Royal Air Force Topcliffe or RAF Topcliffe is a

Royal Air Force station The Royal Air Force (RAF) operates several stations throughout the United Kingdom and overseas. This includes front-line and training air bases, support, administrative and training stations with no flying activity, unmanned airfields used fo ...

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial county (lieutenancy area) in England, covering an area of . Around 40% of the county is covered by national parks, including most of the Yorkshire Dales and the North York Moors. It is one of four co ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. It was established as a

RAF Bomber Command RAF Bomber Command controlled the Royal Air Force's bomber forces from 1936 to 1968. Along with the United States Army Air Forces, it played the central role in the strategic bombing of Germany in World War II. From 1942 onward, the British bo ...

station in 1940. The

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurkha ...

took over a large part of the site in 1974 and the airfield became an enclave within

Alanbrooke Barracks Alanbrooke Barracks is a military installation at Topcliffe in North Yorkshire, England. History The barracks were established, on the site of the former RAF Topcliffe airbase, in 1974, as an ordnance field park. The barracks were named Alanbroo ...

. The last remaining RAF unit is No. 645 Volunteer Gliding Squadron which operates the Grob Viking T.1 glider.

History

Second World War

Royal Air Force Topcliffe opened in September 1940 as a bomber station in

and was home to No. 77 Squadron and No. 102 Squadron, both flying the

Armstrong Whitworth Whitley The Armstrong Whitworth A.W.38 Whitley was a British medium bomber aircraft of the 1930s. It was one of three twin-engined, front line medium bomber types that were in service with the Royal Air Force (RAF) at the outbreak of the Second World ...

heavy bomber. There was a decoy site at

Raskelf Raskelf is a village and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. The electoral roll has a population of around 400 measured at 519 in the 2011 census. History The village appears in the Domesday Book as Rascill and its derivation is bel ...

. No. 419 Squadron and No. 424 Squadron of the

Royal Canadian Air Force The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; french: Aviation royale canadienne, ARC) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environm ...

(RCAF) moved in flying

Vickers Wellington The Vickers Wellington was a British twin-engined, long-range medium bomber. It was designed during the mid-1930s at Brooklands in Weybridge, Surrey. Led by Vickers-Armstrongs' chief designer Rex Pierson; a key feature of the aircraft is its ...

bombers and later, the Handley Page Halifax III. On 1 January 1943 the station was transferred to

No. 6 Group RCAF No. 6 Group RCAF was a group of Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) heavy bomber squadrons in Europe during the Second World War, between 1942 and 1945. The group operated out of airfields in Yorkshire, England. History No. 6 Group was a Royal Can ...

and became a training station. The station, along with sub-stations at

Wombleton Wombleton is a village and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. It is situated just south from the main Thirsk to Scarborough road A170 road and to the west of Pickering. The village has one public house, the Plough Inn, which was renov ...

Dalton Dalton may refer to: Science * Dalton (crater), a lunar crater * Dalton (program), chemistry software * Dalton (unit) (Da), the atomic mass unit * John Dalton, chemist, physicist and meteorologist Entertainment * Dalton (Buffyverse), minor ch ...

and

Dishforth Dishforth is a village and civil parish in the Harrogate district of North Yorkshire, England. Dishforth translates from Old English as dic-ford; a ford by a dike or ditch. The population of the parish taken at the 2001 census as 719 and had ...

was designated as No. 61 (Training) Base in late 1943.

Cold War

No.1 Air Navigation School was located at Topcliffe between March 1957 & December 1961. The Air Electronics school arrived in January 1962 and from 1967 became the Air Electronics & Engineers School, flying the Vickers Varsity T.1. From October 1964, the

Northern Communications Squadron Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a r ...

flew the Avro Anson C.19, replacing them with Beagle Basset CC.1 in 1965 before the squadron departed in 1969. The Airman Aircrew Initial Training School was located at Topcliffe from January 1967 until February 1970. No. 15 Aviation Flight of the Army Air Corps flew the de Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver AL.1 from the early 1970s and No. 666 Aviation Squadron AAC flew Westland Scout AH.1 helicopters between 1973 and 1978. In 1974 much of the station was transferred to the

and became

. During the 1980s, Topcliffe was home of the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against Fr ...

Elementary Flying School. In the 1990s it was temporarily home to a

Shorts Tucano The Short Tucano is a two-seat turboprop basic trainer built by Short Brothers in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is a licence-built version of the Brazilian Embraer EMB 312 Tucano. On 14 February 1986, the prototype conducted its maiden fligh ...

squadron of the

RAF Central Flying School The Central Flying School (CFS) is the Royal Air Force's primary institution for the training of military flying instructors. Established in 1912 at the Upavon Aerodrome, it is the longest existing flying training school. The school was based at R ...

. It was the home of the Tucano Air Navigation Squadron, teaching student navigators of both the RAF and the Royal Navy until April 2002, when it moved to

RAF Linton-on-Ouse RAF Linton-on-Ouse was a Royal Air Force (RAF) station at Linton-on-Ouse in North Yorkshire, England, north-west of York. It had satellite stations at RAF Topcliffe and Dishforth Airfield (British Army). The station opened in 1937. With t ...

. During the 1990s and until 2001, the airfield was utilised by Merlin Parachute Club, home to both the

4th Battalion, Parachute Regiment The 4th Battalion, Parachute Regiment (4 PARA), is an Army Reserve unit of the British Army. Now recruiting across the United Kingdom originally the Battalion covered the North of England, with its headquarters located in Pudsey, West Yorkshire. ...

parachute display team and the

University of York The University of York (abbreviated as or ''York'' for post-nominals) is a collegiate research university, located in the city of York, England. Established in 1963, the university has expanded to more than thirty departments and centres, co ...

Sport Parachute Club.

21st century

No. 645 Volunteer Gliding Squadron moved to the airfield in 2003, after their previous home at the former

RAF Catterick Royal Air Force Catterick or RAF Catterick is a former Royal Air Force airfield located near Catterick, North Yorkshire in England. It is located alongside the A6055 road on the outskirts of Catterick Village. Although initially a flying st ...

became increasingly unusable. No. 635 Volunteer Gliding Squadron also operated from Topcliffe from 2009 when it moved from its former home at RAF Samlesbury. The unit disbanded in 2016 as part of the relaunch of air cadet aviation. RAF Topcliffe was a satellite station which served in the role of a Relief Landing Ground for Shorts Tucano T1 aircraft of

No. 1 Flying Training School The No. 1 Flying Training School (1 FTS) is the oldest military pilot training school in the world, currently used to deliver rotary training to aircrew of the British armed forces. History First formation (1919 – 1928) On 23 December 1919 ...

previously based nearby at

(one of two, the other being Dishforth Airfield). No RAF personnel are based permanently at the airfield. In 2012, Yorkshire Air Ambulance moved their second base to RAF Topcliffe from nearby Bagby Airfield.

Role and operations

Since the

took over a large part of the site in 1974 to establish

, the airfield is now a small enclave within what is now known as

. The last remaining RAF unit based at Topcliffe is No. 645 Volunteer Gliding Squadron, which teaches Air Cadets to fly the Grob Viking T1. As of March 2012, the station is the permanent base of one of the two Yorkshire Air Ambulances.

Based units

Units based at RAF Topcliffe.

Royal Air Force

No. 22 Group (Training) RAF *

No. 2 Flying Training School No.2 Flying Training School is a Flying Training School (FTS) of the Royal Air Force, Royal Air Force (RAF). It is part of No. 22 Group RAF, No. 22 (Training) Group that delivers glider flying training to the Royal Air Force Air Cadets. Its head ...

** No. 645 Volunteer Gliding Squadron *

Air Training Corps The Air Training Corps (ATC) is a British volunteer-military youth organisation. They are sponsored by the Ministry of Defence and the Royal Air Force. The majority of staff are volunteers, and some are paid for full-time work – including C ...

** Central & East Yorkshire Wing HQ

Civilian

* Yorkshire Air Ambulance - Airbus H145

References

Citations

Bibliography

External links

No. 645 Volunteer Gliding Squadron

UK Military Aeronautical Information Publication – Topcliffe (EGXZ)
{{authority control RAF Topcliffe 645 VGS Topcliffe Topcliffe Topcliffe Military history of North Yorkshire