No. 227 Operational Conversion Unit RAF
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Middle Wallop Flying Station is a
British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...
airfield located near the
Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...
village of
Middle Wallop Middle Wallop is a village in the civil parish of Nether Wallop in Hampshire, England, on the A343 road. At the 2011 Census the population was included in the civil parish of Over Wallop. The village has a public house, The George Inn, and ...
. It is the Headquarters for the Army Air Corps, and the 1st Aviation Brigade Combat Team, and is also used for Army Air Corps training. The base hosts 2 (Training) Regiment AAC and 7 (Training) Regiment AAC under the umbrella of the Army Aviation Centre. 2 Regiment performs ground training; 7 Regiment trains aircrew on AAC aircraft after they complete basic training at
RAF Shawbury Royal Air Force Shawbury, otherwise known as RAF Shawbury, is a Royal Air Force station near the village of Shawbury in Shropshire in the West Midlands of England. History The First World War The station at Shawbury was first used for milita ...
. The base is notable for having previously served as both a Royal Navy (as HMS ''Flycatcher'') and a
Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...
(as RAF Middle Wallop) controlled airfield, as well as an Army one initially as Middle Wallop Airfield.


History


Early use

The base was opened as RAF Middle Wallop, a training school for new pilots in 1940. It was originally intended for bomber use; however, with the
Battle of Britain The Battle of Britain () was a military campaign of the Second World War, in which the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) of the Royal Navy defended the United Kingdom (UK) against large-scale attacks by Nazi Germany's air force ...
being fought, No. 609 Squadron RAF, flying the
Supermarine Spitfire The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was used by the Royal Air Force and other Allies of World War II, Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. It was the only British fighter produced conti ...
Ia, and No. 238 Squadron RAF flying the
Hawker Hurricane The Hawker Hurricane is a British single-seat fighter aircraft of the 1930s–40s which was designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd. for service with the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was overshadowed in the public consciousness by ...
I were moved to Middle Wallop. Among the fighter pilots who flew from here in the Battle of Britain were former journalist John Dundas (a veteran of the
Battle of France The Battle of France (; 10 May – 25 June 1940), also known as the Western Campaign (), the French Campaign (, ) and the Fall of France, during the Second World War was the Nazi Germany, German invasion of the Low Countries (Belgium, Luxembour ...
, and brother of another notable RAF pilot, "Cocky" Dundas), and three remarkable Americans, "Red" Tobin, Andy Mamedoff, and "Shorty" Keough. Keough, who was less than five feet tall, was reputed to be the shortest pilot serving in the RAF. In September 1940 604 Squadron RAF, a specialist night fighter unit, received the
Bristol Beaufighter The Bristol Type 156 Beaufighter (often called the Beau) is a British multi-role aircraft developed during the Second World War by the Bristol Aeroplane Company. It was originally conceived as a heavy fighter variant of the Bristol Beaufor ...
, equipped with four 20-mm cannon under the nose and improved Mark IV AI radio-location equipment. As one of the few Squadrons thus equipped, 604 squadron helped provide night time defence over the UK during the Blitz from late 1940 until mid-May 1941. In this time 50 air victories had been claimed by No. 604 Squadron, 14 by F/L John Cunningham.
RAF Chilbolton Royal Air Force Chilbolton or RAF Chilbolton is a former Royal Air Force List of former Royal Air Force stations, station in Hampshire, England. The airfield was located in Chilbolton approximately south-southeast of Andover, Hampshire, An ...
was designated the relief landing airfield for Middle Wallop, until it became a fully fledged Fighter Station in its own right, as the Battle of Britain progressed. In a post-war memoir, an RAF night-fighter pilot who began flying Beaufighters from Middle Wallop with 604 Sqdn in January 1942 recalls the grass airfield as presenting challenges for the pilots of the big fighters. He describes Middle Wallop as having:
. . . two runways of 1,400 and 800yd, which undulated so that their bumps would catch the unwary coming in to land. Ten tons of Beaufighter thus required a fair degree of accuracy in the approach speed. If you had 10-15mph too much on the clock as you came over the hedge, the aeroplane would then float for a hundred yards or so before touching down at 80mph, and thus use up the spare margin of distance available for stopping. Weak brakes then meant a trip through the far hedge, or an exciting ground loop. So we all quickly learned the value of precision flying and brought our aircraft in to land within 1 percent of 105mph on the approach and 90mph over the hedge.
Squadrons serving at Middle Wallop included: *
No. 16 Squadron RAF Number 16 Squadron Royal Air Force, nicknamed 'the Saints', is a flying squadron of the Royal Air Force (RAF) who currently provide elementary flying training (EFT) with the Grob Tutor T1, presently based at RAF Wittering, an RAF airbase in ...
initially between April 1942 and January 1943 with the Mustang I, returning 1 June 1943 as a full squadron with the Spitfire V until 29 June 1943. The squadron returned on 6 October 1947 with the Tempest F.2, staying until 17 October 1947. *
No. 19 Squadron RAF No. 19 Squadron (sometimes written as No. XIX Squadron) is a Squadron (aviation), squadron of the Royal Air Force. It was the first squadron to operate the Supermarine Spitfire. It currently operates the UK's Control and Reporting Centre from RAF ...
from 1 March 1943 and 5 April 1943 with the Spitfire VC; with a brief 3 day move to Membury during this period. *
No. 23 Squadron RAF Number 23 Squadron is a squadron of the Royal Air Force responsible for 'day-to-day space operations', having been reformed in January 2021, as the first "space squadron". Up until its disbandment in October 2009, it operated the Boeing Sentry ...
as a detachment between March 1941 and February 1942 with the Havoc I * No. 32 Squadron RAF between 15 December 1940 and 16 February 1941 with the Hurricane I *
No. 56 Squadron RAF Number 56 Squadron, also known as No. 56 Test and Evaluation Squadron (TES), nicknamed ''the Firebirds'' for their ability to always reappear intact regardless of the odds, is one of the oldest and most successful squadrons of the Royal Air For ...
between 29 November 1940 and 17 December 1940 with the Hurricane I * No. 93 Squadron RAF reformed here on 7 December 1940 from No. 420 Flight with a variety of aircraft including Harrow II (LAM), Havoc I, Wellington IC, Boston I and Havoc I (Turbinlite) * No. 151 Squadron RAF between 16 August and 17 November 1943 with a detachment at Coltishall flying Mosquito VI & XII * No. 164 (Argentine–British) Squadron RAF between 8 February and 20 June 1943 with the Hurricane IID & IV * No. 169 Squadron RAF from 21 June 1943 until 30 September 1943 when the squadron was disbanded flying the Mustang I * No. 182 Squadron RAF between 1 March and 5 April 1943 with the Typhoon IB * No. 234 (Madras Presidency) Squadron RAF between 14 August and 11 September 1940 with the Spitfire I *
No. 236 Squadron RAF No. 236 Squadron RAF was a Royal Air Force aircraft squadron, which served during the First World War in the anti-submarine role, and for most of Second World War employed on anti-shipping operations. History The squadron was formed on 20 Augus ...
between 14 June and 4 July 1940 with the Blenheim IF * No. 238 Squadron RAF multiple times between 20 June 1940 and 1 February 1941 with the Hurricane I * No. 245 (Northern Rhodesian) Squadron RAF between 19 December 1941 and 26 October 1942 with a detachment at Shoreham flying the Hurricane IIB & IIC * No. 247 (China-British) Squadron RAF initially as a detachment between 17 May and 21 September 1942 with the Hurricane I & IIB. The full squadron returned on 28 February 1943 flying the Hurricane IIB and Typhoon IB, staying until 5 April 1943 when the squadron moved to Fairlop *
No. 256 Squadron RAF No. 256 Squadron RAF was a flying squadron of the Royal Air Force which operated during the First World War, First and Second World Wars. Initially equipped with Dh6 and Kangaroo (airplane), Kangaroo aircraft, it operated Boulton-Paul Defiant, D ...
as a detachment between 6 February and 26 March 1941 with the Defiant I * No. 286 Squadron RAF as a detachment sometime between April 1942 and 1944 with the Master III, Defiant I & III, Hurricane I & IIX and Oxford * No. 400 Squadron RCAF between 4 December 1942 and 1 February 1943 with the Mustang I * No. 406 Squadron RAF between 8 December 1942 and 31 March 1943 with the Beaufighter VIF * No. 414 Squadron RCAF between 1 February and 26 May 1943 with the Mustang I * No. 456 Squadron RAAF between 29 March and 17 August 1943 with the Mosquito II & VI * No. 501 (County of Gloucester) Squadron AAF initially between 4 July and 25 July 1940 with the Hurricane I. The squadron returned on 24 August 1942 with Spitfire VB & VC, before leaving on 19 October 1942 going to Ballyhalbert * No. 504 (County of Nottingham) Squadron AAF between 19 October and 30 December 1942 with the Spitfire VB & VC * No. 537 Squadron RAF formed here on 8 September 1942 from No. 1458 Flight using a variety of aircraft including Havoc I (Turbinlite), Boston III (Turbinlite), Hurricane IIB & IIC and the Havoc I. Before disbanding on 25 January 1943 * No. 601 (County of London) Squadron AAF between 1 June and 17 June 1940 with the Hurricane I * No. 604 (County of Middlesex) Squadron AAF between 27 July 1940 and 18 February 1943 with the Blenheim I and Beaufighter IF * No. 609 (West Riding) Squadron AAF between 6 July and 2 October 1940 with Spitfire I


USAAF use

Middle Wallop was also used by the
United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...
Ninth Air Force The Ninth Air Force (Air Forces Central) is a Numbered Air Force of the United States Air Force headquartered at Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina. It is the Air Force Service Component of United States Central Command (USCENTCOM), a joint D ...
to house Headquarters
IX Fighter Command The IX Fighter Command was a United States Army Air Forces formation. Its last assignment was with the Ninth Air Force, based at Erlangen, Germany, where it was inactivated on 16 November 1945. IX Fighter Command was the primary tactical fight ...
, beginning in November 1943. A month after the headquarters arrived, the
67th Reconnaissance Group 67 may refer to: * 67 (number) * one of the years 67 BC, AD 67, 1967, 2067 * "67", a 1992 song by Love Battery from the album ''Between the Eyes'' * 67 (rap group), a drill music group from London * 67 Asia, a main-belt asteroid See also * 67th Re ...
was moved from
RAF Membury Royal Air Force Membury or more simply RAF Membury is a former Royal Air Force List of former Royal Air Force stations, station built in the civil parish of Lambourn in Berkshire, England, approximately north-northwest of Hungerford. The airfie ...
. The move of the 67th Group was made in December 1943 so it would be in close proximity to IX FC Headquarters. The 67th Group flew the photographic versions of the
Lockheed P-38 Lightning The Lockheed P-38 Lightning is an American single-seat, twin piston-engined fighter aircraft that was used during World War II. Developed for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) by the Lockheed Corporation, the P-38 incorporated a distinc ...
(F-5) and
North American P-51 Mustang The North American Aviation P-51 Mustang is an American long-range, single-seat fighter and fighter-bomber used during World War II and the Korean War, among other conflicts. The Mustang was designed in 1940 by a team headed by James H. Kin ...
(F-6) to fly artillery-adjustment, weather-reconnaissance, bomb-damage assessment, photographic-reconnaissance, and visual-reconnaissance missions to obtain photographs that aided the invasion of the Continent. After
D-Day The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during the Second World War. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as ...
, both the 67th RG moved to its Advanced Landing Ground at
Le Molay-Littry Le Molay-Littry () is a commune in the Calvados department in the Normandy region in northwestern France. History On 23 January 1969 Le Molay merged with the old commune of Littry to form ''Le Molay-Littry''. Le Molay-Littry has good trav ...
(ALG A-9) and IX FC Headquarters moved to Les Obeaux, France in late June 1944 ending the USAAF presence at Middle Wallop. During the American use, the airfield was designated as USAAF Station 449, ID Code: MW.


RAF / RNAS use

Middle Wallop returned to
Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...
use from July 1944 for No. 418 Squadron RCAF and its
de Havilland Mosquito The de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito is a British twin-engined, multirole combat aircraft, introduced during the World War II, Second World War. Unusual in that its airframe was constructed mostly of wood, it was nicknamed the "Wooden Wonder", or " ...
night-fighters. In January 1945, in an exchange with the Royal Air Force, Middle Wallop was transferred to
Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...
use, and became 'RNAS Middle Wallop'. HMS ''Flycatcher'', the headquarters for the Mobile Naval Air Base organisation then moved in from
RNAS Ludham Royal Air Force Ludham or more simply RAF Ludham is a former Royal Air Force List of former Royal Air Force stations, station located approximately northeast of the village of Ludham, and east-northeast of Norwich, in the county of Norfolk, Eng ...
, Norfolk, which reverted to RAF use. In 1946, the Royal Air Force occupied Middle Wallop again. No. 164 Squadron RAF with its Spitfires came and were renumbered to No. 63 Squadron RAF. The following year, No. 227 OCU, an Army air observation post training unit, was moved to the airfield. This was renamed as the ''Air Observation Post School'' in 1950, and the ''Light Aircraft School'' in 1952. * No. 63 Squadron RAF reformed here on 1 September 1946 with the Spitfire LF 16E, staying for 3 days before moving to Lubeck; *
No. 80 Squadron RAF Number 80 Squadron is a squadron of the Royal Air Force. It was reformed on 15 April 2024 at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, after the numberplate was awarded to the British team at the Australia, Canada and United Kingdom Reprogramming Laborato ...
from 5 May 1947 with the Tempest V, staying until 16 May 1947; * No. 125 (Newfoundland) Squadron RAF between 31 July and 18 October 1944 with a detachment at Bradwell Bay flying Mosquito XVII; * No. 165 (Ceylon) Squadron RAF between 3 July and 8 July 1946 with the Spitfire IXE; * No. 285 Squadron RAF as a detachment between 19 November 1944 and 4 January 1945 with the Oxford and Hurricane IIC; * No. 288 Squadron RAF reformed here on 16 March 1953 operating Spitfire LF 16E and
Boulton Paul Balliol The Boulton Paul Balliol and Sea Balliol are monoplane advanced trainer aircraft designed and produced by the British aircraft manufacturer Boulton Paul Aircraft. On 17 May 1948, it became the world's first single-engined turboprop aircraft to ...
T.2 until 30 September 1957 when the squadron was disbanded; * No. 418 Squadron RCAF between 29 July and 28 August 1944 with the Mosquito II; * No. 587 Squadron RAF as a detachment between 1 October 1944 and 1 June 1946 flying a variety of aircraft including Hurricane IIC & IV, Martinet, Vengeance IV, Mustang I and Spitfire XVI; * No. 651 Squadron RAF reformed here on 1 November 1955 with the Sycamore HC II & Auster AOP 6 until the squadron was transferred to the AAC; * No. 657 Squadron RAF from 19 January 1948 with the Auster V, AOP 4, AOP 6, Hoverfly II and Sycamore HC II until the squadron was disbanded on 1 November 1955 to become 651 Squadron RAF; * No. 1963 Reserve Air Observation Post Flight RAF of No. 662 Squadron RAF formed here on 1 September 1949, and used the Auster AOP 5, AOP 6 and AOP 4 until 10 March 1957, when the squadron was disbanded.


Units

The following units were also here at some point:


Army Air Corps use

In 1954 a Development Flight (CFS) with helicopters was formed there, this led to the Joint Experimental Helicopter Unit in 1955. On 1 September 1957, when British Army aviation became independent of the RAF, RAF technicians remained until
Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers The Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME ) is the maintenance arm of the British Army that maintains the equipment that the Army uses. The corps is described as the "British Army's professional engineers". History Prior t ...
(REME) technicians were fully trained to take over, On 1 October 1958 the airfield was handed over from
RAF Home Command RAF Home Command was the Royal Air Force command that was responsible for the maintenance and training of reserve organisationsJohn D. Rawlings, 'The History of the Royal Air Force,' Temple Press Aerospace, Feltham, Middlesex, 1984, p.180 from f ...
to the Army Air Corps. Middle Wallop was transferred to the new Army Air Corps with the former Light Aircraft School RAF becoming the Army Air Corps Centre. The centre was made up of the: * Depot Regiment * Demonstration and Trials Squadron * Training Cell * 78th Army Education Centre * Standards department The centre was also made up of the Pilot Training Wing (renamed Flying Wing in 1965), Tactics Wing, Technical Wing (disbanded 1965), Aircraft Servicing Branch and Administrative Wing. The Army Air Corps Centre was previously the Light Aircraft School RAF (1953–57), Air Observation Post School RAF (1950–53), No. 227 (Air Observation Post) Conversion Unit (1947–50), No. 227 Operational Conversion Unit RAF (1947), No. 43 Operational Training Unit (1942–47), No. 1424 (Air Observation Post) Flight RAF (1941–42) and D Flight RAF within the No. 1 School of Army Co-operation RAF (1940–41). The School of Army Aviation was established in 1965 by renaming and separating the Training Cell which included the ground instructional part of the Tactics Wing, Aircraft Engineering Training WingBeaver says it was called the Aircraft Engineering Wing and the Flying Wing. The school was disbanded during March 1973. It changed its name to the Army Aviation Centre on 1 August 2009.


Operational units

Flying and notable non-flying units based at Middle Wallop Airfield.


British Army

Source: ; Army Air Corps : Headquarters, Army Air Corps : Headquarters, 1st Aviation Brigade Combat Team (1 Avn BCT) : 5 Regiment : Headquarters, 6 Regiment (Reserves) ;
Joint Aviation Command The Joint Aviation Command (JAC), previously known as Joint Helicopter Command (JHC), is a tri-service organisation uniting battlefield military helicopters of all three services of the British Armed Forces and unmanned aerial vehicles of the B ...
*Army Aviation Centre ** 2 (Training) Regiment ***668 (Training) Squadron ***676 Squadron ** 7 (Training) Regiment *** 670 Squadron *** 671 Squadron *** 673 SquadronAH64E Apache *Army Flying Grading Flight – Tutor T1 The base is also the home of the
Historic Army Aircraft Flight The Historic Army Aircraft Flight (HAAF) is a Charitable organization, charitable trust which preserves and maintains former British Army Army Air Corps (United Kingdom), Air Corps (AAC) Military aircraft, aircraft in flying condition. It thus bri ...
a charitable trust that flies historic Army aircraft for public display and the
Army Flying Museum The Army Flying Museum, previously known as the Museum of Army Flying, is a British military aviation museum about the history of flying in the British Army. It is located at Middle Wallop Flying Station, close to Andover in Hampshire, England ...
.


See also

*
List of airfields of the Army Air Corps (United Kingdom) This is a list of airfields of the military aviation division of the British Army, the Army Air Corps, from 1 September 1957. Current airfields Previous airfields Home bases and deployment airfields: See also *List of British Army installa ...


Notes


References


Citations


Bibliography

* * * Freeman, Roger A. (1994) UK Airfields of the Ninth: Then and Now 1994. After the Battle * Freeman, Roger A. (1996) The Ninth Air Force in Colour: UK and the Continent-World War Two. After the Battle * * * * Maurer, Maurer (1983). Air Force Combat Units of World War II. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History. . *
ArmyAirForces.com 67th Reconnaissance Group


External links


Army Aviation Centre



Aerial Photo of Army Air Corps Middle Wallop from Multimap.Com

Photographs of Army Air Corps Middle Wallop from the Geograph British Isles project
{{DEFAULTSORT:Middle Wallop Army Air Corps airfields Airfields of the IX Fighter Command in the United Kingdom Organisations based in Hampshire 1940 establishments in England