Featured Article Summary #280

Area commands were the main way the Royal Australian Air Force organised and ran its operations between 1940 and 1954. Created at the start of World War II, they managed the Air Force through a regional command system until they were later replaced by a functional one. The number and boundaries of commands changed as the war evolved, starting with Southern, Central, Western and Northern Areas, then expanding to five after the Pacific War and splitting Northern Area. Over time, some training and maintenance duties were shifted to separate training and maintenance groups, while operational control increasingly became focused in particular areas. By the early 1950s, Eastern Area handled most operations, Southern Area mostly training, and Maintenance Group looked after maintenance. As the government sought a system better suited for concentrating forces in combat, area commands were replaced by Home, Training and Maintenance Commands in 1953, and the remaining area commands were phased out and disbanded by the end of 1956. Before World War II, the RAAF was small and could be run directly from headquarters in Melbourne because it was based at five air bases with limited numbers of squadrons and support units. When war began, the government moved toward a more decentralised command structure, creating No. 1 and No. 2 Groups to control units by region. After a proposal to reorganise by function was rejected, the RAAF adopted a geographical “area” system focused mainly on air defence, sea protection, and reconnaissance, with each area commander responsible for the bases and units in their boundary, while some training and depot functions stayed under headquarters due to their wider role. Initially, the RAAF divided its operations into four area commands across Australia, then added Western and Northern Areas in 1941 as the need arose. By late 1941 and 1942, the system was reorganised to create separate training and maintenance groups and to split Northern Area further as Pacific War threats differed, stabilising the number of area commands at five. Control also shifted as Allied command structures grew, and to reduce the static nature of area commands the RAAF created mobile operational formations such as No. 9 (Operational) Group, while later considering—but not fully implementing—further changes like a new Central Area. After the Pacific War ended in August 1945, SWPA was dissolved and the Air Board again took full control of operational forces. Several groups and area commands were disbanded from 1946 to 1947, and the remaining area commands mostly kept wartime boundaries, with one change: North-Western Area no longer covered the Dutch East Indies. As the war progressed, leaders came to view the geography-based system as outdated, especially for quick response and offensive operations, and they eventually replaced it with functional commands. In the early 1950s, the Air Force was reorganised around three functions: operations (Home Command), training (Training Command), and maintenance (Maintenance Command). Hardman pushed this change, and by October 1953 the three commands were created, with the full transition completed in February 1954. The earlier area commands were then phased out, with North-Western disbanded in June 1955 and the others following in 1956. The RAAF’s command structure set up in 1953–54 was changed in 1959: Home Command became Operational Command, and Training and Maintenance merged into Support Command. Further changes followed, including Operational Command being renamed Air Command in 1987, Support splitting into Logistics and Training in 1990, and later reorganisations where logistics and training responsibilities were reassigned, with Air Force Training Group created in 2006 and Air Command becoming the only command-level organisation.