RAF Ferry Command: Difference between revisions

'''RAF Ferry Command''' was the secretive [[Royal Air Force]] [[Command (military formation)|command]] formed on 20 July 1941 to [[Ferry flying|ferry]] urgently needed aircraft from their place of manufacture in the United States and Canada, to the front line operational units in Britain, Europe, North Africa and the Middle East during the Second World War.

The practice of ferrying aircraft from US manufacturers to the UK was begun by the [[Minister of Aircraft Production|Ministry of Aircraft Production]]. Its minister, [[Lord Beaverbrook]], a Canadian by origin, reached an agreement with [[Edward Wentworth Beatty|Sir Edward Beatty]], a friend and chairman of the [[Canadian Pacific Railway Company]], to provide ground facilities and support. MAP would discretelydiscreetly provide civilian crews and management. Previously, aircraft werehad beingbeen assembled, then disassembleddismantled and then transported by ship across the Atlantic, and were subject to long delays and frequent attacks by German U-Boats.

Former RAF officer [[Don Bennett]], a specialist in long distance flying and later Air Vice Marshal and commander of the [[Pathfinder force]], personally led the first test delivery formation flight in November 1940.<ref name="juno" /> The mission was so successful that by 1941, MAP took the operation out of the hands of CPR to put the whole operationit under the Atlantic Ferry Organization ("Atfero") which was set up by [[Morris Wilson|Morris W. Wilson]], a banker in [[Montreal]]. Wilson hired civilian pilots of widely different backgrounds and nationalities to fly the aircraft to the UK. Because the planes were now being flown on their own, each aircraft required specially trained navigators and radio operators. These crews were then ferriedbrought back by ships in convoys. "Atfero hired the pilots, planned the routes, selected the airports [and] set up weather and radiocommunication stations."<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,851303,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090805130949/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,851303,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=5 August 2009 |title=World War In the Air: One Way Airline |journal=[[Time magazine|Time]] |date=20 October 1941 |url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |first=Jeffrey |last=Davis |title=ATFERO: The Atlantic Ferry Organization |journal=[[Journal of Contemporary History]] |volume=20 |number=1 |date=January 1985 |pages=71–97 | doi = 10.1177/002200948502000104 |s2cid=162187889 }}</ref>

Aircraft were first transported to [[Dorval Airport]] near [[Montreal]], and then flown to [[CFB Gander|RCAF Station Gander]] in [[Dominion of Newfoundland|Newfoundland]] for the trans-Atlantic flight.<ref name="juno" /> The organization was passed to Air Ministry administration, though retaining civilian pilots, some of whom were Americans, alongside RAF and RCAF pilots, navigators<ref>{{cite book |title=Boeing B-17 Fortress in RAF Coastal Command Service |first=Robert M. |last=Stitt |publisher=Mushroom Model Publications |year=2010 |isbn=978-8-38945-088-3}}</ref> and radio operators. The crews were briefed by local meteorologists including [[R. E. Munn]]. After completing delivery, crews were eventually flown back to Canada, returning to Dorval for their next run.<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1941/1941%20-%202889.html |title=Atlantic Ferry |issue=1719 |volume=XL |pages=e–g |journal=Flight |date=4 December 1941}}</ref>

Ferry Command was subsumed into the new [[RAF Transport Command|Transport Command]] on 25 March 1943 by being reduced to Group status as [[No. 45 Group RAF|No 45 (Atlantic Ferry) Group]].<ref name=air/> [[No. 45 Group RAF]]'s main task was the ferrying of U.S. and Canadian built aircraft across the Atlantic. It also administratedadministered trans-Atlantic passenger and freight services. The group still retained responsibility for Atlantic aircraft ferrying operations, but Transport Command was a worldwide formation, rather than a single-mission command. Bowhill became the first commander of Transport Command.<ref name=air/>

On 8 September 1944, [[No. 231 Squadron RAF]] reformed at [[Dorval]], Canada, from No. 45 Group Communications Squadron. The squadonsquadron's [[PB2Y Coronado|Coronado flying boats]] operated between North America, West Africa and the UK, using [[Largs]] on the [[Firth of Clyde]] as its British terminal. Other flights were flown with landplanes, using several of the types available to No. 45 Group as required. In September 1945 the squadron moved to [[Bermuda]], where it disbanded on 15 January 1946.<ref name="Halley1988"/>Halley 1988, p. 299.</ref>

In summer 1945, 45 Group included No. 112 (North Atlantic) Wing at Dorval, with 231 Squadron, 5 Aircraft Preparation Unit, 6 Ferry Unit all at Dorval; 6 APU at Bermuda; 313 Ferry Training Unit at North Bay; and RAF Station Reykjavik with the RAF Hospital there and No. 9 Mechanical Transport Company.<ref>[https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.3138/9781442677982-018/pdf Ocean Bridge, Appendix C].</ref>

By the end of the war, crossing the Atlantic had become an almost routine operation, presaging the inauguration of scheduled commercial air transport services after the war.<ref name="juno">{{cite web |url=http://www.junobeach.org/canada-in-wwii/articles/ferrying-aircrafts-overseas/ |title=Ferrying Aircraft Overseas |work=[[Juno Beach Centre]]|date=31 March 2014 }}</ref>

''[[Above and Beyond (mini seriesminiseries)|Above and Beyond]]'' (2006), a [[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation]] (CBC) four-hour mini-series, was inspired by the true story of RAF Ferry Command, recounting the delivery of aircraft across the North Atlantic to the Royal Air Force. The film concludes with the departure of Don Bennett and the handover of control to RAF Command. The [[Lockheed Hudson]] is the primary aircraft portrayed in the mini-series, in the form of a real -life example alongside numerous [[Computer-generated imagery|CGI]] Hudsons.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cbc.ca/aboveandbeyond/ |title=Above & Beyond |work=Canadian Broadcasting Corporation |access-date=15 July 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070812230119/http://www.cbc.ca/aboveandbeyond/ |archive-date=12 August 2007}}</ref>

* {{cite journal |url=http://speeches.empireclub.org/62592/data |first=R. L. G. |last=Marix |author-link=Reginald Marix |title=Some Aspects of the Royal Air Force Transport Command |journal=The [[Empire Club of Canada]] Addresses |location=Toronto, Canada |date=4 November 1943 |pages=96–114}}