From the Beginnings of the RAF to World War II
PreRAF
The first manned flight of an aircraft - the Wright Fyler carrying Orville Wright - had only taken place on the 17 December 1903 (Grant 2002 pg26). However the military potential of aircraft had quickly been realised and in 1911 the Prime Minister Herbert Asquith instructed the Committee of Imperial Defence to examine the question of naval and military aviation (RAF 2003). On their recommendations the Royal Flying Corps, which was made up of a Naval wing and a Military wing, was formed on the 13 May 1903.
The Naval wing of the RFC later became the Royal Naval Air Service in July 1914 (Taylor 2003 pg 100).
World War I
World War I was essentially conducted on the ground and at sea, with air power playing a very limited role. At the beginning of WW I most aircraft were not armed and were essentially observation platforms for spotting enemy positions and directing artillery fire. (Army Air Corps 2005). The aircraft themselves were relatively light such as the B.E.2 . However a offensive capability , began to develop - initially hand grenades dropped from the second seat by hand, and rifles carried by the observe. And from 1917 specialist armed fighter and bomber aircraft such as the S.E.5a fighter and Hadley Page O/400 bomber began to appear. However the RFC and RNAS were only playing a supporting role to the ground/sea battles taking place
The Royal Air Force
Towards the end of World War One on the 1 April 1918 the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) were amalgamated to form The Royal Air Force (RAF) under the command of Lord Trenchard [add link to biog]. (Gunston 1992). The newly formed RAF was tasked with continuing to provide support to the army and navy and also with the strategic role of taking the fight to heart of the enemy in the form of strategic bombing (Grant 2002 pg 101).
However after the end of WW I the RAF was cut back from 188 squadrons to just 12 (Taylor 2003 pg 118).
World War Two
The inter war years are considered to be the golden years of civilian flight, however very little money was spent on military aircraft development. And the RAFs role during the inter war years was one of policing the Empire - for instance the RAF in 1921 assumed military control of Mesopotamia (RAF 2003a).
In 1935, with a potential conflict looming, the RAF consisted of just 25 regular squadrons of mainly old fashioned bi-planes such as the Bristol Bulldog (Chant 1993). Rapid expansion was required to meet the potential threat from the newly formed German airforce - the Lutwaffe - which exceed the RAF in size and in 1936 the RAF was structured into 4 semiautonomous Commands - Fighter Command, Bomber Command, Coastal Command and Training Command (RAF 2003a), this command structure, although with very strong organisational merits, tended to lead to political infighting between the heads of Bomber Command and Fighter Command, with both commands wanting a larger share of the limited resources (e.g. men and machines).
As will later be seen a fortunate decision was made by Sir Thomas Inskip the Minister for Co-ordination of Defence in 1937 to concentrate on building up RAF fighter numbers rather than bomber numbers (Chant 1993 pg 14). And in 1937 the next generation of RAF fighter began to appear with the Hawker Hurricane [add link] and then later in 1938 the Supermarine Spitfire (a descendant of the Schinder Trophy winning Supermarine s4 and s5) appeared.
Fighter Command
In 1936 Air Chief Marshall Sir Hugh Dowding was appointed Commander in Chief of Fighter Command (RAF 2004). Dowding was responsible for setting up Fighter Commands highly effective and flexible command and control structure which allowed Fighter Command’s resources to be quickly and effectively deployed against a German air attack. (see figure below) This structure proved itself during the Battle of Britain.
the Battle of Britain
The Battle of Britain is arguably one of the most famous air battles. It took place during the late summer of 1940, there is no precise start and finish date for the battle, however an air ministry booklet in 1941 put the starting date as 8 August 1940 and the finishing date as 31 October 1940 (Jenkins 2001 pg 631). Its generally thought that the RAF during the battle was outnumbered, short on planes and pilots. This was not quite the case, earlier in the war Dowding had famously refused Winston Churchill’;s request to send more fighter aircraft to help defend France on the basis that if France fell then Fighter Command would loose aircraft that would be needed in the defence of Great Britain (Dowding 1940).
As a result of Dowding’s efforts at Fighter Command, Sir Thomas Inskips earlier decision to concentrate on building up RAF fighter numbers and also Lord Beaverbrooks actions as Minister of Aircraft Production Fighter Command actually had 1,032 fighters available compared to the Lutwaffe 1,011 (Jenkins 2001, pg632).
The available fighter aircraft coupled with the new chain home Radar and Fighter Command“s command and control structure meant that the RAF was in a strong position to repel the Lutwaffe.
Bomber Command
Churchill, Inskip and others realised that although fighter were need at the beginning of WWII to defend the UK, to win the war the enemies ability to fight had to be reduced. Offensive bombing was the one of the few ways post Dunkirk that the fight could be taken to the enemy. Brian Grafton (2001) states
Churchill himself stated“ US Ambassador Joe Kennedy was shipping his daughter back to the States while announcing to anyone who would listen that the British were finished. The British did not listen. The fought back. Their weapon of choicen weapon, in truth, their only viable weapon was Bomber Command.”
“The fighters are our salvation but the bombers alone provide the means of victory. We must therefore develop the power to carry an ever-increasing volume of explosives to Germany, so as to pulverise their entire industry and scientific structure on which the war effort and economic life of the enemy depends, whilst holding him at arms length from our island (Grafton 2001, also Beetham u.d. and other sources).”
At the start of the war however Bomber Command consisted mainly of light and medium bombers such as the Fairey Battle, Bristol Blenheim and Vickors-Armstrong Wellington (Beetham u.d. and Chant 1993 pg 36). By 1940 new ’heavies’ such as the Hadley Page Stirling and Halifax began appearing, and in 1942 the famous Avro Lancaster entered service (RAF 2004a). A switch in tactics also occurred, Bomber Command started the war using precision bombing which incurred high aircraft losses then in 1940 the switch to the controversial policy of area bombing (Chant 1993, pg 42) was made.
Air Chief Marshall Sir Arthur Harris (known as bomber Harris) became Air Officer Commanding in Chief of Bomber Comnmand on 22 February 1942 (RAF 2004) and pursued the idea of area bombing with the 1000 aircraft raids on Germany which began in May 1942 with a raid on Cologne and culminated with the Dresden raid in 1945. Between 25,000 and 40,000 people were killed in the Dresden raid (Oestreicher 2004). The arguments over area bombing and the justification for such raids continue today.