RAF Fighters Squadrons from UK to Middle East 1940-1941

Enrico Cernuschi · Post by **Enrico Cernuschi** » Mon Apr 02, 2007 10:03 am

Hello Gentlemen,

may someone tell me how many RAF Hurricane Squadrons were dispatched from UK to the Middel East since Autumn 1940 until early Summer 1941?

Greetings

EC

Mark F · Post by **Mark F** » Mon Jun 25, 2007 4:32 pm

EC,

Did you ever find the information you were looking for?

I used to have a database of units which I kept for all air units despatched from the UK to the ME. I had used HMSO Playfair's volumes on the Med and ME and Shores book Fighters Over The Desert and his more recent volumes on the air war in the ME as a basis. What made it so difficult was seperating those units that stayed in the ME from those that after December 1941 were despatched from the UK and the ME was just a brief stop over for them enroute to the FE.

I am not sure I still have it ( I really hope I do, I put many hours of work into it), or what form it may be in. It has been several years since I last updated it with new info. If you still need the info I will try and give you some numbers. If you have found another source since you made this post I would be very interested in hearing about what you found.

Thanks

Mark

Enrico Cernuschi · Post by **Enrico Cernuschi** » Tue Jun 26, 2007 9:52 am

Hello Mark,

unfortunatly I was unable to do any progress.

What I'm looking for are only the new RAF figher Squadrons which were sent in the M.E. since Autumn 1940 until June 1941 just to establish if the Fighter Command was reduced (or not) before the invasion of Russia altered the balance.

many thanks for your efforts

Ec

Mark F · Post by **Mark F** » Tue Jun 26, 2007 5:02 pm

EC,

I cannot find my notes with the squadron numbers. But I did find something that might be of help to you for this time period. From IMSO Playfair the Mediterranean and the Middle East I have notes showing 87 Hurricanes arriving in the ME (exclusive of Malta) from beginning of Sep 40 to the end of the year.

I do have the total number of reinforcement aircraft arrivals for the ME (including Malta) for January 41 to June 41 below:

Jan 41 = 44
Feb 41 = 30
Mar 41 = 13
Apr 41 = 96
May 41 = 85
Jun 41 = 206

Hope this might be of help. I wish I could find my other notes.

Mark

Enrico Cernuschi · Post by **Enrico Cernuschi** » Wed Jun 27, 2007 10:01 am

Thank you. It was just what I needed. A confrontation between the big RAT total force, the British aircraft manifacture during 1940 and 1941, not to mention the planes bought in USA, shows how modest was the effort in M.E.

Bye

EC

Mark F · Post by **Mark F** » Wed Jun 27, 2007 3:17 pm

EC,

You are welcome! You only mentioned Hurricane squadrons in your original enquiry. I do have a list showing numbers of every aircraft sent to the ME from January to October 1941. If you want you can add the following types to the number of Hurricanes sent there.

Jan 41 = None
Feb 41 = None
Mar 41 = 2 Tomahawk
Apr 41 = 25 Tomahawk
May 41 = 41 Tomahawk and 16 Beaufighter
Jun 41 = 71 Tomahawk, 5 Beaufighter and 5 Gladiator

Thanks

Mark

Enrico Cernuschi · Post by **Enrico Cernuschi** » Thu Jun 28, 2007 12:04 am

Hello Mark,

this is beyons my most audacious hopes.

The first record you sent me (44, 30, 13, 96, 85, 206) was so about Hurricanes only while the socond one was dedicated to the other types of fighters.

What about bombers (Blenheim and Wellington; I presume these were the only types of bombers sent in M.E. during that season)?

Greetings

EC

Mark F · Post by **Mark F** » Thu Jun 28, 2007 5:07 am

EC,

I have to go to leave for work in a few minutes. Tonight if I get a chance I will look up the info on what you requested, if not tonight then sometime in the next day or so. The info on aircraft sent from Jan to Jun period is on a table I copied from Playfair. The info on the dates prior were copied from the text and are handwritten notes. I will go through it again to see if I can come up with some more concrete figures on the period June 40 to Dec 41.

Mark

Enrico Cernuschi · Post by **Enrico Cernuschi** » Thu Jun 28, 2007 6:11 am

Hello Mark,

take it easy and many thanks

EC

Mark F · Post by **Mark F** » Thu Jun 28, 2007 3:17 pm

EC,

No problem.

I am going to summarize my previous replies to put this all into one.

My info on June 40 to Dec 40 is a little sketchy. I gave you a figure before of the total number of Hurricanes sent to the ME exclusive of Malta as 87, this could be around 112 or so for Malta and the ME. The total numbers of Wellington bombers was 41 and there were 85 Blenheim IV bombers sent, again these are for the ME excluding Malta.

For the total arrivals in the ME including Malta by all routes and all sources for Jan to Jun 41 are below:

Jan 41 = 12 Blenheim, 44 Hurricane, 1 Maryland, 2 Wellington

Feb 41 = 38 Blenheim, 30 Hurricane, 2 Maryland, 2 Wellington

Mar 41 = 35 Blenheim, 13 Hurricane, 6 Lysander, 6 Maryland, 2 Tomahawk, 16 Wellington

Apr 41 = 37 Blenheim, 6 Bombay, 96 Hurricane, 6 Lysander, 7 Maryland, 25 Tomahawk, 27 Wellington

May 41 = 16 Beaufighter, 39 Blenheim, 4 Bombay, 85 Hurricane, 6 Maryland, 41 Tomahawk, 15 Wellington

Jun 41 = 5 Beaufighter, 55 Blenheim, 2 Bombay, 5 Gladiator, 206 Hurricane, 17 Lysander, 22 Maryland, 71 Tomahawk, 11 Wellington.

Again, these numbers are from HMSO Playfair The Med and ME.

If you ever run across a list of the squadrons that were sent to the ME, and dates that they were despatched, please keep me in mind, MMMmmm maybe that might be a topic for a new topic sometime!

Mark