No. 10 Group RAF was a former operations group 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 ...

which participated in 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 ...

History

It was formed on 1 April 1918 in No. 2 Area. On 8 May of the next year it was transferred to South-Western Area. In 1919 it was transferred to Coastal Area where it remained until it was disbanded on 18 January 1932. The group was re-formed on 1 June 1940 within

Fighter Command RAF Fighter Command was one of the commands of the Royal Air Force. It was formed in 1936 to allow more specialised control of fighter aircraft. It served throughout the Second World War. It earned near-immortal fame during the Battle of Britai ...

to enable neighbouring No. 11 Group to function more efficiently. Its area of operation was the south-western region of

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. Commanded by

Air Vice Marshal Air vice-marshal (AVM) is a two-star air officer rank which originated in and continues to be used by the Royal Air Force. The rank is also used by the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence and it is sometimes u ...

Sir

Quintin Brand Air Vice-Marshal Sir Christopher Joseph Quintin Brand, (25 May 1893 – 7 March 1968) was a South African officer of the Royal Air Force. Early life Brand was born in Beaconsfield (now part of Kimberley, Northern Cape) in South Africa to a Crim ...

, 10 Group supported 11 Group in 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 ...

by rotating squadrons, providing additional fighter support when needed, and supplying additional pilots. The Air Officer Commanding (AOC) of 11 Group, Air Vice Marshal

Keith Park Air Chief Marshal Sir Keith Rodney Park, (15 June 1892 – 6 February 1975) was a New Zealand-born officer of the Royal Air Force (RAF). During the Second World War, his leadership of the RAF's No. 11 Group was pivotal to the Luftwaffe's defe ...

, had a far warmer relationship with Brand than with the AOC of 12 Group, Air Vice Marshal

Trafford Leigh-Mallory Air Chief Marshal Sir Trafford Leigh-Mallory, (11 July 1892 – 14 November 1944) was a senior commander in the Royal Air Force. Leigh-Mallory served as a Royal Flying Corps pilot and squadron commander during the First World War. Remaining in th ...

, who regarded Park with jealousy. As well as providing support for 11 Group, 10 Group also had some squadrons of aircraft that could not be risked in the Battle of Britain (

Gloster Gladiator The Gloster Gladiator is a British biplane fighter. It was used by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) (as the Sea Gladiator variant) and was exported to a number of other air forces during the late 1930s. Developed private ...

Boulton Paul Defiant The Boulton Paul Defiant is a British interceptor aircraft that served with the Royal Air Force (RAF) during World War II. The Defiant was designed and built by Boulton Paul Aircraft as a "turret fighter", without any fixed forward-firing guns ...

10 Group fighter operations room CH13685

Brown's Quarry, a small quarry north of Tunnel Quarry, was converted into an underground operations centre for HQ No. 10 Group,

RAF Box RAF Rudloe Manor, formerly RAF Box, was a Royal Air Force station located north-east of Bath, England, between the settlements of Box and Corsham, in Wiltshire. It was one of several military installations situated in the area and covered three ...

. After the Battle of Britain, 10 Group also provided fighter cover missions for convoys approaching and leaving the British Isles. Pilots rotated into 10 Group from either 12 or 13 Group knew that soon they would go over to 11 Group, so the pilots took advantage of their comparatively safer area of operation to hone their skills. No. 10 Group was reabsorbed into No. 11 Group on 2 May 1945.

Order of Battle 1 August 1940

On 1 August 1940 when air attacks began on the UK, the group was organised into several sectors: * Group Headquarters at

RAF Rudloe Manor RAF Rudloe Manor, formerly RAF Box, was a Royal Air Force station located north-east of Bath, England, between the settlements of Box and Corsham, in Wiltshire. It was one of several military installations situated in the area and covered three ...

* No. 152 (Hyderabad) Squadron RAF at

RAF Warmwell Royal Air Force Warmwell or more simply RAF Warmwell is a former Royal Air Force station near Warmwell in Dorset, England from 1937 to 1946, located about 5 miles east-southeast of Dorchester; 100 miles southwest of London. During the Second W ...

equipped with

Supermarine Spitfire The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. Many variants of the Spitfire were built, from the Mk 1 to the Rolls-Royce Grif ...

* No. 247 (China-British) Squadron RAF at

RNAS Roborough RAF Roborough is a former Royal Air Force station in Roborough located north of Plymouth, Devon which used Plymouth City Airport as their base. History RAF Roborough began when the Air Ministry started to use Plymouth City Airport for exerci ...

equipped with

* No. 5 Operational Training Unit RAF at

RAF Aston Down Aston Down is in Gloucestershire, South West England, east of Minchinhampton, southeast of Stroud and west of Cirencester. The nearest settlement is the large village of Chalford, 1 mile (1.6 km) to the northwest. The airfield was used ...

equipped with

and

Bristol Blenheim The Bristol Blenheim is a British light bomber aircraft designed and built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company (Bristol) which was used extensively in the first two years of the Second World War, with examples still being used as trainers until ...

* No. 6 Operational Training Unit RAF at

RAF Sutton Bridge Royal Air Force Sutton Bridge or more simply RAF Sutton Bridge is a former Royal Air Force station found next to the village of Sutton Bridge in the south-east of Lincolnshire. The airfield was to the south of the current A17, and east of the Ri ...

equipped with

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 ...

* No. 7 Operational Training Unit RAF at

RAF Hawarden 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) an ...

equipped with

and

* Middle Wallop Sector ** Sector Headquarters at

RAF Middle Wallop Middle Wallop is a village in the civil parish of Nether Wallop in Hampshire, England, on the A343 road. At the 2011 Census the population was included in the civil parish of Over Wallop. The village has a public house, The George Inn, and a pet ...

** No. 234 (Madras Presidency) Squadron RAF armed with

** No. 604 (County of Middlesex) Squadron RAF armed with

** No. 609 (West Riding) Squadron RAF armed with

* Filton Sector ** Sector Headquarters at

RAF Filton Royal Air Force Filton or more simply RAF Filton is a former Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and Royal Air Force (RAF) station located north of the city centre of Bristol, England. Throughout its existence, RAF Filton shared the airfield with the Br ...

** Care and Maintenance Party at

* Exeter Sector ** Sector Headquarters at

RAF Exeter Exeter () is a city in Devon, South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal comm ...

** No. 87 (United Provinces) Squadron RAF armed with

** No. 213 (Ceylon) Squadron RAF armed with

* Pembrey Sector ** Sector Headquarters at

RAF Pembrey Pembrey Sands Air Weapons Range is a Ministry of Defence air weapons range located near the village of Pembrey, Carmarthenshire, northwest of Burry Port and south of Carmarthen, Wales. Adjacent to the weapons range site was a Royal Air Force ...

** No. 92 (East India) Squadron RAF armed with

No. 238 Squadron RAF No. 238 Squadron is a squadron of the Royal Air Force. It was first formed in 1918 by combining number 347, 348 and 349 Flights at RAF Cattewater by the Royal Flying Corps during the First World War. It was reformed for the Second World War, the ...

armed with

Commanders

The following officers have been in command of 10 Group:

1918 to 1932

*1 April 1918

Lieutenant Colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...

(later

Colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of ...

) A W Bigsworth *1 August 1919

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 ...

H P Smyth Osbourne *27 July 1921 Group Captain J L Forbes *1 December 1924 Air Commodore E A D Masterman *6 April 1928 Air Commodore T C R Higgins *1 November 1929 Air Commodore A W Bigsworth *1 October 1931

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 ...

L C Kemble (possibly a temporary appointment) *1 November 1931 Group Captain (later Air Commodore) N J Gill

1940 to 1945

*15 June 1940

Air Vice-Marshal Air vice-marshal (AVM) is a two-star air officer rank which originated in and continues to be used by the Royal Air Force. The rank is also used by the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence and it is sometimes u ...

Sir

*22 July 1941 Air Vice-Marshal A H Orlebar *4 November 1942 Air Vice-Marshal W F Dickson *5 May 1943 Air Vice-Marshal C R Steele *3 June 1944 Air Commodore A V Harvey *10 July 1944 Air Vice-Marshal J B Cole-Hamilton *Nov 1944 ''Unknown''

References

{{Royal Air Force

010 010 may refer to: * 10 (number) * 8 (number) in octal numeral notation * Motorola 68010, a microprocessor released by Motorola in 1982 * 010, the telephone area code of Beijing * 010, the Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the R ...

Royal Air Force units and formations of the Battle of Britain Military units and formations established in 1918 Military units and formations disestablished in 1932 Military units and formations established in 1940

Military units and formations disestablished in 1945 1918 establishments in the United Kingdom

History

Order of Battle 1 August 1940

Commanders

1918 to 1932

1940 to 1945

See also

References