History
No 1 Group was originally formed on Saturday 1 April 1918 in No 1 Area, which was renamed the South-Eastern Area on 8 May 1918, Southern Area on 20 September 1919 and Inland Area on 1 April 1920.
The Group was renumbered as No 6 Group on 19 May 1924 at RAF Kenley, and was reformed on the same day at Kidbrooke. Two years later on 12 April 1926 the Group disappeared from the order of battle by being renumbered as No 21 Group.
The next year the Group was reformed on 25 August 1937 by the renaming of Air Defence Group. This designation lasted until 1936 when it became No 6 Group again. As in 1924 the Group was reformed the same day, this time as a bomber formation.
By this time the Group had shrunk to ten squadrons, all equipped with Fairey Battle aircraft and located in pairs at Abingdon, RAF Harwell, RAF Benson, Boscombe Down and Bicester. On receipt of orders to move to France in 1939, Headquarters No 1 Group became Headquarters Advanced Air Striking Force and the station headquarters and associated squadrons became Nos. 71, 72, 74, 75 and 76 Wings respectively. The Group re-emerged a few days later within Bomber Command on 12 September, but only lasted just over three months, being dropped on 22 December 1939.
It was reformed at RAF Bawtry on 22 June 1940 where No.1 Group was based for 44 years and has been continuously active in the RAF ever since inception. No.1 Group also operated the Thor ballistic missile between 1958 and August 1963, with ten squadrons each with three missiles being equipped with the weapon. When Bomber Command was subsumed into the new Strike Command on 1 April 1968, No. 1 Group took on the old role of the command, holding the bomber and strike aircraft of Strike Command. In around 1984, Headquarters No 1 Group moved from RAF Bawtry in South Yorkshire to RAF Upavon in Wiltshire.
On 1 April 1996 No 2 Group RAF was disbanded by being absorbed into No 1 Group.
In January 2000 the RAF was restructured and the Group took on its present role. The Group is responsible for UK air defence operations through QRA North at RAF Leuchars and QRA South at RAF Coningsby. However since the disestablishment of Combined Air Operations Centre 9 at RAF High Wycombe, actual control of the fighters is now carried out from a NATO Combined Air Operations Centre in Denmark, CAOC 1 at Finderup. However, High Wycombe retains an air defence direction capability, and the UK Representative there could take back control over QRA South if it was necessary to respond to a terrorist threat from the air.
Read more about this topic: No. 1 Group RAF
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