Air Headquarters East Africa was a command of the British Royal Air Force formed on 19 October 1940 by expanding Air H.Q. RAF Nairobi. On 15 December 1941, the command was reduced to Group status as No. 207 Group. On 16 November 1942, Air H.Q. East Africa was reformed by raising No. 207 Group back to Command status again.
The onset of the East African Campaign in 1940 led to a significant buildup in what became Air HQ East Africa. The Italians held Ethiopia and Eritrea and quickly seized British Somaliland. Lieutenant General William Platt, Commandant of the Sudan Defence Force, commanded the forces invading Italian East Africa from Sudan during the campaign. In Sudan, the Royal Air Force's Air Headquarters Sudan under the ultimate command of the Air Officer Commanding-in-ChiefMiddle East, had 14 Squadron, 47 Squadron and 223 Squadron. A flight of Vickers Vincent biplanes from 47 Squadron performed Army Co-operation duties and were later reinforced from Egypt by 45 squadron. Six Gladiator biplane fighters were based in Port Sudan, for trade protection and anti-submarine patrols over the Red Sea and the air defence of Port Sudan, Atbara and Khartoum and army support. In May, 1 SquadronSouth African Air Force arrived, was transferred to Egypt to convert to Gladiators and returned to Khartoum in August. The SAAF in Kenya had 12 Squadron SAAF, 11 Squadron SAAF, 40 Squadron SAAF, 2 Squadron SAAF and 237 Squadron. Better aircraft became available later but the first aircraft were older and slower, the South Africans even pressing an old Vickers Valencia biplane into service as a bomber. The South Africans faced experienced Italian pilots, including a cadre of Spanish Civil War veterans. Despite its lack of experience, 1 SAAF claimed 48 enemy aircraft destroyed and 57 damaged in the skies over East Africa. A further 57 were claimed destroyed on the ground; all for the loss of six pilots—it is thought the unit was guilty of severe over-claiming. From November 1940 to early January 1941, Platt continued to apply constant pressure on the Italians along the Sudan–Ethiopia border with patrols and raids by ground troops and aircraft. Hawker Hurricanes and more Gloster Gladiators began to replace some of the older models. On 6 December, a large concentration of Italian motor transport was bombed and strafed by Commonwealth aircraft a few miles north of Kassala. The same aircraft then proceeded to machine-gun from low level the nearby positions of the Italian Blackshirts and colonial infantry. A few days later, the same aircraft bombed the Italian base at Keru, fifty miles east of Kassala. The Commonwealth pilots had the satisfaction of seeing supply dumps, stores, and transport enveloped in flame and smoke as they flew away. One morning in mid-December, a force of Italian fighters strafed a Rhodesian landing-strip at Wajir near Kassala, where two Hawker Hardys were caught on the ground and destroyed and of fuel were set alight, four Africans were killed and eleven injured fighting the fire.
Air H.Q. East Africa was disbanded on 15 September 1951, reformed on 1 February 1961, and disbanded on 11 December 1964. In the 1950s and 1960s the RAF in East Africa was reduced to a single station, RAF Eastleigh, and about 500 personnel. RAF stations at Kisumu, Thika, and Mombasa were thus eventually closed. No. 214 Squadron RAF made a six-month detachment to Eastleigh in 1951, during the Mau Mau Uprising. No. 1340 Flight RAF used the Harvard in Kenya against the Mau Mau in the 1950s, where they operated with 20 lb bombs and machine guns against the insurgents. Units from the 1950s included:
No. 78 Squadron RAF
No. 683 Squadron RAF
Eastleigh Communication Flight
No 1340 Flight
No. 142 Squadron RAF
No. 208 Squadron RAF
No. 21 Squadron RAF
No. 30 Squadron RAF
The Air Officer Commanding served as air advisor to a number of former British territories in the region.
