No. 83 Expeditionary Air Group

No. 83 Expeditionary Air Group is a group within the Royal Air Force, currently based at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar.

No. 83 Expeditionary Air Group
Active1 April 1943 (1943-04-01) – 21 April 1946 (1946-04-21) 9 July 1952 (1952-07-09) – 16 June 1958 (1958-06-16) 1 April 2006 (2006-04-01) – present
CountryUnited Kingdom
BranchRoyal Air Force
TypeOperational headquarters
Part ofRAF Air Command
Home stationAl Udeid Air Base, Qatar
Motto(s)A Deux Plus Forts
(French for 'Two heads are better than one')[1]
Commanders
Air Officer Commanding
and UK Air Component Commander
Air Commodore Simon Strasdin

Originally formed in 1943, during the Second World War it formed part of the 2nd Tactical Air Force (2TAF) and was known as No. 83 (Composite) Group. It provided support to Allied forces during the liberation of Europe. After being disbanded in 1946 it was re-established as No. 83 Group in 1952 to lead the 2TAF's units in Germany, until it disbanded again in 1958.

On 1 April 2006 it was reformed as No. 83 Expeditionary Air Group Headquarters, to lead UK air operations in the Middle East. Activities include Operations Kipion (the UK's maritime presence in the Middle East) and Operation Shader (the UK's part of the military intervention against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL)).

History

No. 83 (Composite) Group

No. 83 (Composite) Group was formed on 1 April 1943 within the Second Tactical Air Force of the Royal Air Force. By the eve of the D-Day landings in June 1944 , No. 83 Group had grown to a strength of twenty-nine fighter, ground-attack and reconnaissance squadrons and four artillery observation squadrons, grouped into ten wings. At the time of Operation Market Garden in September 1944, the group consisted of the Royal Canadian Air Force's (RCAF) 39 Reconnaissance Wing, 121, 122, 123 and 143 Wings flying Hawker Typhoon fighter-bombers, 125 Wing with Supermarine Spitfire fighters, and the RCAF 126, 127 and 144 Wings also flying Spitfires. No. 401 (Ram) Squadron with Spitfires was part of the group from 1943. The Group headquarters was at RAF Eindhoven from 1 October 1944 to 10 April 1945. The group was absorbed into No. 84 Group RAF on 21 April 1946.[2]

No. 83 Group

No. 83 Group was re-formed on 9 July 1952 within the Second Tactical Air Force in Germany to control its southern area. By 1956, the group controlled five wings with a total of fourteen squadrons equipped with Hawker Hunter day fighters, de Havilland Venom fighter-bombers, Supermarine Swift fighter-reconnaissance aircraft, Gloster Meteor night-fighters and English Electric Canberra interdiction and reconnaissance aircraft. It was disbanded again on 16 June 1958.[2]

Current operations

No. 83 Group was re-formed on 1 April 2006 from the UK Air Component Headquarters in the Middle East. It comprised No. 901 Expeditionary Air Wing in the Middle East and Bahrain and No. 902 Expeditionary Air Wing at Seeb in Oman. Since that time it has controlled a varying number of Expeditionary Air Wings. No. 83 Group is based at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar.[3]

The Air Officer Commanding No. 83 Group is the Air Component Commander in the Middle East. He is responsible to the Permanent Joint Headquarters for the command and control of all RAF units engaged in Operations Kipion and Shader.[4]

It is currently in charge of:

901 Expeditionary Air Wing

  • Provides support to No. 83 EAG and home to Joint Force Communication and Information Systems (Middle East).[5]

902 Expeditionary Air Wing

903 Expeditionary Air Wing

906 Expeditionary Air Wing

Commanders

1943 to 1946

1952 to 1958

2006 to present
  • Air Commodore B M North, 1 April 2006 – 13 September 2006
  • Air Commodore C A Bairsto, 13 September 2006 – 12 January 2007
  • Air Commodore P Oborn 12 January 2007 – 10 July 2007
  • Air Commodore M J Harwood, 10 July 2007 – 16 August 2008
  • Air Commodore A S Barmby, 16 August 2008 – 22 May 2009
  • Air Commodore S D Atha, 22 May 2009 – 31 January 2010
  • Air Commodore K B McCann 31 January 2010 – 6 January 2011
  • Air Commodore A D Stevenson 6 January 2011 – 15 December 2011
  • Air Commodore S D Forward 15 December 2011 – 21 December 2012
  • Air Commodore P J Beach 21 December 2012 – 14 December 2013
  • Air Commodore A Gillespie 14 December 2013 – 1 December 2014
  • Air Commodore M Sampson 1 December 2014 – 23 October 2016[13]
  • Air Commodore John J Stringer 23 October 2016 – 22 October 2017
  • Air Commodore R J Dennis 22 October 2017 – 21 October 2018
  • Air Commodore Justin Reuter 21 October 2018 – 20 October 2019
  • Air Commodore Tim Jones 20 October 2019 – September 2020
  • Air Commodore Simon Strasdin September 2020 -

References
  1. Pine, L G (1983). A dictionary of mottoes. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. p. 1. ISBN 0-7100-9339-X.
  2. "Groups 70 – 106". Air of Authority – A History of RAF Organisation. Archived from the original on 28 March 2010. Retrieved 1 June 2008.
  3. "Inside Mission Control: Directing The Air Campaign Against Islamic Statestate". Forces TV. Retrieved 20 September 2017.
  4. "Welcome to 83 Expeditionary Air Group". RAF. Archived from the original on 3 July 2017. Retrieved 23 February 2018.
  5. "901 EAW". RAF. Archived from the original on 12 May 2015. Retrieved 22 May 2015.
  6. "902 Expeditionary Air Wing". RAF. Archived from the original on 15 May 2015. Retrieved 22 May 2015.
  7. "903 Expeditionary Air Wing". RAF. Archived from the original on 18 March 2015. Retrieved 22 May 2015.
  8. "Tornado jets return home after final flight". BBC News. 5 February 2019. Retrieved 24 September 2019.
  9. Robinson, Tim (2 January 2018). "Atlas shoulders the load". Royal Aeronautical Society. Retrieved 10 December 2019.
  10. "Number 906 Expeditionary Air Wing". RAF. Archived from the original on 3 July 2017. Retrieved 31 December 2017.
  11. "Air Marshal Sir Ronald Lees". Air of Authority - A History of RAF Organisation. Retrieved 21 October 2014.
  12. "Air Vice Marshal H A V Hogan". Air of Authority - A History of RAF Organisation. Retrieved 21 October 2014.
  13. "Senior RAF appointments". The Times. 31 July 2014. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
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