Intelligence services An intelligence agency is a government agency responsible for the collection, analysis, and exploitation of information in support of law enforcement, national security, military, public safety, and foreign policy objectives. Means of informatio ...

in 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) an ...

are delivered by Officers of the Royal Air Force Intelligence Branch and Airmen from the Intelligence Analyst Trade and Intelligence Analyst (Voice) Trade. The specialisation has around 1,200 personnel of all ranks posted to operational air stations, HQs and other establishments of the British Armed Forces, both in the United Kingdom and overseas.

History

RAF Intelligence Branch established in the Second World War

Personnel have been employed in intelligence duties since the formation of the RAF in 1918. But the first dedicated RAF Intelligence Branch was established in late 1939 following the outbreak of 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 opposi ...

on 3 September. This model was also adopted by other Commonwealth nations. The new Intelligence Branch was initially called the General Duties (Admin) Branch but later renamed the Administrative and Special Duties Branch (for Intelligence duties). At the time, officers of the Intelligence Branch performed the duty of Squadron Intelligence/Protection Officer or aircrew on ground tours in the

Air Ministry The Air Ministry was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force, that existed from 1918 to 1964. It was under the political authority of the Secretary of State ...

Intelligence Department. These officers were mainly trained pilots on a ground tour or who for medical reasons could no longer fly. In 1939 the Secret Intelligence Service also established a dedicated Air Intelligence Section under the command of Group Captain F. W. Winterbotham (Chief of Air Intelligence,

MI-6 The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 ( Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intelligen ...

). During the Second World War, the Intelligence Branch became larger to encompass the Signals Intelligence staff at

Bletchley Park Bletchley Park is an English country house and estate in Bletchley, Milton Keynes ( Buckinghamshire) that became the principal centre of Allied code-breaking during the Second World War. The mansion was constructed during the years followin ...

and the Imagery Intelligence staff at

RAF Medmenham RAF Medmenham is a former Royal Air Force station based at Danesfield House near Medmenham, in Buckinghamshire, England. Activities there specialised in photographic intelligence, and it was once the home of the RAF Intelligence Branch. Durin ...

Training during the Second World War

At the outbreak of war, the Air Ministry recognised the need for formalised Intelligence training and established a number of courses to teach Volunteer Reserve Officers the art of intelligence analysis. Much of this early training was very simplistic and did little more than introduce those to be employed in intelligence duties to the structure of the secretive organisation and where sources came from. The first series of courses started on 20 November 1939 at Hibbert Road in Harrow. These were short courses of seven days' duration giving a broad picture of intelligence in Commands, Groups and Stations. After five of these courses had been run, the training was moved to 14 Ryder Street, St James, London. In September 1940 they moved back to Harrow to Fisher Road School, Wealdstone. Incorporated into the syllabus was the Advanced Intelligence Course, designed for Senior RAF Intelligence Officers from operational commands, and certain Royal Naval and British Army intelligence officers. The first of these courses started on 28 October 1940 and was three weeks in duration. This series continued without interruption and in 1942 developed into the RAF Intelligence School. In September 1942, the training school moved to Caen Wood Towers (Caenwood Towers),

Highgate Highgate ( ) is a suburban area of north London at the northeastern corner of Hampstead Heath, north-northwest of Charing Cross. Highgate is one of the most expensive London suburbs in which to live. It has two active conservation organisat ...

(this building was later renamed Athlone House). By this time it was clear to the Air Staff that intelligence was a positive and vital element affecting

policy, strategy and planning, so the RAF Intelligence School was officially constituted and given a proper home at Caen Wood Towers. The site was set up as Royal Air Force Station Highgate around grounds and outbuildings of the Caen Wood estate. This included accommodation, messing, equipment stores and a medical centre. Because of the sensitivity of intelligence and covert operations during the war, the site was not made fully public and it operated under the guise of an RAF convalescence hospital. A number of different courses were run lasting between five days and three weeks, teaching Air Intelligence, Escape and Evasion, and Basic Intelligence Analysis for direct entrants to intelligence work. The majority of the instruction was given by visiting specialists (from Air Ministry, MI-6, MI-9, Central Interpretation Unit Medmenham and Station "X" at Bletchley Park.) The unit was soon awarded a badge (crest) as a proof of the high official regard for the value of the school. The badge consisted of a

Sphinx A sphinx ( , grc, σφίγξ , Boeotian: , plural sphinxes or sphinges) is a mythical creature with the head of a human, the body of a lion, and the wings of a falcon. In Greek tradition, the sphinx has the head of a woman, the haunches of ...

, denoting wisdom, backed by a sun in splendour, depicting elucidation, with the motto ''Praemonitus Praemunitus'' which translates as "Forewarned is Forearmed". In 1943, the Unit was transferred for administrative purposes to No. 28 Group RAF under

RAF Technical Training Command Technical Training Command was an organization within the Royal Air Force which controlled units responsible for delivering aircraft maintenance training and other non-flying training, initially in Berkshire and then in Cambridgeshire. History T ...

. Additional courses were added for Security, Air Intelligence for RAF Bomber Command, a Far East Course and Air Intelligence for Senior Officers. During the period from November 1939 to September 1945, 7,086 Officers of the British Services (including

dominion The term ''Dominion'' is used to refer to one of several self-governing nations of the British Empire. "Dominion status" was first accorded to Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Newfoundland, South Africa, and the Irish Free State at the 192 ...

and Allied Forces attached to the RAF) attended over 372 courses. In late 1944, the school was hit twice by German V-1 flying bombs causing damage to the buildings and injuring a number of staff.

After the Second World War

Following the end of the war, training continued at RAF Highgate until 1948 when the Air Ministry decided that the School should move to the Air Ministry building as they were de-requisitioning the property. The Branch was split up into Administrative and Special Duties Branch (Photography) and Administrative and Special Duties Branch (Signals), with no dedicated Air Intelligence specialisation. In 1965, the three service intelligence departments were amalgamated in the new

Defence Intelligence Staff Defence Intelligence (DI) is an organisation within the United Kingdom intelligence community which focuses on gathering and analysing military intelligence. It differs from the UK's intelligence agencies ( MI6, GCHQ and MI5) in that it is a ...

at the Ministry of Defence. Training at the RAF Intelligence School continued until 1969, teaching non-specialist Officers (GD and Administrators) the basics of Intelligence. The role of Squadron or Station Intelligence Officer was filled by members of the Administrative Branch as a sub-specialisation. On 2 August 1969, the RAF Intelligence School was officially closed and intelligence training was transferred to the School of Service Intelligence (SSI) at Ashford, Kent. In the 1950s the Photographic Interpretation (PI) Branch was formed for commissioned officers to be employed at the

reconnaissance In military operations, reconnaissance or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enemy forces, terrain, and other activities. Examples of reconnaissance include patrolling by troops (skirmisher ...

intelligence centres attached to aircraft units, and also to work at the

Joint Air Reconnaissance Intelligence Centre The Defence Intelligence Fusion Centre (DIFC) is based at RAF Wyton in Cambridgeshire. Largely created from the staff of the National Imagery Exploitation Centre (formerly known as the Joint Air Reconnaissance Intelligence Centre (JARIC)) and th ...

(JARIC) at

RAF Brampton RAF Brampton was a non-flying Royal Air Force installation near Huntingdon in Cambridgeshire, England. Formerly the home of RAF Support Command, it also became the home of several elements of Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S), which itself was ...

. By the start of the 1990s, the RAF could see the benefit of an independent Intelligence Branch, creating the GD (Intelligence) Branch. They required more information and warning on the potential enemies around the world in order to maintain the diminishing RAF's ability to react. In 1997, GD (INT) became the Operations Support (Intelligence) specialisation that is in existence today. However, training for officers focused on imagery analysis with general intelligence being taught at Ashford on a three week course at the Defence Intelligence and Security School (DISS), the renamed SSI. The first professional Air Intelligence course (RAF Intelligence Course - RAFIC) was run in the Air Intelligence Wing of DISS in 2000, following the school's move to Chicksands in Bedfordshire. After the first two courses, the Royal Navy was invited to send officers to attend and the course was renamed the Joint Air Intelligence Course (JAIC). In 2005, DISS became part of the Defence College of Intelligence and the Air Intelligence Wing was renamed Horus Training Delivery Wing. Following a re-organisation in 2007, the structure was changed again and the Defence School of Intelligence (DSI) was set up with Air Intelligence Wing as a sub-organisation as the Phase 2 training unit (professional specialist training) for all RAF Intelligence Analyst Airmen, RAF Intelligence Officers, plus as a Phase 3 training unit (Continuation Specialist Training) for RAF Intelligence Analyst NCOs and Royal Navy and British Army Officers employed in air intelligence duties.

Training

Entrants to the specialisation undertake common training at

RAF College Cranwell The Royal Air Force College (RAFC) is the Royal Air Force military academy which provides initial training to all RAF personnel who are preparing to become commissioned officers. The College also provides initial training to aircrew cadets and ...

for officers and RAF Halton for airmen. Following initial training, entrants are posted to the Joint Intelligence Training Group (JITG) Chicksands, in Shefford,

Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated Beds) is a ceremonial county in the East of England. The county has been administered by three unitary authorities, Borough of Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Borough of Luton, since Bedfordshire County Council ...

for specialist training. The Air Intelligence Wing of the Defence School of Intelligence (DSI) delivers the Joint Air Intelligence Course (JAIC) to officers and the Operational Air Intelligence Course (OpAIC) to airmen. These courses prepare the individual for posting to intelligence roles. After completion of the first tour of duty, airmen can choose to further specialise in

Imagery Imagery is visual symbolism, or figurative language that evokes a mental image or other kinds of sense impressions, especially in a literary work, but also in other activities such as psychotherapy. Forms There are five major types of sensory im ...

Signals In signal processing, a signal is a function that conveys information about a phenomenon. Any quantity that can vary over space or time can be used as a signal to share messages between observers. The ''IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing'' ...

Analysis. These Phase 2 specialist courses are delivered in the joint environment alongside intelligence specialists of the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

or Ministry of Defence civil servants. Further training courses are provided throughout a career, in; Intelligence Mission Support, Collections Management, Cyber Warfare,

Human Intelligence Human intelligence is the intellectual capability of humans, which is marked by complex cognitive feats and high levels of motivation and self-awareness. High intelligence is associated with better outcomes in life. Through intelligence, humans ...

, PsyOps, ISR Management; including the QWI ISR Course and Targeting.

Staff roles and trades

Entrants to the branch are initially trained as general intelligence analysts and can later sub-specialise in one of a number of trades. Personnel in each sub-specialisation can be employed in a number of locations.

Officer sub-specialisation

* Generalist Air Intelligence officer: Squadron Intelligence Officer, Station Intelligence Officer, Air Intelligence Centre (AIC) Analyst * Staff Officer (Intelligence): JFC, JFIG, PJHQ, Air Command, AWC, 1 Group, JFACHQ * Command Officer (Intelligence) * Intelligence, Surveillance & Reconnaissance (ISR) Manager * Collections Manager * Human Intelligence (

HUMINT Human intelligence (abbreviated HUMINT and pronounced as ''hyoo-mint'') is intelligence gathered by means of interpersonal contact, as opposed to the more technical intelligence gathering disciplines such as signals intelligence (SIGINT), imager ...

) Operator * Targeteer: Kinetic Targets and Information Operations

Airmen/Non-commissioned officer sub-specialisation

* Generalist air intelligence analyst * Generalist Joint intelligence analyst * Imagery analyst * Mission Intelligence Coordinator * Signal intelligence analyst * Human intelligence operator * Linguist (Int An (V)) As with all RAF trades and sub-specialisations personnel can be employed in a range of locations within the trade or in the wider organisation. These can include: *

Defence Intelligence Defence Intelligence (DI) is an organisation within the United Kingdom intelligence community which focuses on gathering and analysing military intelligence. It differs from the UK's intelligence agencies (MI6, GCHQ and MI5) in that it is an ...

* Operational HQ Intelligence –

PJHQ The Permanent Joint Headquarters (PJHQ) is the British tri-service headquarters from where all overseas military operations are planned and controlled. It is situated at Northwood Headquarters in Northwood, London. The Permanent Joint Headquarter ...

JFACHQ The Joint Force Air Component Headquarters (JFACHQ) is the United Kingdom's deployable air command and control unit. The JFACHQ is run by the Royal Air Force with representation from the other services. The JFACHQ has members from the operatio ...

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

, other service exchange *

Air Warfare Centre The Air and Space Warfare Centre (ASWC) is a Royal Air Force research and testing organisation based at RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire. It has a training branch nearby as a lodger unit of RAF Cranwell and other branches elsewhere, including ...

* Joint Force Intelligence Group –

Defence Intelligence Fusion Centre The Defence Intelligence Fusion Centre (DIFC) is based at RAF Wyton in Cambridgeshire. Largely created from the staff of the National Imagery Exploitation Centre (formerly known as the Joint Air Reconnaissance Intelligence Centre (JARIC)) and th ...

* Station Intelligence – Air Command flying stations * Squadron Intelligence – Flying squadrons * Defence HUMINT Unit (DHU) * Instructional duties

Heads of RAF Intelligence

Heads of RAF Intelligence have been: *Air Vice-Marshal Charles E.H. Medhurst (March 1941 – October 1942) *Air Vice-Marshal Francis F. Inglis (October 1942 – August 1945) *Air Vice-Marshal Sir Thomas W. Elmhirst (August 1945 – January 1947) *Air Vice-Marshal Lawrence F. Pendred (January 1947 – January 1950) *Air Vice-Marshal Neill C. Ogilvie-Forbes (January 1950 – May 1952) *Air Vice-Marshal Francis J. Fressanges (May 1952 – September 1954) *Air Vice-Marshal William M.L. MacDonald (September 1954 – August 1958) *Air Vice-Marshal Sidney O. Bufton (August 1958 – September 1961) *Air Vice-Marshal Alick Foord-Kelcey (September 1961 – December 1964) *Air Vice-Marshal Harold J. Maguire (December 1964 – April 1965)

Former members of RAF Intelligence

* F.F.E. Yeo-Thomas

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

Croix de Guerre, RAF Intelligence Officer and SOE Agent during WWII, captured and tortured by the

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one orga ...

before being sent to Buchenwald concentration camp, awarded the George Cross. *

Constance Babington Smith Constance Babington Smith MBE, FRSL (15 October 1912 – 31 July 2000) was a British journalist and writer, but is probably best known for her wartime work in imagery intelligence. Early life Constance Babington Smith was born on 15 Octo ...

MBE Legion of Merit FRSL, author & Journalist (

WAAF WAAF may refer to: * w3af, (short for web application attack and audit framework), an open-source web application security scanner * Women's Auxiliary Air Force, a British military service in World War II ** Waaf, a member of the service * WAAF (AM ...

Photographic Interpreter – credited with the discovery of the V1 Programme) * Noor Inayat Khan GC, WAAF Section Officer and SOE Agent during WWII, captured and executed, posthumously awarded the George Cross * Sarah Churchill (Baroness Audley), actress and Winston Churchill’s Daughter (WAAF Photographic Interpreter during WWII) *

Peter Calvocoressi Peter John Ambrose Calvocoressi (17 November 1912 – 5 February 2010) was a British lawyer, Liberal politician, historian, and publisher. He served as an intelligence officer at Bletchley Park during World War II. Early years Calvocoressi w ...

, British lawyer, historian and publisher (RAF intelligence officer at Bletchley Park during WW2) *

Michael Bentine Michael Bentine, (born Michael James Bentin; 26 January 1922General Register Office for England and Wales – Birth Register for the March Quarter of 1922, Watford Registration District, Reference 3a 1478, listed as "Michael J. Bentin", mother ...

CBE, comedian and actor (RAF Intelligence Officer during WWII) *Sir Christopher Lee CBE CStJ, actor (RAF Intelligence Officer during WW2) * Pam Ayres MBE, poet, comedian, songwriter & presenter (WRAF Plotter Aerial Photography) * Alex Coomber, former British Olympic Women's Skeleton bobsledder - Bronze Medal at

2002 Winter Olympics The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Salt Lake 2002 ( arp, Niico'ooowu' 2002; Gosiute Shoshoni: ''Tit'-so-pi 2002''; nv, Sooléí 2002; Shoshoni: ''Soónkahni 2002''), was an internation ...

(RAF Intelligence Officer) * Vera Elkan, South African photographer and filmmaker. * Stuart Gilbert former Director of National Savings in the 1980s. (Served in Burma as a linguist in WW2). *

Cecil Gould Cecil Hilton Monk Gould (24 May 1918 – 7 April 1994) was a British art historian and curator who specialised in Renaissance painting. He was a former Keeper and Deputy Director of the National Gallery in London. Life Born in London in 1 ...

, art historian and former Deputy Director of the National Gallery (RAF Intelligence Officer during WW2) * Sir Max Mallowan CBE, archaeologist and the second husband of Agatha Christie. (RAF Intelligence Officer during WW2) * Dennis Wheatley, author (RAF Intelligence Officer during WW2) *

Tony Scannell Thomas Anthony Scannell (14 August 1945 – 26 May 2020) was an Irish actor, known for his role as DS Ted Roach in ITV's ''The Bill''. Career Scannell's debut on ''The Bill'' was on 23 October 1984, in an episode called "A Friend in Need". In ...

, actor (RAF Intelligence Analyst) * Jackie Gunn, British bobsledder, Silver Medalist in 2005 World Championships (RAF Intelligence Analyst) *F.R. Chappell, author (RAF Intelligence Officer on a Wellington Bomber Squadron during WW2) * F. W. Winterbotham, author (RAF Intelligence Officer during WW2, responsible for devising the system for secure dissemination of Ultra) Former military members * Air Chief Marshal Sir Claude Pelly * Air Chief Marshal Sir John Steel * Air Marshal Sir Victor Goddard *Air Vice-Marshal Alan Ritchie *Air Cdre Archibald Boyle MC OBE CMG, WW2 Director RAF Intelligence and SOE Director of Intelligence & Security * Teddy Pilley, RAF Intelligence Officer and linguist at

(founder of the

International Association of Conference Interpreters The International Association of Conference Interpreters - AIIC (AIIC – Association Internationale des Interprètes de Conférence) was founded in 1953. It represents over 3,000 members present in over 100 countries. Overview AIIC is the only ...

, the

Institute of Linguists Founded as the Institute of Linguists in 1910, the Chartered Institute of Linguists (CIOL) received its Royal Charter in 2005, and is a professional association for language professionals. CIOL supports linguists throughout their careers, and pro ...

and principal of the Linguists' Club) *Sqn Ldr M.J. Stanley, last Officer Commanding of the RAF Intelligence School (1969)

Members of RAF Intelligence in Fiction

*"Skull" Selton, character in Derek Robinson's Piece of Cake *Flt Lt Sandy MacDonald "RAF Intelligence", character in

The Great Escape (film) ''The Great Escape'' is a 1963 American war adventure film starring Steve McQueen, James Garner and Richard Attenborough and featuring James Donald, Charles Bronson, Donald Pleasence, James Coburn, Hannes Messemer, David McCallum, Karl-Ott ...

played by

Gordon Jackson (actor) Gordon Cameron Jackson, (19 December 1923 – 15 January 1990) was a Scottish actor best remembered for his roles as the butler Angus Hudson in '' Upstairs, Downstairs'' and as George Cowley, the head of CI5, in '' The Professionals''. He al ...

Terence Alexander Terence Joseph Alexander (11 March 1923 – 28 May 2009) was an English film and television actor, best known for his role as Charlie Hungerford in the British TV drama ''Bergerac (TV series), Bergerac'', which ran for nine series on BBC One be ...

, played an RAF Intelligence Officer in the 1957 film '' The One That Got Away''.

References

Sources

* *

External links

Official Royal Air Force WebsiteRAF Career - Intelligence Officer

Historical sources

RAF School of Intelligence papers 1942-48, National Archives

Air Ministry, RAF Intelligence School papers 1945-55, National Archives

Summary of lecture delivered at Intelligence Course at R.A.F. Caenwood Towers, Highgate, 1943 - National Archives

Unit badge: R.A.F. Intelligence School, 1943, National Archives

Extract from Shot Down and on the Run, by Graham Pitchfork, 2003
{{Royal Air Force Air intelligence Military units and formations established in 1939 Military units and formations disestablished in 1964 Royal Air Force