RAF: Coastal Command

Overview

RAF Coastal Command is perhaps the lesser known of Britain's wartime RAF Commands, with the Fighter and Bomber Squadrons making most of the headlines. The tasks faced by Coastal Command however were gigantic. These ranged from submarine hunting to convoy protection; attacks on enemy shipping and U-boat pens to reconnaissance; mine laying to air-sea rescue. The maritime air War called for men of unusual skills and rare patience, often spending 20 hours or more on a mission. It has been said that without the destructive power of the bombers and fighters, the Allies might not have achieved victory. Without the patient, dogged devotion to duty of the coastal crews, Britain would never have survived to achieve that victory.