View source for RAF Ferry Command

{{Short description|Former command of the Royal Air Force}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2015}}
{{Use British English|date=July 2015}}
{{Infobox military unit
|unit_name         = Royal Air Force Ferry Command
|image             = 
|caption           = Command crest
|start_date        = 20 July 1941
|end_date          = 25 March 1943
|country           = {{flagicon|UK}} [[United Kingdom]]
|allegiance        =
|branch            = [[File:Ensign of the Royal Air Force.svg|23px]] [[Royal Air Force]]
|type              = [[Command (military formation)|Command]]
|role              = [[Ferry flying|Aircraft delivery]]
|size              = 
|command_structure =
|garrison          = 
|garrison_label    = 
|equipment         = 
|equipment_label   = 
|nickname          =
|patron            =
|motto             = 
|colors            =
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|march             = 
|mascot            = 
|battles           = [[World War II]]
|anniversaries     =
|decorations       =
|battle_honours    = 
<!-- Commanders -->
|current_commander             = 
|current_commander_label       = 
|ceremonial_chief              = 
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|colonel_of_the_regiment       = 
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|notable_commanders            = 
<!-- Insignia -->
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<!-- Aircraft -->
|aircraft_attack      = 
|aircraft_bomber      = 
|aircraft_electronic  = 
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}}
'''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.

It was later subsumed into the new [[RAF Transport Command|Transport Command]] on 25 March 1943 by being reduced to [[Group (military aviation unit)|Group]] status.

==History==
[[File:Consolidated B-24 Liberator - Royal Air Force Transport Command, 1943-1945. CNA2784.jpg|thumb|right|A mixed service and civilian crew of No. 45 Group RAF leave their [[Consolidated Liberator]] B Mark VI on arriving at Celone, Italy, after a ferry flight from Canada. Likely in the first months of 1944, as this is when [[31 Squadron SAAF]] was re-equipping with Liberators.]]
[[File:RAF Darell's Island.jpg|thumb|RAF [[Darrell's Island, Bermuda|Darrell's Island]] in the [[Imperial fortress]] of [[Bermuda]] during World War II. This base was used throughout the war for trans-Atlantic ferrying of flying boats such as the [[Consolidated PBY Catalina|Catalinas]] to the rear of photo, which were flown there from United States factories to be tested prior to acceptance by the Air Ministry and delivery across the Atlantic. [[RAF Transport Command]] flights (such as those flown by the [[Consolidated PB2Y Coronado|Coronados]] in the foreground) also utilised the airfield.]]

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 discreetly provide civilian crews and management. Previously, aircraft had been assembled, dismantled 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]], 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 it 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 brought 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 formed on 20 July 1941, by the raising of the RAF Atlantic Ferry Service to Command status.<ref name=air>{{cite web |url=http://www.rafweb.org/Organsation/Cmd_H3A.htm |title=RAF Home Commands formed between 1939–1957 |first=M. B. |last=Barrass |work=Air of Authority – A History of RAF Organisation}}</ref> Its commander for its whole existence was [[Air Chief Marshal]] Sir [[Frederick Bowhill]].<ref name=air/> Dorval, near Montreal, continued as its base of operations.

The main function of Ferry Command was the [[Ferry flying|ferrying]] of new aircraft from factory to operational unit.<ref name=kloot>{{cite web |url=http://www.vanderkloot.com/sky2.html |title=Flying the Secret Sky: The Story of the RAF Ferry Command |work=VanDerKloot Film & Television |year=2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130812054225/http://vanderkloot.com/sky2.html |archive-date=12 August 2013}}</ref> Ferry Command originally did this over only one northern area of the world, rather than the more general routes that Transport Command later developed, including routes over the jungles of South America and Africa and the deserts of North Africa and the Middle East. Ferry Command's operational area was initially the North Atlantic, and its responsibility was to bring the larger aircraft that had the range to do the trip over the ocean, with the addition of extra fuel tanks, from American and Canadian factories to the RAF home commands.<ref name=kloot/>

This was pioneering work. Before Ferry Command, only about a hundred aircraft had attempted a North Atlantic crossing in good weather, and only about half had made it.{{Citation needed|date=September 2024}} Over the course of the war, more than 9,000 aircraft were individually ferried across the ocean and the aircraft played a significant role in the outcome of the war.{{Citation needed|date=September 2024}} This was accomplished without the use of radar by specially trained navigators who primarily used [[Celestial navigation|celestial]] methods.

=== Reduction in status to No. 45 Group ===
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 administered 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 squadron'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>

==In media==
''[[Above and Beyond (miniseries)|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>

==See also==

* [[List of Royal Air Force commands]]

==References==

===Notes===
{{reflist}}

===Bibliography===
* Atlantic Bridge: the Official Account of RAF Transport Command's Ocean Ferry, HM Stationery Office, 1945
* {{cite book|last1=Christie|first1=Carl A.|last2=Hatch|first2=F. J.|title=Ocean Bridge: The History of RAF Ferry Command|url=https://archive.org/details/oceanbridgehisto0000chri|url-access=registration|location=Toronto|publisher=[[University of Toronto Press]]|year=1995|isbn=978-0-8020-8131-5}}
* {{cite book|last=Delve|first=Ken|title=The Source Book of the RAF|location=Shrewsbury, Shropshire, UK|publisher=Airlife Publishing Ltd|year=1994|isbn=1-85310-451-5}}
* {{Cite book|last=Biss RCAF Ret.|first=F/L E.E.|title=Yesterday's Sky|publisher=Winston Manor Press|year=2005|isbn=978-0-9869660-0-2|location=Mississauga}}

==External links==
* {{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}}
* https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Air_Force_Coastal_Command-_No._247_Group_Operations_in_the_Azores,_1943-1945._CA138.jpg 
* https://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-WH2-2RAF-c13.html - NZ ETC
* [https://www.canadahistoryproject.ca/1939-45/1939-45-09-ferry-command.html Ferry Command]

[[Category:Royal Air Force commands|Ferry Command]]
[[Category:Ferry units and formations of the Royal Air Force]]
[[Category:Military units and formations established in 1941]]
[[Category:Military units and formations disestablished in 1943]]
[[Category:Transatlantic flight]]