When RAF Transport Command was created in March 1943, it was formed by the renaming of Ferry Command. The delivery of aircraft from manufacturers to operational units had been ongoing since the start of the Second World War; but was significantly intensified by the supply of American machines flown across the Atlantic from 1940. Later, Transport Command took over the role of dropping paratroops. It even undertook the ferrying of mail from the UK to troops fighting across Europe, using specially modified Spitfires and Hurricanes for the role.