| No. 83 Expeditionary Air Group | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Active |
|
| Country |  United Kingdom |
| Branch |  Royal Air Force |
| Type | Group headquarters |
| Role | Middle East air operations |
| Part of | No. 11 Group |
| Headquarters | Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar |
| Mottos | A Deux Plus Forts (French for 'Two heads are better than one')[1] |
| Commanders | |
| Commanding Officer | Group Captain Bishop |
No. 83 Expeditionary Air Group is agroup within theRoyal Air Force, currently based atAl Udeid Air Base inQatar.
Originally formed in 1943, during theSecond World War it formed part of the2nd Tactical Air Force (2TAF) and was known asNo. 83 (Composite) Group. It provided support to Allied forces during theliberation of Europe. After being disbanded in 1946 it was re-established asNo. 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 OperationsKipion (the UK's maritime presence in the Middle East) andOperation Shader (the UK's part of themilitary intervention against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL)).
No. 83 (Composite) Group was formed on 1 April 1943 (1943-04-01) within theSecond Tactical Air Force of theRoyal Air Force. By the eve of theD-Day landings in June 1944, No. 83 Group had grown to a strength of twenty-ninefighter,ground-attack andreconnaissance squadrons and fourartillery observation squadrons, grouped into ten wings.
At the time of D-Day, the group consisted of:[2]
Other group units can be seen at[1] and includedNo. 83 Group Support Unit RAF, which was located atRAF Redhill on D-Day.
The Group headquarters was atEindhoven from 1 October 1944 to 10 April 1945. The group was absorbed intoNo. 84 Group RAF on 21 April 1946.[3]
No. 83 Group was re-formed on 9 July 1952 within theSecond Tactical Air Force in Germany to control its southern area. By 1956, the group controlled five wings with a total of fourteen squadrons equipped withHawker Hunter day fighters,de Havilland Venom fighter-bombers,Supermarine Swift fighter-reconnaissance aircraft,Gloster Meteor night-fighters andEnglish Electric Canberra interdiction and reconnaissance aircraft. It was disbanded again on 16 June 1958.[3]
During April 1953 the group controlled:[4]
On 1 July 1956, No. 83 Group directed wings atRAF Bruggen, RAF Celle,RAF Geilenkirchen, RAF Wahn, and RAF Wildenrath.[5]
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 andBahrain and No. 902 Expeditionary Air Wing atSeeb in Oman. Since that time it has controlled a varying number ofExpeditionary Air Wings. No. 83 Group is based atAl Udeid Air Base inQatar.[6]
TheAir Officer Commanding No. 83 Group was the Air Component Commander in the Middle East. They were responsible to thePermanent Joint Headquarters for the command and control of all RAF units engaged in OperationsKipion andShader.[7]
While in post, Air CommodoreNikki Thomas was "responsible for delivering UK operations, commanding personnel across the region and acting as the UK Senior Representative in the CENTCOM-ledCombined Air Operations Centre (CAOC) [the partner augmentation to the U.S.609th Air Operations Center] based in Qatar."
No. 83 Group is currently in charge of:
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