Virtual Lecture: Tiger Force: Bomber Command’s Thwarted Campaign Against Japan
05 February 2026
On Thursday 5 February 2026 at 6pm, Stuart Hadaway will discuss the role of Tiger Force. This lecture will be hosted virtually via Crowdcast.
Talk Outline
In 1943 discussions began on how RAF Bomber Command would contribute to the war against Japan once Germany had been defeated. Serious planning began in December 1944 with the appointment of Air Marshal Sir Hugh Lloyd to command the unpromisingly named Operation Mould, with a brief to bring up to three RAF Groups (including escorting fighter units) to bear on the Japanese home islands. A staff was assembled in January 1945 with a target date of starting operations from the island of Okinawa in mid-October. They would have to build and maintain their own airfields and infrastructure at the end of a 14,000 mile (10 week’s sailing time) line of communications. It was an epic task, to say the least, with major technical, logistical, tactical, and strategic hurdles to cross.
The exact plans and scale of effort would vary over the following eight months, based on military commitments and international politics. However, the basic intent for what was renamed Tiger Force remained the same. In something of a role reversal from Europe, while the USAAF conducted lower-level night-time area bombing raids, the RAF’s initial tasking at least would be high-level, daylight precision raids on Japanese infrastructure. Indeed, the first designated air elements were Nos. 9 and 617 Squadrons, who would both reach India by the end of 1945. Meanwhile, two convoys of ground personnel and equipment were also despatched, neither of which would actually reach Okinawa (although one helped to liberate Hong Kong).
In August 1945, in the words of AM Lloyd, “the Japs surrendered when they heard Bomber Command was on it’s way”, and so Tiger Force has largely fallen down the cracks of RAF history. This talk will take a broad approach, touching on the personal, technical, logistical, and operational aspects of the episode.
About Stuart Hadaway
Stuart Hadaway is the Research and Information Manager at the Air Historical Branch (RAF), where he has worked since 2009. Before that, he worked at the RAF Museum, where he met and interviewed veterans of Tiger Force for the Museum’s archive. An Associate Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and committee member of the Royal Air Force Historical Society, he has written widely on RAF history, including the Second World War and immediate post-war period in the Far East.
