No. 60 Group RAF was a group of the
British Royal Air Force. It was established in 1940 with the headquarters in
Leighton Buzzard
Leighton Buzzard ( ) is a market town in Bedfordshire, England, in the southwest of the county and close to the Buckinghamshire border. It lies between Aylesbury, Tring, Luton/Dunstable and Milton Keynes, near the Chiltern Hills. It is northwes ...
, as part of
RAF Fighter Command.
It controlled the electronic
Air defence radar network across Britain. It was responsible for all civilian and service personnel involved in the operation, maintenance and calibration of the
Chain Home
Chain Home, or CH for short, was the codename for the ring of coastal Early Warning radar stations built by the Royal Air Force (RAF) before and during the Second World War to detect and track aircraft. Initially known as RDF, and given the off ...
radar stations.
The group was formally established within the Directorate of Signals on 23 February 1940.
In June 1944 on the eve of
D-Day
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 D ...
the group consisted of
No. 70 Wing 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 ...
(Inverness, northern signals, including
No. 526 Squadron RAF
No. 526 Squadron of the Royal Air Force was a British Second World War calibration and communications squadron.
History
No. 526 Squadron was formed on 15 June 1943 at RAF Longman, Inverness, Scotland from the calibration flights of Nos. 70, 71 ...
at
RAF Inverness
Royal Air Force Inverness or RAF Inverness was a Royal Air Force Royal Air Force station, station located by the Moray Firth in Highland (council area), Highland, Scotland. It was also known as RAF Longman and previously Longman Airfield.
His ...
carrying out calibration duties); Nos 73, 75, 78, and 80 Wings, twelve separate radar stations, mostly in
Ireland, and three specialist units, including the RAF Section of the
Telecommunications Research Establishment at Malvern.
By January 1945 it was still part of Fighter Command. It was amalgamated with
No. 26 Group 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 ...
to become together
No. 90 (Signals) Group RAF
No. 90 Group was a group of the Royal Air Force.
No. 26 (Signals) Group RAF and No. 60 Group RAF were amalgamated to form No. 90 (Signals) Group on 24 April 1946 under the administrative control of British Air Forces of Occupation and Transport C ...
on 25 April 1946. Its last commander was Air Vice-Marshal W E Theak.
Squadrons and stations
''Included:''
*
No. 527 Squadron RAF
No. 527 Squadron RAF was a radar calibration unit of the Royal Air Force between 1943 and 1958.
History
Formation
No. 527 Squadron was formed from various calibration flights at RAF Castle Camps, Cambridgeshire on 15 June 1943 for radar calibra ...
*
RAF Danby Beacon
*
RAF Yatesbury
RAF Yatesbury is a former Royal Air Force airfield near the village of Yatesbury, Wiltshire, England, about east of the town of Calne. It was an important training establishment in the First and Second World Wars, and until its closure in 1965. ...
''See
for the Chain Home wings''
References
{{reflist
060
Military communications units and formations of the Royal Air Force
Air defence units and formations
Military units and formations established in 1940
Military units and formations disestablished in 1946