RAF Army Cooperation Command was a short-lived major command of the Royal Air Force during World War II, comprising the army cooperation units of the RAF.
The command was formed on 1 December 1940 when No. 22 (Army Co-Operation) Group, previously a part of Fighter Command, was raised to command status.
Its function was to act as the focus for activities connected with the interaction of the British Army and the RAF, such as close air support, tactical reconnaissance, artillery spotting, training of anti-aircraft defences. However, it proved to be a controversial command with the Chief of the Imperial General Staff General Sir Alan Brooke being an implacable foe of the command arrangement. Its existence was eventually brought to an end on 31 March 1943, when most of its assets were used to form the Second Tactical Air Force.
The command had only had one CO during its short existence, Air Marshal Sir Arthur Barratt.
Read more about RAF Army Cooperation Command: Units
Famous quotes containing the words army, cooperation and/or command:
“My topic for Army reunions ... this summer: How to prepare for war in time of peace. Not by fortifications, by navies, or by standing armies. But by policies which will add to the happiness and the comfort of all our people and which will tend to the distribution of intelligence [and] wealth equally among all. Our strength is a contented and intelligent community.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)
“We should have an army so organized and so officered as to be capable in time of emergency, in cooperation with the National Militia, and under the provision of a proper national volunteer law, rapidly to expand into a force sufficient to resist all probable invasion from abroad and to furnish a respectable expeditionary force if necessary in the maintenance of our traditional American policy which bears the name of President Monroe.”
—William Howard Taft (1857–1930)
“Diamonds may have been a girl’s best friend in an era when a woman’s only hope of having a high family income was to marry a man who was well-off, but today, marketable skills that will enable a woman to command a good income over her lifetime are a better investment.”
—Grace Baruch (20th century)