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Part Three - Expansion Scheme F
The Home Defence Fighter Force

The TTL Expansion Scheme A still provided for a force of 336 fighters in 28 squadrons by 31st March 1939. 300 in 25 squadrons for Home Defence and 36 in 3 squadrons for the ACBEF.

The TTL Expansion Scheme C still provided for 420 fighters in 35 squadrons. There were still 300 fighters in 25 squadrons for Home Defence, but the number provided for the ACBEF was increased to 120 in 10 squadrons. The completion date of Scheme C was 31st March 1937.

The TTL Expansion Scheme F still provided for a fighter force at 420 aircraft by 31st March 1939. However instead of 35 squadrons of 12 there were 30 squadrons of 14. That is 21 for Home Defence and 9 for the ACBEF. It also provided for a massive increase reserves to 225% of the Initial Equipment (I.E.) of the squadrons. This included an Immediate Reserve (I.R.) of 50% of the I.E. attached to the squadrons so that they had enough serviceable aircraft to put up their entire first-line strength at any one time.

IOTL the 310 Spitfires and 600 Hurricanes were ordered in June 1936 for delivery by 31st March 1939 to equip the 21 Home Defence squadrons. Both contracts were completed about 6 months late. ITTL the extra aircraft built by both firms until the middle of the 1930s helped them deliver the aircraft closer to schedule. Furthermore both companies completed the follow on contracts for 200 Spitfires and 400 Hurricanes September 1939 and October 1939 respectively.

Fighters for the Air Component of the British Expeditionary Force

The turret fighters being designed to Specification F.9/35 were to replace the Hawker Demon in the 9 ACBEF squadrons. At October 1936 the plan was to order 389 Hawker Hotspurs from Avro to equip these squadrons and provide the necessary reserves. Delivery was required by 31st March 1939.

However, IOTL Avro's factories were full of Ansons and Blenheims so the production contract went to Boulton Paul by default and the first 87 aircraft were ordered in April 1937. Deliveries did not commence until August 1939 and the 87th aircraft wasn't delivered until May 1940. At 3rd September 1939 the RAF actually had 4 squadrons of Hurricanes allocated to the ACBEF and 5 fighter squadrons equipped with the Blenheim Mk IF pending the arrival of the Defiant.

ITTL the Air Ministry changed its mind in the first half of 1936 and ordered 389 Hurricanes from Boulton Paul in June 1936. The first Boulton Paul built Hurricane was delivered in October 1938.

Army Co-operation

Scheme A left the home based army co-operation force at 60 aircraft in 5 squadrons. Scheme C increased it to 90 aircraft in 5 squadrons to be reorganised into 84 in 7 squadrons in wartime. Scheme F increased it to 132 aircraft in 11 squadrons.

There a requirement for 20 army co-operation squadrons. That is one for each of the 17 infantry divisions (5 regular and 12 TA) 2 reconnaissance squadrons and a communications squadron. Because of the time it would take to mobilise the TA divisions it was possible to maintain only 7 Regular and 4 AuxAF squadrons in peace with the remainder formed on mobilisation. The peace force would consist of the 2 reconnaissance squadrons (both regular) and 9 army co-operation squadrons (5 regular and 4 AuxAF). IOTL the first 144 Lysanders were ordered on September 1936 and delivered between May 1938 and April 1939.

In September 1939 No. 22 (Army Co-operation) Group, Fighter Command had 9 of the 11 squadrons that were required in peacetime. There were 2 reconnaissance squadrons equipped with the Blenheim Mk IV, 5 army co-operation squadrons equipped with the Lysander and 2 army co-operation squadrons equipped with the Hawker Hind. The 2 Hind squadrons were AuxAF units which converted to Lysanders in November 1939 and April 1940 respectively. These Blenheim squadrons were not the same as the 2 Emergency Squadrons previously referred to which were equipped with the Blenheim Mk I and were part of No. 6 Group, Bomber Command.

However, by September 1936 the Air Ministry and War Office had changed their minds. They decided that the field army needed more fighter protection on the scale of 10 squadrons plus one additional squadron per infantry division. Therefore 144 Hurricanes were ordered from Westland in September 1936 and delivered between May 1938 and April 1939.

Air Observation Post and Light Liaison

IOTL the RAF took over 14 British Taylorcraft Plus C light aircraft for communications duties in September 1939 and in 1940 the British Army took over 8 Plus D for experiments for AOP experiments. No. 651 (AOP) Squadron was formed in July 1941.

ITTL the Army purchased 8 Taylorcraft aircraft from the USA in 1937 for AOP trials and in the same year a bulk order was placed with British Taylorcraft aircraft that would equip the AOP flights which began forming in the summer of 1938. The required scale for the home army was one flight per infantry division, but only 11 were to be formed in peace with the balance being formed on mobilisation. As British Taylorcraft was not formed in 1938 IOTL some of the initial order would have been purchased from American Taylorcraft to speed up deliveries.

Note

ITTL 2 of the 14 TA infantry divisions were converted to AA divisions in the 1920s, which is why 12 were referred to instead of 14 in this part of the thread.

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