It was originally formed as Air Command, South East Asia in 1943 during the Second World War.

During the Second World War, when Malaya, Singapore, Burma and Hong Kong were overrun by the Japanese, the command retreated to India, there receiving the name Air Headquarters Bengal.

Lieutenant General George E. Stratemeyer, itself being made up of the Strategic Air Force (7th Bombardment Group USAAF and No.

225 Group RAF (responsible for the "air defence of southern India and the whole coastline from Bengal to Karachi," by January 1943 controlling Nos 172 and 173 Wings[5]), No.

228 Group RAF: 176, 658 AOP, 355 at Digri, 159 at Salbani; 229 Group: 353 and 232 at Palam; and 10 and 76 with Dakotas at Poona) remained in India after 1 April 1946, and AHQ India was placed under joint command of the Indian Government and the Air Ministry (Lee Eastward 65-69, Appendix B, 261).

The tri-service headquarters remained in place after the war over to coordinate re-occupation of territory within the bounds of the command that had not yet been liberated from the Japanese.

The dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, combined with the American blockade of Japan, and the Soviet entry into the war on 9 August 1945 finally shocked the Japanese into suing for peace.

Once peace came, there was a period of euphoria within the RAF units, but the forces in the region came back down to earth with a bump a few days later.

South-East Asia Command had been increased in size from the day after the surrender, taking in south French Indo-China, and much of the Dutch East Indies.

The strain imposed by the high operations tempo that occupation duties, when combined with the downsizing of the command due to demobilisation and return of American aircraft provided under lend-lease aircraft was very great, and it manifested itself in a series of mutinies around the command in early 1946.

Enlisted airmen downed tools and refused to work until their grievances about demobilisation had been met.

Unlike elsewhere in the region, Siam had retained a functioning civil government throughout the war, and thus British troops did not have to deploy to restore order over most of the country.

RAF forces set a headquarters in Bangkok, at Don Muang airfield, under Group Captain D O Finlay on 9 September 1945.

In addition to the resident forces, Douglas Dakota transport aircraft were frequent users of Don Muang.

That gave ACSEA crucial breathing space to start getting the colony back on its feet before the massive increase in occupation duties postwar occurred.

Again, the transport squadrons saw the largest amount of work, evacuating POWs and internees and supplying garrisons and the civilian population.

The most prickly tasks in the entire command were the temporary occupations of the colonies of other European powers.

[clarification needed] Only about 5,000 prisoners of war were in French Indo-China, and thus that part of the repatriation problem was small.

This was fortunate since a great number of transport aircraft was required in the country, despite the low population of POWs.

The situation in French Indo-China and the Netherlands East Indies was particularly tricky because of the hostility of the locals to the returning colonial powers.

However, a small RAF presence was retained for a few more months to help direct military transport aircraft using the airfield.

Sabah and Sarawak were ethnically, religiously and politically diverse and there was some local opposition to joining Malaysia that Indonesia attempted to exploit, although with little success.

The British and Malaysian Armed Forces provided a significant element of the effort with assistance from the other member nations (Australia and New Zealand) from the combined Far East Strategic Reserve stationed then in West Malaysia and Singapore.

The main military forces backing Malaysia were British and initially their activities were low key.

By August 1966, following Indonesian President Suharto's rise to power, a peace agreement finally took effect as Indonesia accepted the existence of Malaysia.

RAF units and forces in Burma, the Dutch East Indies, French Indochina, and Siam/Thailand left in 1945–1947.

[7] Its stations, including RAF Negombo, 22 miles north of Columbo, had been handed over to the Royal Ceylon Air Force in the course of 1955–56.