No. 242 Group was a group of the British

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) a ...

(RAF) formed on 24 August 1942. Its first commander was Air Commodore George Lawson.

History

Air Commodore Kenneth Cross took over command on 22 February 1943 when the group was a sub-command of the

Northwest African Tactical Air Force The Northwest African Tactical Air Force (NATAF) was a component of the Northwest African Air Forces which itself reported to the Mediterranean Air Command (MAC). These new Allied air force organizations were created at the Casablanca Conference i ...

(NATAF) under Acting Air Marshal Sir Arthur Coningham. NATAF itself had just become one of the three major combat commands of the Northwest African Air Forces (NAAF) as a result of the major Allied air force reorganization that occurred at the

Casablanca Conference The Casablanca Conference (codenamed SYMBOL) or Anfa Conference was held at the Anfa Hotel in Casablanca, French Morocco, from January 14 to 24, 1943, to plan the Allied European strategy for the next phase of World War II. In attendance were ...

in January 1943. At Casablanca, Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Tedder persuaded American President

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As th ...

, British Prime Minister

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from 1 ...

, and their staffs to establish an air force command structure based on the previously successful coordination of No. 205 (Heavy Bomber) Group, No. 201 (Naval Co-operation) Group, and AHQ Western Desert during the North African Campaign of 1942, primarily in Egypt and Libya. The Casablanca planners saw merit in Tedder's plan and established the Mediterranean Air Command (MAC) with Tedder as Air Commander-in-Chief of the Allied air forces in the North African and

Mediterranean Theater of Operations The Mediterranean Theater of Operations, United States Army (MTOUSA), originally called the North African Theater of Operations, United States Army (NATOUSA), was a military formation of the United States Army that supervised all U.S. Army forc ...

(MTO). NAAF under the command of Lieutenant General Carl Spaatz became the major sub-command of MAC and based on Tedder's ''tri-force'' model, was invested with three major sub-commands: * Northwest African Strategic Air Force (NASAF) under Major General

Jimmy Doolittle James Harold Doolittle (December 14, 1896 – September 27, 1993) was an American military general and aviation pioneer who received the Medal of Honor for his daring raid on Japan during World War II. He also made early coast-to-coast flights ...

Northwest African Coastal Air Force The Northwest African Coastal Air Force (NACAF) was a specialized functional command of the combined Northwest African Air Forces. The Mediterranean Air Command (MAC) oversaw the combined air forces until superseded by the MAAF. The NACAF had re ...

(NACAF) under Air Vice Marshal Sir Hugh Lloyd and *

(NATAF) under Acting Air Marshal Sir Arthur Coningham. The new unified ''tri-force'' command structure was implemented and practiced during the Tunisian, Pantellerian, Sicilian, and Italian campaigns. The intended successful coordination of these ''tri-forces'' was immediately put into practice when Spaatz placed most of the strategic bombers at Coningham's disposal during a critical period of the Tunisian campaign at the end of February and the beginning of March 1943. While the subordinate commands of NASAF, NACAF, and NATAF were fixed and permanent throughout most of 1943, No. 242 Group was a major exception to this rigidity. It was the largest air force unit that was assigned to two different ''tri-forces'': NATAF and NACAF. This unique history imparts a certain degree of flexibility, versatility, and importance to the group. During the same critical period of the Tunisian campaign mentioned above, No. 242 Group flew over 1,000 offensive sorties in just five days against ground targets as part of Coningham's NATAF. Prior to the

Allied invasion of Sicily The Allied invasion of Sicily, also known as Operation Husky, was a major campaign of World War II in which the Allied forces invaded the island of Sicily in July 1943 and took it from the Axis powers ( Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany). It beg ...

(Operation Husky), No. 242 Group was transferred from NATAF to NACAF. At this time, the group consisted of the units indicated in the table below.

Order of Battle, 10 July 1943

No. 242 Group
Air Commodore Kenneth Cross,
Headquarters at La Marsa, Tunisia. Notes:
ASR=Air Sea Rescue; RAAF=Royal Australian Air Force.

MACAF

When MAC was disbanded on 10 December 1943 and the Allied air forces in the MTO were again reorganized, No. 242 Group was assigned to the Mediterranean Allied Coastal Air Force also commanded by Lloyd. Air Commodore G. Harcourt-Smith took over command of No. 242 Group on 24 February 1944 until the group was disbanded on 14 September 1944.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:242 Military units and formations disestablished in 1944 Military units and formations established in 1942 North African campaign Royal Air Force groups of the Second World War