No. 124 Wing RAF was a

Hawker Typhoon The Hawker Typhoon is a British single-seat fighter-bomber, produced by Hawker Aircraft. It was intended to be a medium-high altitude interceptor, as a replacement for the Hawker Hurricane, but several design problems were encountered and i ...

Wing A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is expres ...

of 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 ...

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 ...

. It comprised

No. 137 Squadron RAF No. 137 Squadron RAF existed briefly as a day bomber unit in World War I but never became operational. During World War II it flew as one of the two Whirlwind squadrons before converting to Hurricane Mk.IV fighter-bombers and later the Hawker T ...

, No. 181 Squadron RAF,

No. 182 Squadron RAF No. 182 Squadron RAF was a Royal Air Force Squadron formed as a fighter-bomber unit in World War II. History Formation in World War II The squadron formed on 25 August 1942 at RAF Martlesham Heath and was supplied with Hurricanes and Typhoon ...

and No. 247 (China-British) Squadron RAF. On 10 June 1944 the wing took part in the

Attack on Panzer Group West's headquarters at La Caine The RAF raid on La Caine (1944) was an attack in Normandy by the RAF Second Tactical Air Force, Second Tactical Air Force of the Royal Air Force (RAF) on 10 June 1944. The attack was made on the château at La Caine, about to the south-west of ...

. Prior to the Normandy landings on 6 June 1944, the headquarters of

Panzer Group West 5th Panzer Army (german: 5. Panzerarmee) was the name of two different German armoured warfare, armoured formations during World War II. The first of these was formed in 1942, during the North African campaign and surrendered to the Allies at Tun ...

was established in the Chateau at La Caine. On 9 June 1944, three days after the Normandy landings, the headquarters' location was revealed to British Intelligence by deciphering of German signals traffic. On 10 June 1944, aircraft of the Second Tactical Air Force bombed the village. The raid was carried out by 40 rocket-armed

Typhoons A typhoon is a mature tropical cyclone that develops between 180° and 100°E in the Northern Hemisphere. This region is referred to as the Northwestern Pacific Basin, and is the most active tropical cyclone basin on Earth, accounting for a ...

of No. 124 Wing (consisting of Nos. 181, 182 and 247 Squadrons) which attacked in three waves from low altitude and by 61 Mitchells of No. 137 and 139 Wings (comprising Nos 226, 98, 180 and 320 Squadrons) which dropped 500 lb bombs from 12,000 ft.RAF Air Historical Branch Records (typed manuscript), The Liberation of North-West Europe - Operation "Overlord", Volume 3 - The Landings in Normandy, pages 129 and 130. The wing was active from 12 December 1944 until 30 April 1946 as a Rocket Projectile unit and from 1 April 1953 - 2 October 1957 as a fighter unit. On 1 July 1956, the wing was part of

No. 2 Group RAF No. 2 Group is a group of the Royal Air Force which was first activated in 1918, served from 1918–20, from 1936 through the Second World War to 1947, from 1948 to 1958, from 1993 to 1996, was reactivated in 2000, and is today part of Air Comm ...

RAF Second Tactical Air Force The RAF Second Tactical Air Force (2TAF) was one of three tactical air forces within the Royal Air Force (RAF) during and after the Second World War. It was made up of squadrons and personnel from the RAF, other British Commonwealth air forces, ...

and located at

RAF Oldenburg Oldenburg may also refer to: Places *Mount Oldenburg, Ellsworth Land, Antarctica *Oldenburg (city), an independent city in Lower Saxony, Germany **Oldenburg (district), a district historically in Oldenburg Free State and now in Lower Saxony *Olde ...

. It comprised

No. 14 Squadron RAF No. 14 Squadron of the Royal Air Force currently operates the Beechcraft Shadow R1 (a modified Beechcraft Super King Air) in the Intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance (ISTAR) role from RAF Waddington. History Wor ...

, 20 Squadron, and 26 Squadron, all flying

Hawker Hunter The Hawker Hunter is a transonic British jet-powered fighter aircraft that was developed by Hawker Aircraft for the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It was designed to take advantage of the newly developed Rolls-R ...

References

{{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017 Wings of the Royal Air Force in the Second World War Royal Air Force wings Military units and formations disestablished in 1957

See also

References