No. 18 Group RAF
Royal Air Force Ensign
Active	1 April 1918 - 18 October 1919 1 September 1938 - 1 April 1996
Country	United Kingdom
Branch	Royal Air Force
Type	Royal Air Force group
Part of	RAF Coastal Command (1938 - 1969) RAF Strike Command (1969 - 1994)
Headquarters	RAF Pitreavie Castle Northwood Headquarters
Motto(s)	Constant Endeavour[1]
Engagements	First World War European theatre of World War II Battle of the Atlantic

No. 18 Group (18 Gp) of theRoyal Air Force was agroup active from 1918 to 1919, and from 1938 to 1996.

The Group was initially formed on 1 April 1918 inNo. 4 Area RAF. It was transferred toNorth-Eastern Area RAF on 8 May 1918. Disbanded 18 October 1919.

The group was reformed on 1 September 1938 as No. 18 (Reconnaissance) Group ofCoastal Command for operations with theRoyal Navy'sCommander-in-Chief, Rosyth and the Orkney & Shetlands Naval Command.^[2] Its headquarters were established at Rosyth.

Of the three groups forming Coastal Command's planned dispositions on the outbreak of war, 18 Group was the only one with a fully operational Navy/Air Force Area Combined Headquarters (ACHQ). It covered much of theNorth Sea and areas to the north and west of Scotland, north of a line running north west from the Mull of Kintyre.

By October 1946, after the war ended, it was headquartered atRAF Pitreavie Castle and its front-line strength consisted of Nos120 and203 Squadrons operating fromRAF Leuchars flyingAvro Lancaster GR.3s.^[3] By 1954 its strength had grown to five squadrons ofAvro Shackletons, andLockheed Neptunes (Nos 120,204,217,240, and269) atRAF Ballykelly,RAF Kinloss, andRAF Aldergrove as well asNo. 202 Squadron RAF flyingHandley Page Hastings on meteorological reconnaissance missions fromRAF Aldergrove.

With the advent of Strike Command the former 18 Group became the Northern Maritime Air Region, and Coastal Command was renamed 18 Group, both changes happening on 28 November 1969. Within Strike Command the new group's title was No. 18 (Maritime) Group. From that point the Group commander held theNATO post of Commander, Maritime Air, Eastern Atlantic, reporting toCinC, Eastern Atlantic at theNorthwood Headquarters in London. The Group commander also held the corresponding post within the NATOAllied Command Channel, and for that reason was a rank higher (Air Marshal) than those commanding other RAF groups.

TheHawker Siddeley Nimrod entered service in late 1970 and early 1971, initially with four squadrons of six aircraft, 120,201, and206 at Kinloss and42 atRAF St Mawgan. Elements also went to Malta; No. 203 Squadron disbanding there atRAF Luqa in 1977 while flying Nimrods. The Kinloss Wing spent thousands of hours tracking Soviet submarines of theNorthern Fleet, often after they had been detected by NATO submarines or theLockheed P-3 Orions of theRoyal Norwegian Air Force. Keeping track of the submarines was made easier by the aid ofSOSUS acoustic listening devices on the sea bed. Also part of the force wereWestland Sea King helicopters, flying for a long period in the SAR role with No. 22 and 202 Squadrons.

Blackburn Buccaneers joined the Group in the mid 1970s, and with the retirement of the finalRoyal Navy Buccaneers in December 1978, Nos12,208, and216 Squadrons began to operate them atRAF Honington, before shifting north toRAF Lossiemouth from July 1980. No. 216 Squadron however disbanded as a Buccaneer unit in late 1980 due to a shortage of airframes following the discovery of fatigue cracks.

In 1985 other units of the Group were Nos51,100, and360 Squadrons atRAF Wyton, as well asNo. 231 OCU carrying outCanberra operational conversion at the same station.^[4]

The Group was disbanded by being merging with No 11 Group on 1 April 1996 to formNo. 11/18 Group RAF.

• Commander No. 18 Group RAF / Maritime Air Eastern Atlantic / Maritime Air Force Channel (MAIREASTLANT) / (MAIREASTLANT)^[4]
  • Commander Maritime Air Northern Sub-Area / Maritime Air Nore Sub-Area Channel (MAIRNORLANT) / (MAIRNORECHAN) based inRosyth
    • RAF Kinloss
      • No. 120 Squadron RAF with 8Nimrod MR.2maritime patrol aircraft
      • No. 201 Squadron RAF with 8 Nimrod MR.2 maritime patrol aircraft
      • No. 206 Squadron RAF with 8 Nimrod MR.2 maritime patrol aircraft
    • RAF Lossiemouth
      • No. 8 Squadron RAF with 12Avro Shackleton AEW.2sairborne early warning aircraft
      • No. 12 Squadron RAF with 12Buccaneer S.2Battack aircraft^{[Note 1]}
      • No. 208 Squadron RAF with 12 Buccaneer S.2B attack aircraft^{[Note 2]}
      • No. 237 Operational Conversion Unit RAF with 16 Buccaneer S.2B attack aircraft
  • Commander Maritime Air Central Sub-Area / Maritime Air Plymouth Sub-Area Channel (MAIRCENTLANT) / (MAIRPLYMCHAN) based inPlymouth
    • RAF St Mawgan
      • No. 42 Squadron RAF with 8 Nimrod MR.2 maritime patrol aircraft
      • No. 236 Operational Conversion Unit RAF with 3 Nimrod MR.2 maritime patrol aircraft
    • RAF Wyton
      • No. 51 Squadron RAF with 3 Nimrod R.1signals intelligence aircraft
      • No. 100 Squadron RAF with 12Canberra T.17electronic warfare training aircraft
      • No. 360 Squadron RAF with 12 Canberra electronic warfare training aircraft
      • No. 231 Operational Conversion Unit RAF with Canberra medium bombers

The following men were theAir Officers Commanding (AOC) of No. 18 Group:

• 1 April 1918Colonel H A Williamson

• 27 September 1938Air CommodoreC D Breese
• 24 March 1941Air Vice-MarshalR L G Marix
• 10 February 1942 Air Vice-MarshalA Durston
• 25 January 1943 Air Vice-MarshalA B Ellwood
• 22 February 1944 Air Vice-MarshalS P Simpson
• January 1947 Air Vice-MarshalE J Kingston-McClaughry
• 17 June 1948 Air Vice-MarshalD V Carnegie
• 1 November 1950 Air Vice-MarshalH T Lydford
• 29 September 1952 Air Vice-Marshal R L Ragg
• 1 April 1955 Air Vice-Marshal P D Cracroft
• 29 September 1958 Air Vice-MarshalA D Selway
• 7 July 1961 Air Vice-Marshal R B Thomson
• 15 February 1963 Air Vice-Marshal K V Garside
• 25 September 1965 Air Vice-MarshalA V R Johnstone
• 1 October 1968 Air Vice-MarshalF D Hughes^[5]
• 28 November 1969Air Marshal Sir Robert Craven
• 19 February 1972 Air Marshal SirAnthony Heward^[6]
• 3 March 1973 Air Marshal SirDouglas Lowe
• 18 September 1975 Air Marshal SirRobert Freer
• 30 September 1978 Air Marshal SirPhilip Lagesen
• 10 May 1980 Air Marshal SirJohn Curtiss
• 31 March 1983 Air Marshal SirJohn Fitzpatrick
• 21 March 1986 Air Marshal SirBarry Duxbury
• 25 October 1989 Air Marshal SirMichael Stear
• 1 May 1992 Air Marshal SirJohn Harris

• Group Nos. 10-19 on Air of Authority - A History of RAF Organisation
• Leo Niehorster,Order of Battle June 1944

• Royal Air Force groups

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