No. 231 Operational Conversion Unit was 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 ...

Operational conversion unit that disbanded during April 1993. It was active twice, initially between March 1947 and December 1949, before reforming in December 1951.

Operational history

231 OCU first formed in the aftermath of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

during on 15 March 1947 at

RAF Coningsby Royal Air Force Coningsby or RAF Coningsby , is a Royal Air Force (RAF) station located south-west of Horncastle, and north-west of Boston, in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. It is a Main Operating Base of the RAF and h ...

. Initially the OCU was formed from a nucleus provided by No. 16 OTU and was tasked with training crews of the "wooden wonder", the

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 " ...

, in the light bomber and photo reconnaissance roles. Initial operational equipment was provided by Mosquito III and Mosquito B.XVI aircraft. In this role the unit lasted nearly three years before disbanding on 4 December 1949. In keeping with its previous role when the OCU reformed on 1 December 1951 it was to train

light bomber A light bomber is a relatively small and fast type of military bomber aircraft that was primarily employed before the 1950s. Such aircraft would typically not carry more than one ton of ordnance. The earliest light bombers were intended to dr ...

aircrew Aircrew are personnel who operate an aircraft while in flight. The composition of a flight's crew depends on the type of aircraft, plus the flight's duration and purpose. Commercial aviation Flight deck positions In commercial aviatio ...

s by redesignating 237 OCU. The aircraft used during the rest of the unit's operational service was the

English Electric Canberra The English Electric Canberra is a British first-generation, jet-powered medium bomber. It was developed by English Electric during the mid- to late 1940s in response to a 1944 Air Ministry requirement for a successor to the wartime de Havilla ...

, a British first-generation, jet-powered

medium bomber A medium bomber is a military bomber Fixed-wing aircraft, aircraft designed to operate with medium-sized Aerial bomb, bombloads over medium Range (aeronautics), range distances; the name serves to distinguish this type from larger heavy bombe ...

and most operational versions of that versatile aircraft were flown by the unit. It was reformed at

RAF Bassingbourn Royal Air Force Bassingbourn or more simply RAF Bassingbourn is a former Royal Air Force station located in Cambridgeshire approximately north of Royston, Hertfordshire and south west of Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England. During the Second ...

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfor ...

and it moved around various stations, including RAF Bassingbourn,

RAF Cottesmore Royal Air Force Cottesmore or more simply RAF Cottesmore is a former Royal Air Force station in Rutland, England, situated between Cottesmore and Market Overton. On 15 December 2009, Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth announced that the stati ...

Rutland and

RAF Marham Royal Air Force Marham, commonly abbreviated RAF Marham is a Royal Air Force station near the village of Marham in the county of Norfolk, East Anglia. It is home to No. 138 Expeditionary Air Wing (138 EAW) and, as such, is one of the RAF's ' ...

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

, during its operational existence. It was redesignated the ''Canberra Standardisation Training Flight'' on 15 December 1990, but reverted to 231 OCU on 13 May 1991. 'D' Squadron was previously No. 204 Advanced Flying School at Bassingbourn which was disbanded on 13 February 1952. 204 AFS was previously No. 204 Crew Training Unit which was formed on 28 February 1947 at Cottesmore by redesignating an element of No. 16 OTU. 204 CTU was disbanded on 15 March 1947 at Cottesmore.

Disbandment

231 OCU was disbanded at

RAF Wyton Royal Air Force Wyton or more simply RAF Wyton is a Royal Air Force List of Royal Air Force stations, station near St Ives, Cambridgeshire, St Ives, Cambridgeshire, England. The airfield is decommissioned and the station is now under the comm ...

Huntingdonshire Huntingdonshire (; abbreviated Hunts) is a local government district in Cambridgeshire, England, which was historically a county in its own right. It borders Peterborough to the north, Fenland to the north-east, East Cambridgeshire to the e ...

on 23 April 1993, by which time it had trained for a variety of roles more than 8,000 aircrew from 17 different nations.

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