No. 135 Expeditionary Air Wing previously No. 135 Wing is a wing of the Royal Air Force. It was stationed at RAF Leeming, controlling the deployable subunits of the base (but not the flying squadrons). It was activated on 1 April 2006 as part of a modernisation package to make the RAF more deployable on an expeditionary basis.
The wing was formed at RAF Selsey on 12 May 1944 within No. 18 Sector RAF, No. 84 Group RAF, 2nd TAF with 222, 349 (Belgian) and 485 (NZ) Squadrons with the Spitfire IX moving to RAF Coolham on 30 June 1944 then to RAF Funtington on 4 July 1944. The wing moved to Selsey on 6 August, before moving to RAF Tangmere on 19 August and to France on 23 August 1944.[2][3] The wing was part of No. 18 Fighter Sector of three wings with its headquarters in turn at RAF Chailey nearby.[4][5] From September 1944 until May 1945, still with 84 Group, moving forward in North West Europe, it included 33, 222, 274 (Typhoon) and 349 (Belgian) Squadrons with Spitfires.[6]
The wing was equipped with Hawker Tempests by the time the Allied forces were reaching the German borders in 1945. Tempests scored several kills against the new German jets, including the Messerschmitt Me 262. Hubert Lange, a Me 262 pilot, said: "the Messerschmitt Me 262's most dangerous opponent was the British Hawker Tempest—extremely fast at low altitudes, highly manoeuvrable and heavily armed."[7] Some were destroyed with a tactic known to the Tempest-equipped No. 135 Wing as the "Rat Scramble":[8]
Tempests on immediate alert took off when an Me 262 was reported airborne. They did not intercept the jet, but instead flew towards the Me 262 and Arado Ar 234 base at Hopsten air base.[9] (which also hosted Bf 109 and Fw 190-day fighters and Messerschmitt Bf 110 and Heinkel He 219 night fighters). The aim was to attack jets on their landing approach, when they were at their most vulnerable, travelling slowly, with flaps down and incapable of rapid acceleration. The German response was the construction of a "flak lane" of over 150 emplacements of the 20 mm Flakvierling quadruple autocannon batteries at Rheine-Hopsten to protect the approaches.[10] As well as the anti-aircraft guns, several piston-engine fighter units based in the area were tasked to cover the jets as they landed. After seven Tempests were lost to flak at Hopsten in a week, the "Rat Scramble" was discontinued.[11]
