No. 46 Group RAF was a

group A group is a number of persons or things that are located, gathered, or classed together. Groups of people * Cultural group, a group whose members share the same cultural identity * Ethnic group, a group whose members share the same ethnic iden ...

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 ...

. It was established on 17 January 1944 as No. 46 (Transport) Group at Uxbridge Road,

Stanmore Stanmore is part of the London Borough of Harrow in London. It is centred northwest of Charing Cross, lies on the outskirts of the London urban area and includes Stanmore Hill, one of the highest points of London, at high. The district, which ...

, within

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. ...

. The next month,

No. 512 Squadron RAF No. 512 Squadron was a Second World War Royal Air Force transport squadron. History No. 512 Squadron was formed on 18 June 1943 from the Dakota element of 24 Squadron at RAF Hendon. It operated on supply routes from the United Kingdom to Gibral ...

, flying the

Douglas Dakota The Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Dakota ( RAF, RAAF, RCAF, RNZAF, and SAAF designation) is a military transport aircraft developed from the civilian Douglas DC-3 airliner. It was used extensively by the Allies during World War II and remained in ...

and located at

RAF Broadwell Royal Air Force Broadwell or more simply RAF Broadwell is a former Royal Air Force station located 2 miles north of Broadwell and 3 miles southeast of Burford, Oxfordshire, and within 2 miles of RAF Brize Norton. It opened on 15 November 194 ...

was transferred to 46 Group. The squadron began training in glider towing and dropping parachute supplies. Elements of the group (512 and 575 Squadrons) used

Bazenville Airfield Bazenville Airfield is a former Second World War airfield, located 1.8 km east of Bazenville in the Lower Normandy region, France. The B-2 Bazenville Advanced Landing Ground (ALG) was located only southwest from the Normandy Gold landing ...

in the initial

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 ...

bridgehead after the British Army was established ashore on 6 June 1944. Other squadrons in the group involved in the landings were at Down Ampney - two, Nos. 48 and 271 - and at

RAF Blakehill Farm Royal Air Force Blakehill Farm or more simply RAF Blakehill Farm is a former Royal Air Force station southwest of Cricklade in Wiltshire, England, operational between 1944 and 1952. History The station was originally allocated to the United S ...

No. 233 Squadron RAF No. 233 Squadron RAF was a Royal Air Force squadron that operated from 1918–1919, 1937–1945, 1952–1957 and 1960–1964. The squadron was formed from several Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) flights and took part in the tail end of the First ...

. Other units of the group at the time of the landings were

No. 107 (Transport) Operational Training Unit RAF The numero sign or numero symbol, №, (also represented as Nº, No, No. or no.), is a typographic abbreviation of the word ''number''(''s'') indicating ordinal numeration, especially in names and titles. For example, using the numero sign, t ...

RAF Leicester East Royal Air Force Leicester East, more commonly known as RAF Leicester East , is a former Royal Air Force station, near the village of Stoughton, east southeast of Leicester, Leicestershire, England. It was constructed in 1942 and formally ...

, and No. 1697 (Air Delivery Letter Service) Flight, equipped with modified

Hawker Hurricane The Hawker Hurricane is a British single-seat fighter aircraft of the 1930s–40s which was designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd. for service with the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was overshadowed in the public consciousness by ...

s to deliver secret mail and small equipment to the Normandy beachheads. On 5 April 1946 RAF Broadwell and

No. 271 Squadron RAF No. 271 Squadron of the Royal Air Force was operational for two periods; a few brief months between 27 September 1918 and 9 December 1918 operating flying boats to protect shipping from German U-boats, and between 28 March 1940 and 1 December 19 ...

plus the Squadron's Servicing Echelon was transferred into 46 Group from No. 47 (Transport) Group. No. 44 Group RAF disbanded by being amalgamated into 46 Group on 14 August 1946. After extensive involvement 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 ...

from June 1948 to September 1949, 46 Group disbanded on 15 October 1949 at

Lüneburg Airfield Special landing field Lüneburg (ICAO airport code EDHG) is an airfield near Lüneburg in Lower Saxony state, Germany. It is approved for motor planes, motor glider, microlights and gliders up to a maximum weight of 2000 kg. Helicopters are a ...

(B 156) in West Germany. It was reformed on 1 November 1949 by renaming 47 Group, but disbanded only five months afterwards on 31 March 1950.

King George VI George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death in 1952. He was also the last Emperor of Ind ...

authorised the Group's badge in February 1951 with the motto "Alios Alis Alo" ("With my wings I nourish others"). It was reformed on 1 September 1972 as No. 46 (Strategic Support) Group,

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 ...

, to take over half of the previous transport role that the disbanded

RAF Air Support Command Air Support Command of the Royal Air Force was formed on 1 August 1967 by the redesignation of RAF Transport Command, Transport Command. Its change of name reflected the change of emphasis of the Command from solely transporting materials and ma ...

had carried out. "Early in 1972"

RAF Brize Norton Royal Air Force Brize Norton or RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, about west north-west of London, is the largest station of the Royal Air Force. It is close to the village of Brize Norton, and the towns of Carterton and Witney. The station ...

had come under the Group's control, at the time hosting Nos 10, 53, 99 and 511 Squadrons.

RAF Lyneham Royal Air Force Lyneham otherwise known as RAF Lyneham was a Royal Air Force station located northeast of Chippenham, Wiltshire, and southwest of Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The station was the home of all the Lockheed C-130 Hercules transpor ...

was also under the Group's auspices after the war. Air Marshal

Denis Crowley-Milling Air Marshal Sir Denis Crowley-Milling, (22 March 1919 – 1 December 1996) was a Second World War fighter pilot and later an air officer in the Royal Air Force. Second World War Originally a Rolls-Royce apprentice, he joined the Royal Air Force ...

served as Air Officer Commanding from 3 January 1973 to 7 January 1974.M B Barrass
Air Marshal Sir Denis Crowley-Milling
rafweb.org, accessed January 2022. It was merged into No. 38 Group on 1 January 1976 and thus disbanded.

References

{{Reflist *http://www.waterbeachmilitarymuseum.org.uk/history_page.html - four squadrons of Dakotas took part in Berlin Airlift under 46 Group from

RAF Waterbeach Royal Air Force Waterbeach or more simply RAF Waterbeach is a former Royal Air Force station located in Waterbeach, Cambridgeshire which is about north of Cambridge, England. The site was transferred to the Royal Engineers, part of the British A ...

046 Transport units and formations of the Royal Air Force Military units and formations disestablished in 1976