No. 904 Expeditionary Air Wing was a wing 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) an ...
. It was stationed at
Kandahar Airfield
Ahmad Shah Baba International Airport, also referred to as Kandahar International Airport ( ps, د کندهار نړيوال هوايي ډګر) and by some military officials as Kandahar Airfield, KAF) , is located about south-east of the city K ...
in
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
controlling RAF operations at the air base there. It was activated on 1 April 2006 as part of a modernisation package to make the RAF more deployable on an expeditionary basis. It used to report to
No. 83 Expeditionary Air Group.
History
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 opposi ...
, the wing existed for a brief period as 904 Tactical Wing. It was first formed on 1 October 1944 as a tactical wing and its four squadrons were equipped with Republic P-47 Thunderbolts and operated in tactical support of the Fourteenth Army (United Kingdom), Fourteenth Army in the liberation of Burma. In early 1945, the wing was withdrawn from Burma to prepare for supporting the invasion of British Malaya, Malaya scheduled for later in the year; however, the end of the war intervened and the wing was re-roled. It was deployed to Java (island), Java in the Netherlands East Indies in the aftermath of the war, commanded by David Lee (RAF officer), David Lee. Two of its Thunderbolt squadrons were replaced by a Douglas C-47 Skytrain, Douglas Dakota squadron and aircraft of the wing took part in the repatriation of Allied prisoners of the war and internees. Following completion of that task the wing was disbanded on 30 November 1946.
The wing was based at Kandahar Airfield and had a:
* British Aerospace 146 detachment.
* General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper detachment.
* Lockheed Martin C-130J Super Hercules detachment.
* Panavia Tornado GR4 detachment.
References
External links
RAF Web
{{RAF Wings
Royal Air Force wings, E 904
Military units and formations established in 2006