Force Cyril Louis Norton Newall, 1st Baron Newall, (15 February 1886 – 30 November 1963) was a senior officer of the British Army and Royal Air Force. He commanded units of the Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air F ...
, replied that there was not enough "
jam
Jam is a type of fruit preserve.
Jam or Jammed may also refer to:
Other common meanings
* A firearm malfunction
* Block signals
** Radio jamming
** Radar jamming and deception
** Mobile phone jammer
** Echolocation jamming
Arts and ente ...
"
esourcesto go around and stated it was more advisable to risk losses on trade routes than weaken the RAF's ability to protect Britain from air attack and bomb its enemies.
In March 1937, the then Director of Operations
Group Captain
Group captain is a senior commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force, where it originated, as well as the air forces of many countries that have historical British influence. It is sometimes used as the English translation of an equivalent rank i ...
Robert Saundby
Air Marshal Sir Robert Henry Magnus Spencer Saundby, (26 April 1896 – 26 September 1971) was a senior Royal Air Force officer whose career spanned both the First and Second World Wars. He distinguished himself by gaining five victories during ...
, complained that the role for Coastal Command in war, namely supporting the bomber offensive, and second, the support of naval forces along the British coastline, were too limited and was in danger of diverting the Command from its main concern: ASW. In October the Deputy Chief of the Air Staff (DCAS) Air Vice Marshal
Richard Peirse
Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Edmund Charles Peirse, (30 September 1892 – 5 August 1970), served as a senior Royal Air Force commander.
RAF career
The son of Admiral Sir Richard Peirse and his wife Blanche Melville Wemyss-Whittaker, Richard ...
confirmed that there was no formal role for the service or location of its units. Peirse did reverse the decision to have strategic bombing support as the primary function. This was changed to trade defence. Coastal Command was only to be used for other purposes if trade routes were suffering little interference and the intensity of air attack on Britain, or air attacks on enemy targets, required all available air units for those purposes. However, in December 1937, the Naval and Air Staffs met again and changed the priority to
North Sea
The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...
reconnaissance. The Naval Staff insisted that surface commerce raiders presented the greatest danger, and aircraft could prove decisive only in locating enemy warships. ASW remained in third place, after direct co-operation with surface fleets. In December 1938, this was changed again, and ASW moved up to second priority. In August 1939 it was moved to first priority. When Coastal Command went to war, its first task was to co-operate with the Navy to prevent enemy vessels from escaping into the North Sea and Atlantic Oceans. Secondly, it was to provide ASW support where and when it could. These steps are significant as the language indicates a change from passive reconnaissance of enemy warships and submarines to an active directive which involved the attack of the vessels by Coastal Command aircraft.
Since the late 1920s the tension between the air and naval services had declined. It arose briefly again in 1937 when the question of the FAA operational control arose. On this occasion the British Government sided with the Admiralty. Despite a spirited defence of its asset, once the Minister for Coordination of Defence, Sir
Thomas Inskip
Thomas Walker Hobart Inskip, 1st Viscount Caldecote, (5 March 1876 – 11 October 1947) was a British politician who served in many legal posts, culminating in serving as Lord Chancellor from 1939 until 1940. Despite legal posts dominating his ...
had decided to transfer the arm, the Air Ministry was content to let the matter rest. Any threat to the Air Ministry's existence had long since passed; budgetary constraint, and the reluctance to engage in another battle which would waste resources were also factors in the Air Ministry's decision not to contest the issue further. However, inter-service squabbling assured maritime aviation's stagnation, especially in shore-based elements. Virtually no co-operation existed in the area of research and development. In the case of Coastal Command, it continued to come third in the Air Ministry's list of priorities, after Fighter and Bomber Commands, well into the late 1930s.
Second World War
Early war
![RAF crew with Boeing Fortress IIA at Lajes c1943](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ab/RAF_crew_with_Boeing_Fortress_IIA_at_Lajes_c1943.jpg)
From its formation in 1936, Coastal Command did not receive the support it required to be an effective naval air service. In September 1939
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
invaded Poland beginning the
war in Europe. The Command's position was comfortable for the first nine months of the war, the period known as the
Phoney War
The Phoney War (french: Drôle de guerre; german: Sitzkrieg) was an eight-month period at the start of World War II, during which there was only one limited military land operation on the Western Front, when French troops invaded Germa ...
. German submarines were not able to reach the Atlantic unless they undertook a dangerous transit journey through the
North Sea
The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...
and around Britain's northern waters or through the
English Channel
The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...
, which was guarded by the Royal and
French Navies. The powerful French Navy was responsible for covering half of the Atlantic shipping routes and thus contributed half of the Allied forces available.
The events of April to June 1940 overturned the balance of naval and
air power
Airpower or air power consists of the application of military aviation, military strategy and strategic theory to the realm of aerial warfare and close air support. Airpower began in the advent of powered flight early in the 20th century. Airpo ...
, as the Germans conquered
Denmark
)
, song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast")
, song_type = National and royal anthem
, image_map = EU-Denmark.svg
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark
...
,
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...
,
The Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
,
Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
and
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
. The occupation of these countries permitted the ''Luftwaffe'' and ''Kriegsmarine'' to operate from French ports on the Atlantic coast, hundreds of miles closer to the Atlantic shipping lanes. German medium bombers could also reach British ports on the westernmost and northernmost coasts. The advantage enjoyed by the Germans, allowed them to interdict merchant shipping supplying food and war materials to Britain much more effectively, which had the potential to starve Britain. While merchant shipping was suffering these losses, Coastal Command had proven ineffective at countering German air and sea attacks on shipping. But the command could not protect
English Channel
The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...
convoys, and was forced to abandon operations until July 1940. RAF Fighter Command was given the task, supplying air attack and defence with the enemy. Warning signs after the First World War, that U-boats could become a serious threat once again, meant that aircraft would be the best counter to their operations. This fact not being fully understood, Coastal Command became the "Cinderella service" until about 1943.
The situation would not improve until 1942. Coastal Command did operate with effect alongside
RAF Bomber Command
RAF Bomber Command controlled the Royal Air Force's bomber forces from 1936 to 1968. Along with the United States Army Air Forces, it played the central role in the strategic bombing of Germany in World War II. From 1942 onward, the British bo ...
in disrupting enemy shipping during the
Battle of Britain
The Battle of Britain, also known as the Air Battle for England (german: die Luftschlacht um England), was a military campaign of the Second World War, in which the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) of the Royal Navy defende ...
in 1940. Coastal Command attacked shipping and mined waters around invasion ports. The German invasion of Britain in 1940,
Operation Sea Lion
Operation Sea Lion, also written as Operation Sealion (german: Unternehmen Seelöwe), was Nazi Germany's code name for the plan for an invasion of the United Kingdom during the Battle of Britain in the Second World War. Following the Battle o ...
, was eventually cancelled owing to the German defeat in the Battle of Britain.
During the first three years of the Second World War, Coastal Command and the Admiralty fought a battle with the RAF and Air Ministry over the primacy of trade defence, in relation to the bomber effort against mainland Germany, a strategic tussle which conceivably could have cost the
Western Alliance
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...
the
Battle of the Atlantic
The Battle of the Atlantic, the longest continuous military campaign in World War II, ran from 1939 to the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945, covering a major part of the naval history of World War II. At its core was the Allied naval blockade ...
. The Air Staff and Bomber Command enjoyed the backing of Churchill and the maritime air effort struggled to receive the recognition it needed. On the outbreak of war, the
order of battle
In modern use, the order of battle of an armed force participating in a military operation or campaign shows the hierarchical organization, command structure, strength, disposition of personnel, and equipment of units and formations of the armed ...
listed just 298 aircraft, of which only 171 were operational. On 15 February 1941, Coastal Command was placed under the operational control of the Admiralty. Instrumental in improving the strike rate against submarines was scientific advisor and assistant director of research
E. J. Williams, who applied scientific analysis to the logistical problems to great effect. Williams was present at some meetings of the Cabinet Anti-U-boat Committee at 10 Downing Street, under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister.
Owing to the starvation of resources, even as late as March 1943, the Atlantic supply lines were being threatened. This situation arose as a direct result of the lack of very long-range aircraft. Despite the enormous losses of the disastrous 1940–1942 period, known to the Germans as the "
First
First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1).
First or 1st may also refer to:
*World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement
Arts and media Music
* 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...
" and "
Second Happy Time
The "Second Happy Time" (; officially Operation Paukenschlag ("Operation Drumbeat"), and also known among German submarine commanders as the "American Shooting Season") was a phase in the Battle of the Atlantic during which Axis submarines att ...
", the Air Ministry refused to invest in trade defence. Further delays in resource procurement might have led to German success, which could have defeated Britain and forced it out of the war or at least caused a postponement of
Operation Torch
Operation Torch (8 November 1942 – Run for Tunis, 16 November 1942) was an Allies of World War II, Allied invasion of French North Africa during the Second World War. Torch was a compromise operation that met the British objective of secu ...
, the Allied landings in French North-West Africa in 1942 and
Operation Overlord
Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allies of World War II, Allied operation that launched the successful invasion of German-occupied Western Front (World War II), Western Europe during World War II. The operat ...
, the landing in France, in 1944. Other research indicates that losses unquestionably affected the build-up for
Operation Neptune
Operation or Operations may refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media
* ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity
* Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory
* ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Ma ...
, the naval phase of the landings in Europe.
Mid and later war
![Royal Air Force 1939-1945- Coastal Command C5212](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4e/Royal_Air_Force_1939-1945-_Coastal_Command_C5212.jpg)
Eventually the Command was given the investment it needed. Radar and long-range aircraft enabled the Command to hunt and destroy U-boats with growing efficiency. German submarines had been sinking a large number of Allied ships in the
Atlantic Gap, which was a stretch of water in the central Atlantic beyond the range of most Allied aircraft. The covering of the gap by very-long-range aircraft equipped with radar helped reduce the effectiveness of U-boats. In May 1943 the campaign reached a peak, when a large number of U-boats were sunk with little loss to Allied shipping; Coastal Command had gained the initiative and it was known by the Germans as
Black May. Thereafter the suppression of German submarines was effective in the Atlantic and in their transit routes through the
Bay of Biscay
The Bay of Biscay (), known in Spain as the Gulf of Biscay ( es, Golfo de Vizcaya, eu, Bizkaiko Golkoa), and in France and some border regions as the Gulf of Gascony (french: Golfe de Gascogne, oc, Golf de Gasconha, br, Pleg-mor Gwaskogn), ...
in 1942, 1943 and 1944. In June 1944 the
Normandy landings
The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as ...
and subsequent
Operation Overlord
Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allies of World War II, Allied operation that launched the successful invasion of German-occupied Western Front (World War II), Western Europe during World War II. The operat ...
liberated France and cost the Germans their air and submarine bases won in 1940. The U-boats were forced to relocate to Norway and Germany in August, restoring many of the difficulties faced by the ''Kriegsmarine'' in 1939 and early 1940. The entire strategic position, which had been the foundation of the U-boat war since June 1940 had been undermined.
In the last three years of the war, Coastal Command sank more U-boats than any other service and continued to hold the technological advantage from 1943. A brief threat, in the shape of the
German Type XXI submarine
Type XXI submarines were a class of German diesel–electric ''Elektroboot'' (German: "electric boat") submarines designed during the Second World War. One hundred and eighteen were completed, with four being combat-ready. During the war only t ...
emerged but was too late to alter the course of the war. Technological answers to the Type XXI were available in the form of 3-centimetre radar and magnetic anomaly detectors in aircraft. At midnight 4 June 1945, official wartime operations ceased. The last mission was flown by
Wing Commander
Wing commander (Wg Cdr in the RAF, the IAF, and the PAF, WGCDR in the RNZAF and RAAF, formerly sometimes W/C in all services) is a senior commissioned rank in the British Royal Air Force and air forces of many countries which have historical ...
J. Barret
DFC, commanding officer of
No. 201 Squadron RAF
Number 201 Squadron is a squadron of the Royal Air Force. It currently operates the Boeing Poseidon MRA1 from RAF Lossiemouth, Moray.
It is the only squadron affiliated with Guernsey, in the Channel Islands. This affiliation started in 1935 ...
. By that time over 2,000 decorations had been awarded. These included four Victoria Crosses, of whom only one survived the war, 17
George Medal
The George Medal (GM), instituted on 24 September 1940 by King George VI,''British Gallantry Medals'' (Abbott and Tamplin), p. 138 is a decoration of the United Kingdom and Commonwealth, awarded for gallantry, typically by civilians, or in circ ...
s, and 82
Distinguished Service Order
The Distinguished Service Order (DSO) is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, as well as formerly of other parts of the Commonwealth, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typ ...
s.
Cold War
Beginnings
![Lockheed P2V-5 Neptune MR](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/29/Lockheed_P2V-5_Neptune_MR.1_51-15965_217_Sqn_Ringway_25.08.53.jpg)
The capitulation of Germany in May 1945 was followed by a rapid rundown of Coastal Command with the immediate disbandment of combat units and the transfer of aircraft to the
RAF Transport Command
RAF Transport Command was a Royal Air Force command that controlled all transport aircraft of the RAF. It was established on 25 March 1943 by the renaming of the RAF Ferry Command, and was subsequently renamed RAF Air Support Command in 1967.
...
. Commonwealth personnel were also sent home and the powerful
Bristol Beaufighter
The Bristol Type 156 Beaufighter (often called the Beau) is a British multi-role aircraft developed during the Second World War by the Bristol Aeroplane Company. It was originally conceived as a heavy fighter variant of the Bristol Beaufort ...
and
de Havilland Mosquito
The de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito is a British twin-engined, shoulder-winged, multirole combat aircraft, introduced during the Second World War. Unusual in that its frame was constructed mostly of wood, it was nicknamed the "Wooden Wonder", or ...
wings were reduced. The Command still maintained strong air-sea-rescue
ASR
The Asr prayer ( ar, صلاة العصر ', "afternoon prayer") is one of the five mandatory salah (Islamic prayer). As an Islamic day starts at sunset, the Asr prayer is technically the fifth prayer of the day. If counted from midnight, it is ...
and reconnaissance forces but its
ASW was lopsided. With a few exceptions, only a handful of squadrons with ASW aircraft remained by January 1946.
While the Command retained a minimum peacetime force and the Air Ministry had every intention of maintaining it as such, the fleet was further reduced and suffered from procurement problems. The
Short Shetland
The Short Shetland was a British high-speed, long-range, four-engined flying boat built by Short Brothers at Rochester, Kent for use in the Second World War. It was designed to meet an Air Ministry requirement (defined in Specification R.14/4 ...
and
Short Seaford
The Short S.45 Seaford was a 1940s flying boat, designed as a long range maritime patrol bomber for RAF Coastal Command.
It was developed from the Short S.25 Sunderland, and initially ordered as "Sunderland Mark IV".
Background
In 1942, the Ai ...
were rejected as replacements for the
Consolidated B-24 Liberator
The Consolidated B-24 Liberator is an American heavy bomber, designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego, California. It was known within the company as the Model 32, and some initial production aircraft were laid down as export models des ...
. A maritime version of the promising
Avro Lincoln
The Avro Type 694 Lincoln is a British four-engined heavy bomber, which first flew on 9 June 1944. Developed from the Avro Lancaster, the first Lincoln variants were initially known as the Lancaster IV and V; these were renamed Lincoln I and ...
had yet to be ordered by the time the Lend-Lease programme ended in August 1945. The
Short Sunderland
The Short S.25 Sunderland is a British flying boat patrol bomber, developed and constructed by Short Brothers for the Royal Air Force (RAF). The aircraft took its service name from the town (latterly, city) and port of Sunderland in North East ...
was forced to continue as the main operational type until the end of 1946. Most of the aircraft that operated in the command were the Second World War types; the Spitfire, Lancaster, Mosquito and Beaufighter.
The Command was kept busy in the late 1940s. Units were sent to the Middle East and
Palestine
__NOTOC__
Palestine may refer to:
* State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia
* Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia
* Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...
as part of an air policing policy, in co-operation with the
Israeli Air Force
The Israeli Air Force (IAF; he, זְרוֹעַ הָאֲוִיר וְהֶחָלָל, Zroa HaAvir VeHahalal, tl, "Air and Space Arm", commonly known as , ''Kheil HaAvir'', "Air Corps") operates as the aerial warfare branch of the Israel Defense ...
and
Egyptian Air Force
The Egyptian Air Force (EAF) ( ar, القوات الجوية المصرية, El Qūwāt El Gawīyä El Maṣrīya), is the aviation branch of the Egyptian Armed Forces that is responsible for all airborne defence missions and operates all milit ...
to prevent conflict between the two countries owing to the formation of the state of Israel in 1948. While there, they undertook a major operation,
Operation Bobcat, to prevent illegal Jewish migrants coming into Palestine. In May 1948 the variety of aircraft was reduced despite increasing demand for operations. In May,
Palestinians
Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...
began attacking British military installations throughout the region. In the largest British post-war action,
Operation Dawn (13 to 14 May 1948) was launched with the support of Coastal Command.
[Ashworth 1992, p. 202.]
On 28 June 1948 Coastal Command was also involved in the
Berlin Airlift
The Berlin Blockade (24 June 1948 – 12 May 1949) was one of the first major international crises of the Cold War. During the multinational occupation of post–World War II Germany, the Soviet Union blocked the Western Allies' railway, road ...
. The
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
attempted to cut off all aid to the city which was jointly occupied by the four major powers, the Soviets in the east, and the Americans, French and British in the west. The joint American-British operation continued for almost a year. Coastal Command aircraft were involved as flying boats were the only aircraft with internal anti-corrosion treatment allowing bulk salt to be transported. The Command's operations grew in intensity. By 13 July daily sorties had risen to 16. By October it was 214 sorties (other RAF Commands were also flying in supplies). The flying boats made their flight in using the
Elbe river
The Elbe (; cs, Labe ; nds, Ilv or ''Elv''; Upper and dsb, Łobjo) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Repu ...
, but these operations came to a close on 14 December 1948, when the hazard from uncharted sandbanks and wreckage which, in some cases had been deliberately placed there by the
Soviets
Soviet people ( rus, сове́тский наро́д, r=sovyétsky naród), or citizens of the USSR ( rus, гра́ждане СССР, grázhdanye SSSR), was an umbrella demonym for the population of the Soviet Union.
Nationality policy in th ...
to prevent the
Western Allies
The Allies, formally referred to as the United Nations from 1942, were an international military coalition formed during the Second World War (1939–1945) to oppose the Axis powers, led by Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan, and Fascist Italy ...
from supplying the city, made operations impractical. Over 1,000 sorties had been made, and 4,500 tons of supplies were flown in and 1,113 people, mainly children, evacuated.
Soviet threat
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...
(North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) began preparations for a military defence of Western Europe by incorporating most West European nations into a defence pact against alleged Soviet aggression in April 1951. This led to the militarisation of
West Germany
West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...
in 1955 and was met with the militarisation of
East Germany
East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...
soon after and its merger into the
Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw Pact (WP) or Treaty of Warsaw, formally the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance, was a collective defense treaty signed in Warsaw, Poland, between the Soviet Union and seven other Eastern Bloc socialist republic ...
alliance with the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
. The purpose of Coastal Command was to help bolster the defence and guard against a potential Soviet naval threat in Atlantic and European waters. For Coastal Command the main concern was the Atlantic. On 1 March 1950 it had lost the photo reconnaissance units to
RAF Bomber Command
RAF Bomber Command controlled the Royal Air Force's bomber forces from 1936 to 1968. Along with the United States Army Air Forces, it played the central role in the strategic bombing of Germany in World War II. From 1942 onward, the British bo ...
. The transfer was not complete when
North Korea
North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu River, Y ...
invaded
South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...
beginning the
Korean War
, date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...
.
Handley Page Hastings
The Handley Page HP.67 Hastings is a retired British troop-carrier and freight transport aircraft designed and manufactured by aviation company Handley Page for the Royal Air Force (RAF). Upon its introduction to service during September 1948, ...
were hastily modified and ready for operations but were not sent, owing to the need for ASW aircraft in the Eastern Atlantic.
[Ashworth 1992, p. 204.]
The
Avro Shackleton
The Avro Shackleton is a British long-range maritime patrol aircraft (MPA) which was used by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the South African Air Force (SAAF). It was developed by Avro from the Avro Lincoln bomber, which itself had been a devel ...
was the main operational aircraft in the 1950s, replacing the wartime
Liberator GRs, along with the
Neptune MR.1s. At the end of August 1951,
No. 201 Squadron RAF
Number 201 Squadron is a squadron of the Royal Air Force. It currently operates the Boeing Poseidon MRA1 from RAF Lossiemouth, Moray.
It is the only squadron affiliated with Guernsey, in the Channel Islands. This affiliation started in 1935 ...
became the first unit to complete training on the type.
In mid-1953 Coastal Command's
order of Battle
In modern use, the order of battle of an armed force participating in a military operation or campaign shows the hierarchical organization, command structure, strength, disposition of personnel, and equipment of units and formations of the armed ...
consisted of eight Shackleton squadrons; one at
Gibraltar
)
, anthem = " God Save the King"
, song = " Gibraltar Anthem"
, image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg
, map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe
, map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green
, mapsize =
, image_map2 = Gib ...
, four covering the South-Western Approaches in the Atlantic, and three more covering the North-Western Approaches. This force numbered 64 aircraft. A further four Sunderland squadrons totalling 20 aircraft were split between the North-Western and South-Western Approaches. The Neptunes, numbering 32 aircraft in four squadrons, covered the North-Eastern and Eastern Approaches. The
Helicopter
A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...
also joined Coastal Command.
Bristol Sycamore
The Bristol Type 171 Sycamore was an early helicopter developed and built by the helicopter division of the Bristol Aeroplane Company. The name refers to the seeds of the sycamore tree, '' Acer pseudoplatanus'', which fall with a rotating moti ...
s entered service in 1953 and 16 aircraft were dispersed in Britain for ASW. In March the
Avro Lancaster
The Avro Lancaster is a British Second World War heavy bomber. It was designed and manufactured by Avro as a contemporary of the Handley Page Halifax, both bombers having been developed to the same specification, as well as the Short Stirlin ...
was finally phased out of Coastal Command service.
The Command was too expensive to maintain and cost cuts were made during the 1950s which caused a reduction in strength. By mid-1957 the Command had been cut to 82 aircraft. By mid-1958 it had shrunk to just 67. The Shackletons dominated the core of this force, numbering 54 aircraft. The Neptune was cut from the service altogether, beginning on 31 August 1956. There was little operational action for the Command at this point. It airlifted
British Army
The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...
forces into
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
during the
Suez Crisis
The Suez Crisis, or the Second Arab–Israeli war, also called the Tripartite Aggression ( ar, العدوان الثلاثي, Al-ʿUdwān aṯ-Ṯulāṯiyy) in the Arab world and the Sinai War in Israel,Also known as the Suez War or 1956 Wa ...
which was its major action during this period. The lack of funds and any active conventional military role saw the Command struggle to keep its front-line strength high. There was a brief alert in October 1962, during the
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis, also known as the October Crisis (of 1962) ( es, Crisis de Octubre) in Cuba, the Caribbean Crisis () in Russia, or the Missile Scare, was a 35-day (16 October – 20 November 1962) confrontation between the United S ...
, when all six squadrons it then possessed were put on high alert, but nothing came of the crisis, although the Shackleton squadrons at
RAF Ballykelly
Royal Air Force Ballykelly or more simply RAF Ballykelly is a former Royal Air Force station which opened in 1941 in Ballykelly, County Londonderry. It closed in 1971 when the site was handed over to the British Army as Shackleton Barracks. A sm ...
were sent to Macrihanish as it was known that Ballykelly was on the Soviet IRBM target list.
In the early 1960s the
Soviet Navy and Communist Bloc's fishing fleets began operating around the British Isles in increasing numbers. The British public began taking an interest in their operations as civilian fisherman began complaining about their presence.
Operation Chacewater began, in which Coastal Command began monitoring their movements, in particular other vessels that loitered in areas covering the arrival and departure routes for
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
nuclear submarine
A nuclear submarine is a submarine powered by a nuclear reactor, but not necessarily nuclear-armed. Nuclear submarines have considerable performance advantages over "conventional" (typically diesel-electric) submarines. Nuclear propulsion, ...
forces. Soon after, counter operations such as
Operation Adjutant were carried out, which was aimed at searching for Soviet submarines. The main threat from the Soviets in the Atlantic came from the
Soviet Northern Fleet
Severnyy flot
, image = Great emblem of the Northern Fleet.svg
, image_size = 150px
, caption = Northern Fleet's great emblem
, start_date = June 1, 1733; Sov ...
and in early 1965 most of the Command's units were concentrated in
No. 18 Group RAF, based in
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
to monitor their activities. No recorded confrontation took place between Coastal Command and Soviet naval forces during this time, although both the Shackletons from RAF Ballykelly and frigates operating out of Londonderry would 'ping' the Soviet submarines carrying out surveillance off the mouth of Lough Foyle. In at least one instance, a Ballykelly-based Shackleton lost its radome when making a mock attack on the Russian sub.
In 1969 the special-purpose
Hawker-Siddeley Nimrod
The Hawker Siddeley Nimrod is a retired maritime patrol aircraft developed and operated by the United Kingdom. It was an extensive modification of the de Havilland Comet, the world's first operational jet airliner. It was originally designed ...
, based on the
de Havilland Comet
The de Havilland DH.106 Comet was the world's first commercial jet airliner. Developed and manufactured by de Havilland in the United Kingdom, the Comet 1 prototype first flew in 1949. It featured an aerodynamically clean design with four d ...
airliner, was introduced into RAF service and Coastal Command duties were passed on to general squadrons. The Nimrod was a replacement for the Shackleton and it began to do so on 2 October 1969. However, less than eight weeks later, Coastal Command was disbanded and ceased to exist on 27 November 1969, when it was subsumed into
RAF Strike Command
The Royal Air Force's Strike Command was the military formation which controlled the majority of the United Kingdom's bomber and fighter aircraft from 1968 until 2007 when it merged with Personnel and Training Command to form the single Air C ...
.
Organisation
Commanders in Chief
The following officers commanded the service:
Depiction in film
The work of Coastal Command was immortalised in a 1942 wartime propaganda documentary named ''
Coastal Command
RAF Coastal Command was a formation within the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was founded in 1936, when the RAF was restructured into Fighter, Bomber and Coastal Commands and played an important role during the Second World War. Maritime Aviation ...
'' with a score by
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams, (; 12 October 1872– 26 August 1958) was an English composer. His works include operas, ballets, chamber music, secular and religious vocal pieces and orchestral compositions including nine symphonies, written over ...
.
See also
*
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 w ...
References
;Citations
;Bibliography
* Ashworth, Chris. ''RAF Coastal Command: 1936–1969''. Patrick Stephens Ltd. 1992. .
* Blumenson, Martin & Greenfield, Ken. ''Command Decisions''. United States Government Printing. 1984. .
*
Buckley, John. ''The RAF and Trade Defence, 1919–1945: Constant Endeavour''. Ryburn Publishing. 1995. .
*
Buckley, John. ''Air Power in the Age of Total War''. UCL Press. 1998. .
* Blair, Clay. ''Hitler's U-Boat War: The Hunters 1939–1942''. Cassel & Co. 1996. .
* Blair, Clay. ''Hitler's U-Boat War: The Hunted 1942–1945''. Cassel & Co. 1996. .
* Bowyer, Chaz. ''Coastal Command at War''. Shepperton, Surrey, UK: Ian Allan Ltd., 1979. .
* Corum, James. ''The Luftwaffe: Creating the Operational Air War, 1918–1940''. Kansas University Press. 1997. .
*
Ferté, Philiip Joubert de la. ''The Birds and the Fishes: The Story of Coastal Command''. Hutchinson. 1960. (No ISBN) .
* Delve, Ken. ''The Source Book of the RAF''. Shrewsbury, Shropshire, UK: Airlife Publishing Ltd., 1994. .
* Forczyk, Robert. ''Fw 200 Condor Vs Atlantic Convoys, 1941–1943''. Osprey Publications. 2010. .
*
Goulter, Christina. ''A Forgotten Offensive: Royal Air Force Coastal Command's Anti-Shipping Campaign, 1940–1945''. Frank & Cass. London. 2005. .
* Hendrie, Andrew. ''The Cinderella Service: RAF Coastal Command 1939–1945''. Pen & Sword Aviation. 2006. .
* Hewitt, Nick. ''Coastal Convoys 1939–1945: The Indestructible Highway''. Pen & Sword Maritime, London.
* Hyde, H. Montgomery. ''British Air Policy Between the Wars, 1918–1939''. Heineman 1977. .
* Kessler, Gunther. ''German Naval History: U-boat War in the Atlantic, 1939–45''. Ministry of Defence, Stationery Office Books. London. 1989.
* March, Daniel J. ''British Warplanes of World War II''. Rochester, Kent, UK: Grange Books, 1998. .
* Milner, Marc. ''Battle of the Atlantic''. NPI Media Group, London. 2005.
* Nesbit, Roy Conyers. ''Coastal Command in Action, 1939–1945''. Budding Books. 2000 (2nd Edition). .
*
Padfield, Peter, ''War Beneath the Sea: Submarine Conflict 1939–1945''. John Murray, London, 1995
* Rawlings, John D.R. ''Coastal, Support and Special Squadrons of the RAF and their Aircraft''. London, Jane's Publishing Company Ltd., 1982. .
*
*
External links
Northwood Headquarters – The Coastal Command Era*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Raf Coastal Command
Military units and formations in Hertfordshire
Military units and formations established in 1936
Military units and formations disestablished in 1969
Coastal Command
RAF Coastal Command was a formation within the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was founded in 1936, when the RAF was restructured into Fighter, Bomber and Coastal Commands and played an important role during the Second World War. Maritime Aviation ...
1936 establishments in the United Kingdom
1969 disestablishments in the United Kingdom
Allied air commands of World War II