British Military Aviation in 1967

February
A Defence White Paper announces that Bomber and Fighter Commands will
merge in April 1968. The headquarters of the new formation would be that
of Bomber Command at High Wycombe. No.1 and No.3 Groups, RAF Bomber Command,
were to be merged to form No.1 (Bomber) Group (Headquarters, Bawtry);
RAF Fighter Command would become and No.11 (Fighter) Group (Headquarters,
Bentley Priory).

28-31 March

Operation Mop Up: repeated attacks by Hawker Hunters from RAF Chivenor and RAF West
Raynham, using bombs and rockets, assisted Hawker Siddeley Buccaneers
of the Fleet Air Arm to break up the Very Large Crude Carrier Torrey Canyon.
The tanker had gone aground on the Seven Stores Reef, near Lands End;
the sorties were intended to destroy much of her 120,000 ton cargo of
crude oil, which was polluting both the sea and nearby Cornish beaches.

1 April
Air Chief Marshal Sir Charles Elworthy, the Chief of the Air Staff, is
promoted to Marshal of the Royal Air Force and succeeded as Chief of the
Air Staff by Air Chief Marshal Sir John Grandy.

27 April

A British Aircraft Corporation (BAC) Rapier surface-to-air (SAM) missile
totally destroys a Meteor drone in its first trial.

3 May
The evacuation of Service families from Aden begins.

1 August
RAF Transport Command is renamed RAF Air Support Command and given greatly
increased responsibility for fulfilling the long-range strategic and tactical
air support and assault roles. The first Air Officer Commanding, Air Support
Command was Air Marshal Sir Thomas Prickett.

4 August
Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir Charles Elworthy is appointed Chief
of the Defence Staff. He relinquished this appointment on 8 April 1971.

1 September
Headquarters, RAF Persian Gulf is renamed Headquarters, Air Forces Gulf.

1 November

The military withdrawal from Aden is the largest airlift conducted by the
Royal Air Force since the Berlin Airlift of 1948-49 began. Some 5,800
men of the British Army were flown out to Muharraq in RAF Lockheed Hercules
(No.36 Squadron), Bristol Britannias (No.99 and No.511 Squadrons) and
Shorts Belfasts (No.53 Squadron); the last unit to leave departed on 26
November.

The remaining RAF units in Aden, Nos. 8, 21, 37, 43, 78, 84, 105 Squadrons
and No.1417 Flight, were either withdrawn to other stations in the Gulf
region or disbanded.

28 November
Headquarters, Middle East Command is disbanded and the command of
British forces in the Persian Gulf is transferred to Headquarters, British
Forces Gulf, based at Bahrain. The extant Headquarters, Air Forces Gulf
became the RAF component of this headquarters.

29 November
British forces complete their withdrawal from Aden.