The following is a list of aircraft that was serving in the Royal Air Force's UK-based squadrons at the time of
the '91 Disaster. This list does not include RAF squadrons based overseas.
At the time of the '91 Disaster the Royal Air Force's UK-based force was the largest air arm in Western Europe. Although a 'British' Defence Force, like nearly all military services within the member nations of the New Commonwealth a large portion of its ranks were made up of Commonwealth exchange officers. This integration insured that all of the New Commonwealth armed forces could work harmoniously with one another when war inevitably came.
Fighter Command []
Fighter Command was responsible for defending UK airspace from air attack by hostile forces. It was formed in 1936 to allow more specialised control of fighter aircraft and served throughout the Second World War. It earned great fame during the Battle of Britain, when "the Few" held off the Luftwaffe attack on Britain. In 1991 it was headquartered at RAF Bentley Prior, Harrow. The RAF fighter command split its bases to cover all 5 areas of the UK's airspace (West, North, East, South and Central) In addition to fighter operations the Command also operated the Airborne Early Warning aircraft.
Fighter Command Aircraft on April 1st 1991[]
Panavia Tornado F.2Type | Role | No. of Squadrons | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Avro Arrow F.5 | Long Range Air Defence | 14 squadrons totalling 235 aircraft. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
B.A.C. Erinyes F.1 |
Medium-class Air Defence Fighter |
12 squadrons totalling 240 aircraft. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
English Electric Canberra AEW.3 | Airborne Early Warning |
6 squadrons totalling 48 aircraft. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
fighter, interception |
18 squadrons totalling 144 aircraft Bomber Command[]Bomber Command is responsible for the RAF's offensive muscle. In short it is their responsibility to take the fight to the enemy. Bomber Command is broken up into two key areas; Strategic and Tactical. Bomber Command (Strategic) is responsible for the Command's heavy bomber fleets. By 1991, the conventional bombing role had been mostly displaced by the cruise missile carrying role, however in the subsequent war the usage of Carpet bombing and its merits became apparent and training was not as focused on cruise missile delivery. The cruise missiles were both nuclear and conventionally armed with almost 460 frontline strategic bombers in service bomber command had adequate capability to deliver continuous strikes against enemy positions or cities. Bomber Command (Tactical) was primarily involved in supporting the army and destroying the enemy's ability to fight. For this they primarily used fast jets. Many of these Jets were small, fast and manoeuvrable (Discounting bomb load) so bomber command placed enormous emphasis on large scale strikes involving plenty of aircraft.
Bomber Command (Strategic) Aircraft on April 1st 1991[]
Bomber Command (Tactical) Aircraft on April 1st 1991[]
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