On 25 March 1943, RAF Transport Command had been formed, which soon established a clear requirement for the strengthening of Britain's air transport forces; the York became the first British aircraft to be used in quantity by Transport Command. The first RAF production order consisted of 200 aircraft; while a further 100 were ordered under a second order placed shortly after. Throughout 1944, the majority of Yorks produced were passenger transport aircraft, a batch of both pure freighters and combined passenger/freighter-configured Yorks were also manufactured. Several early production aircraft intended for RAF service were instead diverted to BOAC, who had otherwise received little in the way of similar aircraft prior to delivery of the first York in April 1944.