First World War No. 11 Group was first formed on 1 April 1918 in
No. 2 Area as
No. 11 (Equipment) Group, and was transferred to
South-Western Area the next month on 8 May. The Group was disbanded on 17 May 1918.
Inter-war years The next incarnation of the Group occurred on 22 August 1918 when it was formed as part of the
North-Western Area. On 6 February 1920,
Group captain Ian Bonham-Carter took command and three months later, in May 1920, 11 Group was reduced in status to
No. 11 Wing. The Group was reformed on 1 May 1936 as
No. 11 (Fighter) Group by renaming
Fighting Area. On 14 July 1936, 11 Group became the first
RAF Fighter Command Group responsible for the air-defence of southern
England, including
London.
Second World War, 1939 to 1945 No.11 Group was organised with the
Dowding System of fighter control. Group Headquarters was at
Hillingdon House, located at
RAF Uxbridge in the
London Borough of Hillingdon. The Group operations room was underground in what is now known as the
Battle of Britain Bunker. Commands were passed to the sector airfields, each of which was in charge of several airfields and fighter squadrons. The sector airfields were:" at
RAF Uxbridge.
Sector A: •
RAF Tangmere (Sector HQ) •
RAF Westhampnett Sector B: •
RAF Kenley (Sector HQ) •
RAF Croydon •
RAF Redhill Sector C: •
RAF Biggin Hill (Sector HQ) •
RAF Hawkinge •
RAF Friston Sector D: •
RAF Hornchurch (Sector HQ) •
RAF Rochford •
RAF Manston Sector E: •
RAF North Weald (Sector HQ) •
RAF Stapleford Tawney Sector F: •
RAF Debden (Sector HQ)
Sector Y: •
RAF Middle Wallop (Sector HQ) •
RAF Odiham Sector Z: •
RAF Northolt (Sector HQ) •
RAF Hendon While supported by the commanders (
AOCs) of
No. 10 Group and
No. 13 Group, he received insufficient support from the AOC of
12 Group, Air Vice Marshal
Trafford Leigh-Mallory, who used the
Big Wing controversy to criticise Park's tactics. Leigh-Mallory's lack of support compromised Fighter Command at a critical time and the controversy caused problems for Park. When the Battle of Britain was over, Leigh-Mallory, acting with
Air marshal Sholto Douglas, conspired to have Park removed from his position (along with the Commander-in-Chief of Fighter Command,
Air chief marshal Hugh Dowding). Leigh-Mallory then took over command of 11 Group.
Post-war After the war in December 1951, No.11 Group consisted of the Southern and Metropolitan sectors. The Southern Sector included
1 Squadron and No. 29/22 Squadrons at
RAF Tangmere and
54 Squadron and
247 (China-British) Squadron at
RAF Odiham. The Metropolitan Sector had
25 Squadron at
RAF West Malling, 41/253 Squadron at
RAF Biggin Hill, 56/87 Squadron and
63 Squadron at
RAF Waterbeach,
64 Squadron and
65 (East India) Squadron at
RAF Duxford,
72 Squadron at
RAF North Weald, 85/145 at RAF West Malling with
Gloster Meteor NF.11s, and
257 (Burma) Squadron and
263 (Fellowship of the Bellows) Squadron at
RAF Wattisham. Denoted by a '/', a short-lived RAF postwar scheme saw several squadrons linked, where two squadron numbers' heritage was carried on within one single unit. The administrative control of the
Royal Observer Corps, which had played a crucial role in the success of the Dowding system during the war, continued to be held by No.11 Group until the ROC was stood down in 1996. From 1951 11 Group also had operational control of the U.S.
81st Fighter-Interceptor Wing for several years. English Electric F6 based at
RAF Binbrook, part of
No. 11 Group.|left In 1960 Fighter Command was re-organised and 11 Group was disbanded on 31 December 1960, to reform one day later when
13 Group was renamed 11 Group. On 1 April 1963, the Group was replaced by
No. 11 (Northern) Sector at RAF Leconfield which controlled Fighter Command airfields and units within Northern England. On 17 March 1965 the sector absorbed
No. 13 (Scotland) Sector RAF which was formed on 1 April 1963 at Boulmer and 11 Sector moved to Boulmer. This incarnation lasted until Fighter Command was absorbed into the new
Strike Command on 30 April 1968 and became 11 Group. 11 Sector became
Sector South and
No. 12 Sector RAF was absorbed and became
Sector North. Group Headquarters shifted to
RAF Bentley Priory in north-west London and took responsibility for the UK Air Defence Region (UK ADR). The
English Electric Lightning F.1 entered service in 1960 and the
McDonnell Douglas Phantom FGR.2 in 1969, with
43 (China-British) Squadron at
RAF Leuchars. The group was renamed 11 (Air Defence) Group in January 1986. In the early 1990s, the front-line force consisted of
56 Squadron and
74 (Trinidad) Squadrons flying Phantoms from RAF Wattisham,
5 Squadron and
29 Squadron flying the
Panavia Tornado F3 from
RAF Coningsby,
11 Squadron,
23 Squadron, and
25 Squadron flying the Tornado F3 from
RAF Leeming and
43 Squadron and
111 Squadron at
RAF Leuchars;
8 Squadron flew
Boeing E-3D Sentry AEW1 from
RAF Waddington, 5 Squadron and 11 Squadron had been the last units flying the
English Electric Lightning F.6 from
RAF Binbrook until 1988; 25 Squadron and 85 Squadron had been operating
Bristol Bloodhound surface-to-air missiles and re-equipped with the Tornado and disbanded in 1989 and on 10 July 1991 respectively. The Wattisham Phantom Wing was disbanded relatively quickly following the end of the Cold War; 23 Squadron was disbanded in March 1994. On 9 January 1992, Sector's South and North combined. On 1 April 1996, 11 Group amalgamated with
18 Group to form
11/18 Group. Air Vice Marshal
Anthony Bagnall, who took over on 15 July 1994, was the Group's last commander.
2018 reformation presenting 11 Group's
badge to Air Vice-Marschal
Ian Duguid in 2018 On 11 July 2018,
Air Chief Marshal Sir
Stephen Hillier announced at the Air Power Conference that 11 Group would reform as a "
multi-domain operations group", to ensure the RAF thinks and acts in a networked way and combining
air,
space and
cyber-warfare elements to create an integrated force. No increase in the number of senior officers or staff at headquarters was proposed as part of the reformation. No. 11 Group included the capabilities of the Chief of Staff Operations and the Air Battle Staff, comprising the deployable
Joint Force Air Component (JFAC), the National Air & Space Operations Centre (NASOC) and the Executive Team. The group also included the RAF Battle Management Force. The group was to ensure that the large amounts of data, intelligence and information contributes to the planning and execution of operations in the domains of air, space and cyber. == Role and operations ==