Catalogue description Records of the Royal Air Force

The first task of the newly-established Air Ministry on its establishment in January 1918 was to plan for the amalgamation of the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service. This unification was effected on 1 April 1918 and the service remained united until 1939 when the return of the Fleet Air Arm to Admiralty control, agreed in 1937, was completed.

For operational purposes the Royal Air Force (RAF) was divided into autonomous commands, each responsible, under its commander in chief, directly to the Air Council and looking to the various departments of the Air Ministry for policy guidance, technical advice, manning requirements, equipment and general support.

At the end of the First World War, the Royal Air Force in France was run down rapidly and soon completely withdrawn. Thereafter, until 1939, it was deployed in the United Kingdom, apart from a small carrier-borne force at sea and a few small units in overseas territories, such as the Middle East and India. Originally Home Command was organised in geographical areas, but from 1920 it was reduced to an Inland Area and a Coastal Area; there was also a wing in Ireland until early in 1923. The training establishments at Halton and Cranwell also enjoyed command status.

In January 1925 an air officer commander in chief was appointed to head a new Air Defences, later Air Defence, of Great Britain Command, soon comprising separate bombing and fighting areas, together with auxiliary units. In 1929 the control of the Observer Corps passed from the commander of air defence formations of the Territorial Army under the War Office to this command.

In 1936 the Air Defence of Great Britain Command was abolished and replaced by separate Bomber and Fighter Commands, the Observer Corps being attached to the latter. At the same time Inland Area, which already had responsibility for the RAF Staff College, became Training Command, absorbing RAF Halton and RAF Cranwell, while Coastal Area became Coastal Command, passing to Admiralty operational control in 1941.

In 1938 Maintenance and Balloon Commands were formed and there was also a Reserve Command from 1939 to 1940. In 1940 technical, as distinct from the administrative, control of Groups 41 and 43 of Maintenance Command passed to the Ministry of Aircraft Production. These duties returned to Maintenance Command between 1946 and 1947 following the absorption of that ministry in the Ministry of Supply. The functions of Maintenance Command were absorbed by Support Command in August 1973.

For operational purposes Balloon Command, like the Army's Anti-Aircraft Command, came under the control of Fighter Command, which was also responsible for the initiation and cancellation of air raid warnings until 1943 when this duty passed, progressively, to the Ministry of Home Security. From 1940 to 1943 there was also an Army Co-operation Command together with an RAF Northern Ireland Command from 1940 to 1945. Also in 1940 Training Command was divided into Flying Training and Technical Training Commands.

In 1941 Ferry Command, renamed Transport Command in 1943, was formed from the Atlantic Ferry Organisation. Transport Command was renamed Air Support Command in August 1967. In August 1972 it was absorbed by Strike Command.

On the formation of the Allied Expeditionary Air Force in November 1943, Fighter Command was renamed Air Defence of Great Britain Command, but reverted to the Fighter Command title in October 1944. In April 1968 Fighter Command merged with Bomber Command to form Strike Command.

In 1945 Balloon Command was disbanded and in 1946 Reserve Command was reformed, being renamed Home Command in 1950, by which title it remained known until its disbandment in 1959. A little earlier, in November 1958, a new Signals Command had been formed taking over the operational control of RAF telecommunications at home and overseas, etc, previously undertaken by No 9O (Signals) Group.

In 1940 a review of existing photographic and interpretation work in the RAF resulted in the formation of a Photographic Reconnaissance Unit for operational duties and a Central Interpretation Unit (CIU) for the detailed assessment of photographic intelligence. Although the unit was predominantly RAF, it also included several Army photographic interpreters whom the War Office had provided after the return of the British Expeditionary Force from France in June 1940.

The Army Photographic Interpretation Section (APIS) was established within the CIU but came under the direct control of the War Office. The joint service role of the unit was completed by the addition of a small complement of Royal Navy photographic interpreters. From May 1944 this unit was charged with meeting joint British and American requirements in the European theatre and, while engaged on this work, was known as the Allied Central Interpretation Unit.

Responsibility for supervising this work rested mainly with Coastal Command although Bomber Command was involved in the early stages and Technical Training Command exercised administrative responsibility for the Central Interpretation Unit from May 1943 until May 1944. In 1947 photographic reconnaissance and survey photographic work was centralised in the Central Photographic Establishment of Coastal Command and the Central Interpretation Unit was absorbed in this establishment and re-named the Joint Air Photographic Intelligence Centre (UK) (JAPIC (UK)).

In March 1950 the Central Photographic Establishment was disbanded and administrative control of JAPIC (UK) was transferred to HQ No 3 Group, Bomber Command, with intelligence control exercised by the Air Ministry.

In December 1953, the unit was given the title of Joint Air Reconnaissance Intelligence Centre (United Kingdom) (JARIC (UK)). The personnel of APIU (UK), the successor unit to APIS, were absorbed into its establishment and the Army continued to provide a number of photographic interpreters and supporting staffs in the JARIC establishment. In 1980 UK was dropped from JARIC's name. In 1982 it was handed over to No. 18 Group and in 1988 control passed to Support Command.

Overseas, various commands or comparable organisations exercised local control of operations particularly during the Second World War in the Middle East and South East Asia.