List of Royal Air Force commands

This is a list of Royal Air Force commands, both past and present. Although the concept of a command dates back to the foundation of the Royal Air Force, the term command was first used in purely RAF-context in 1936 when Bomber Command, Fighter Command, Coastal Command and Training Command were formed. Since that time the RAF has made considerable use of the term. Until early 2007, the RAF had two commands, Strike Command and Personnel and Training Command, which were co-located at RAF High Wycombe. On 1 April 2007, the two were merged to form Air Command.

Commands

Command	Formation	Disbandment	Controlled	Became
Air Command	April 2007	present		n/a
Air Support Command	August 1967	September 1972		No. 46 Group
Army Cooperation Command	December 1940	May 1943	No. 70 & 71 Groups
Balloon Command	November 1938	June 1945		Balloon Wing
Bomber Command	July 1936	April 1968	All UK based Bomber groups	No. 1 Group
Coastal Command	May 1936	November 1969	All UK based Coastal groups	No. 18 Group
Ferry Command	July 1941	March 1943		No. 45 Group
Fighter Command	July 1936 October 1944	November 1943 April 1968	All UK based Fighter groups	Air Defence of Great Britain No. 11 Group
Flying Training Command	May 1940	June 1968	All UK based training groups No. 21, 23, 25, 50, 51, 54 Groups RAF
Home Command	August 1950	March 1959
Joint Helicopter Command	October 1999	2024	Most of the British Armed Forces helicopter assets	Joint Aviation Command
Joint Aviation Command	2024		Most of the British Armed Forces helicopter assets and the British Army's unmanned aerial systems
Logistics Command	April 1994	April 2000	All Maintenance units
Maintenance Command	April 1938	August 1973	All UK based Maintenance groups
RAF Northern Ireland	August 1940	March 1950	All RAF units in Northern Ireland No. 15 & 82 Groups RAF
Personnel and Training Command	April 1994	April 2007
Reserve Command	February 1939 January 1946	May 1940 August 1950	No. 50, 51 & 54 Groups Unknown	Disbanded Home Command
Signals Command	November 1958	January 1969	RAF Tangmere & RAF Watton	No. 90 Group
Strike Command	April 1968	April 2007	No. 1, 2, 11, 18, 11/18 & 38 Groups	Air Command
Support Command	September 1973	April 1994		Personnel & Training Command Logistics Command
Technical Training Command	May 1940	June 1968	No. 20, 22, 24, 26 & 72 Groups
Training Command	May 1936 June 1968	May 1940 July 1977	No. 20, 21, 23, 24, 25, 26 Groups No. 22, 23 & 24 Groups	Split into Technical Training Command & Flying Training Command Support Command
Transport Command	March 1943	August 1967	No. 44, 45 & 216 Groups	Air Support Command
Air Defence of Great Britain	January 1925 November 1943	July 1936 October 1944	Wessex Bombing Area & Fighting Area Unknown	Disbanded Fighter Command
No. 1 Area	April 1918	May 1918	No.1 - 5 Groups, No. 6 Group and Home Defence units within 27, 49 and 50 Wings	South-Eastern Area
No. 2 Area	April 1918	May 1918	No. 7 - 10 Groups, No. 11 Group and Home Defence units at Gosport	South-Western Area
No. 3 Area	April 1918	May 1918	No. 12 - 14 Groups, No. 15 Group and Home Defence units within 48 Wing	Midland Area
No. 4 Area	April 1918	May 1918	No. 16 - 18 Groups, No. 19 Group and Home Defence units within 46 Wing	North-Eastern Area
No. 5 Area	April 1918	May 1918	No. 20 - 22 Groups, No. 23 Group and units in Ireland	North-Western Area
Training Division RFC	1917	1918	Northern, Southern and Eastern Training Brigades
Coastal Area	1919	1936	No. 10, 29 Groups and RAF Felixstowe	Coastal Command
Central Area	1933	1936	Bomber stations in Central England
Inland Area	1920	1936	No. 1, 3, 7, 21, 22 & 23 Groups and No. 7 & 8 Wings	Training Command
North Eastern Area	1918	1919	No. 16 - 19 Groups	North-Western Area
North Western Area	1918	1919	No. 20 - 23 Groups	Northern Area
Northern Area	1919 1919	1919 1920	No. 16, 17, 18 & 20 Groups No. 3, 12 & 16 Groups	Disbanded Inland Area
South Eastern Area	1918	1919	No. 1, 2, 4 & 10 Groups	Southern Area
South Western Area	1918	1919	No. 7, 8, 9 & 10 Groups	No. 7 Group
Southern Area	1919	1920	No. 1, 2 & 7 Groups	Inland Area
Western Area	1933	1936		No. 3 Group
Allied Expeditionary Air Force	1943	1944	2nd TAF, ADGB, No. 38 & 82 Groups & USAAF 9th Air Force	RAF Element, Forward Supreme HQ Allied Expeditionary Air Forces

Air Headquarters

Command	Formation	Disbandment	Controlled	Became
AHQ Aden	14 October 1937	21 April 1942		H.Q. British Forces, Aden
AHQ Air Defences Eastern Mediterranean	4 March 1943	1 February 1944		Disbanded into AHQ Eastern Mediterranean
AHQ Austria	28 February 1946 28 February 1947	15 August 1946 1 November 1947		RAF Austria Commission Disbanded
AHQ Bengal	20 April 1942 1 August 1944	24 March 1943 4 December 1944		Bengal Command Disbanded into HQ RAF Bengal/Burma
AHQ Burma	20 September 1945	15 December 1947		Disbanded
AHQ Ceylon	16 October 1945	1 November 1957		Disbanded
AHQ Cyprus	9 January 1954 1 April 1976	15 December 1956 present		Disbanded into AHQ Levant Extant as of 2007
AHQ Dee Force	1 October 1942	1 May 1943		Disbanded
AHQ East Africa	25 July 1940 16 November 1942	15 December 1941 15 September 1951		Became No. 207 Group RAF Disbanded
AHQ Eastern Mediterranean	1 February 1944	28 February 1946		Disbanded into No. 219 Group RAF
AHQ Egypt	1 December 1941 31 August 1944	4 March 1943 28 February 1946		Became AHQ Air Defences Eastern Mediterranean Disbanded into No. 219 Group RAF
AHQ Far East	10 January 1941	15 February 1942		Disbanded
AHQ Gibraltar	21 December 1941	30 November 1966		Disbanded
AHQ Greece	1 September 1944	11 January 1947		Disbanded
AHQ Hong Kong	15 May 1946	24 March 1967		Disbanded into British Force Hong Kong
AHQ India	16 August 1939 8 March 1944	8 March 1944 15 August 1947		Disbanded
AHQ Iraq	January 1938 1 March 1946	1 January 1943 1 May 1955		Became AHQ Iraq and Persia Became AHQ Levant
AHQ Iraq and Persia	1 January 1943	1 March 1946		Became AHQ Iraq
AHQ Italy	1 October 1945	6 October 1947		Disbanded
AHQ Levant	1 December 1941 1 May 1955	26 July 1948 1 April 1958		Disbanded
AHQ Libya	20 January 1942	3 February 1942		Became AHQ Western Desert
AHQ Malaya	1 October 1945	31 August 1957		Became No. 224 Group RAF
AHQ Malta	December 1939	30 June 1968		Disbanded
AHQ Netherlands East Indies	1 October 1945	30 November 1946		Disbanded
AHQ Siam	1 October 1945	April 1946		Disbanded
AHQ Singapore	16 February 1953	1 January 1958		Disbanded
AHQ Supreme Commanders Headquarters	15 August 1947	1 December 1947		Disbanded
AHQ West Africa	23 September 1941	1 August 1946		Became No. 500 Wing RAF
AHQ Western Desert	21 October 1941 21 February 1943	3 February 1942 10 July 1943		Became AHQ Libya Became the Desert Air Force
AHQ 'X'	1 September 1944	15 October 1944		Became AHQ Greece