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No. 135 Expeditionary Air Wing, previously No. 135 Wing, is a wing of the Royal Air Force. It was stationed at RAF Leeming, controlling the deployable subunits of the base (but not the flying squadrons). It was activated on 1 April 2006 as part of a modernisation package to make the RAF more deployable on an expeditionary basis.

No.135 Expeditionary Air Wing
Active	Second World War; 2006-present [citation needed]
Country	United Kingdom
Branch	Royal Air Force
Part of	Part of RAF Air Command
Aircraft flown
Fighter	Hawker Tempest

Second World War

The wing may have been active as early as February 1944 with 222, 349 (Belgian) and 485 (NZ) Squadrons.[1]

In June 1944 the wing was part of No. 84 Group RAF, 2nd TAF at RAF Selsey, Sussex, with the same three squadrons flying the Spitfire IX LF.[2] The wing was part of No. 18 Fighter Sector of three wings with its headquarters in turn at RAF Chailey nearby.[3][4] From September 1944 until May 1945, still with 84 Group, moving forward in North West Europe, it included 33, 222, 274 (Typhoon) and 349 (Belgian) Squadrons with Spitfires.[5]

The wing was equipped with Hawker Tempests by the time the Allied forces were reaching the German borders in 1945. Tempests scored several kills against the new German jets, including the Messerschmitt Me 262. Hubert Lange, a Me 262 pilot, said: "the Messerschmitt Me 262's most dangerous opponent was the British Hawker Tempest—extremely fast at low altitudes, highly manoeuvrable and heavily armed."[6] Some were destroyed with a tactic known to the Tempest-equipped No. 135 Wing as the "Rat Scramble":[7]

Tempests on immediate alert took off when an Me 262 was reported airborne. They did not intercept the jet, but instead flew towards the Me 262 and Ar 234 base at Hopsten air base.[8] (which also hosted Bf 109 and Fw 190-day fighters and Bf 110 and He 219 night fighters). The aim was to attack jets on their landing approach, when they were at their most vulnerable, travelling slowly, with flaps down and incapable of rapid acceleration. The German response was the construction of a "flak lane" of over 150 emplacements of the 20 mm Flakvierling quadruple autocannon batteries at Rheine-Hopsten to protect the approaches.[9] As well as the anti-aircraft guns, several piston-engine fighter units based in the area were tasked to cover the jets as they landed. After seven Tempests were lost to flak at Hopsten in a week, the "Rat Scramble" was discontinued.[10]

After the war the wing also existed from 1 April 1953 to 1 January 1960 as a fighter wing.[11]

Twenty-first century

The wing was reformed at RAF Leeming in 2006, and has carried out several operational activities since:

• Deployed to Šiauliai, Lithuania from April to September 2014 for Operation Azotize (Baltic Air Policing) with Eurofighter Typhoon FGR4[12]
• For Exercise 'Griffin Strike 2016' in April 2016, No. 135 EAW became the combined French-British No. 135 Combined Expeditionary Air Wing.[13]
• Deployed to Mihail Kogalniceanu airbase near Constanța, Romania from April to August 2017 under Operation Biloxi with four Typhoon FGR4s of No. 3 (Fighter) Squadron.[14][15]
• Deployed to Mihail Kogalniceanu airbase near Constanta, Romania in April 2018 under Operation Biloxi with four Typhoon FGR4s of No. 1 (Fighter) Squadron[16] and No. II (Army Cooperation) Squadron.[17][18][19]
• Deployed to Šiauliai, Lithuania from April to September 2019 for Operation Azotize with Typhoon FGR4 of No. 6 Squadron.[20]

References

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