No. 240 Operational Conversion Unit RAF is a former

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 which was formed by a series of mergers, it then became No. 27 Squadron RAF in 1993.

240 OCU

240 OCU was formed on 5 January 1948 within No. 4 Group RAF using Douglas Dakota II & IV's by merging 1333 Transport Support Training Unit and 1382 (Transport) Conversion Unit at RAF North Luffenham. The unit was moved to No. 38 Group RAF on 2 February 1948 with a detachment at Wunstorf Air Base during June 1948. From October 1948

Avro Anson The Avro Anson is a British twin-engine, multi-role aircraft built by the aircraft manufacturer Avro. Large numbers of the type served in a variety of roles for the Royal Air Force (RAF), Fleet Air Arm (FAA), Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF), R ...

's were added with

Vickers Valetta The Vickers Valetta is a twin-engine military transport aircraft developed and produced by the British manufacturing company Vickers-Armstrongs Ltd. Developed from the Vickers VC.1 Viking compact civil airliner, it was an all-metal mid-wing ...

's and de Havilland Devons being added from December 1948. The unit moved to RAF Dishforth on 28 March 1951 and it was disbanded for the first time on 16 April 1951 and merged with 241 OCU to become 242 OCU. 240 OCU was then reformed 20 years later for helicopter training at RAF Odiham still under No. 38 Group RAF using

Westland Wessex The Westland Wessex is a British-built turbine-powered development of the Sikorsky H-34. It was developed and produced under licence by Westland Aircraft (later Westland Helicopters). One of the main changes from Sikorsky's H-34 was the rep ...

HC.2's, Westland Puma HC.1's and

Boeing CH-47 Chinook The Boeing CH-47 Chinook is a tandem-rotor helicopter originally developed by American rotorcraft company Piasecki Helicopter, Vertol and now manufactured by Boeing Defense, Space & Security. The Chinook is a Military transport helicopter, heav ...

HC.1's. The training of Wessex crews moved to the Wessex Training Flight RAF at RAF Benson from 3 November 1980 (until 1982 when this new unit was disbanded). 240 OCU was disbanded on 1 October 1993. Air Training Squadron The Air Training Squadron was formed at

RAF Odiham Royal Air Force Odiham or more simply RAF Odiham is a Royal Air Force List of Royal Air Force stations, station situated a little to the south of the village of Odiham in Hampshire, England. It is the home of the Royal Air Force's heavy lift he ...

on 1 May 1971 using

's and Westland Puma's until 1 January 1972, when it was used to reform 240 OCU. Helicopter Operational Conversion Unit The Helicopter Operational Conversion Unit was formed at RAF Odiham on 1 July 1967 with the Wessex and Puma until 1 May 1971 when it became the ATS. Short Range Conversion Unit The Short Range Conversion Unit was formed on 5 August 1964 at RAF Odiham and used both fixed wing and rotary aircraft such as the

Scottish Aviation Twin Pioneer The Scottish Aviation Twin Pioneer was a British STOL transport aircraft built by Scottish Aviation Limited at Prestwick Airport, Scotland, during the 1950s. It was designed for both civil and military operators. It was conceived as a twin-en ...

and the Wessex. It was disbanded on 1 July 1967 to become the HOCU. Twin Pioneer Conversion Unit The Twin Pioneer Conversion Unit was formed on 1 January 1963 at RAF Odiham by redesignating the Twin Pioneer element from

No. 230 Squadron RAF Number 230 Squadron Royal Air Force is a Royal Air Force (RAF) flying squadron, currently based at Medicina Lines in Brunei Darussalam, part of British Forces Brunei. The squadron was previously part of Royal Air Force Germany (RAFG), opera ...

. It was disbanded on 5 August 1964 still at Odiham to become the SRCU.

Previous identities

No. 1333 Transport Support Training Unit

1333 Transport Support Training Unit RAF was previously No. 1333 (Transport Support) Conversion Unit RAF, that unit was previously 107 OTU. 133 (TS) CU was formed on 12 March 1945 at Leicester East, it was similar to 107 OTU and renamed to 1333 TSTU on 6 July 1946. 1333 TSTU was disbanded on 5 January 1948 to become 240 OCU. No. 107 OTU 107 OTU was formed at RAF Leicester East on 3 May 1944 and primarily used Douglas Dakota's to train crews. It was disbanded on 12 March 1945 to become 1333 (TS) CU. No. 1385 (Heavy Transport Support) Conversion Unit 1385 (HTS)CU was formed at

RAF Wethersfield MDP Wethersfield is a Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom), Ministry of Defence facility in Essex, England, located north of the village of Wethersfield, Essex, Wethersfield, about north-west of the town of Braintree, Essex, Braintree. Original ...

on 1 April 1946 by redesignating the Operational and Refresher Training Unit. The conversion used transport aircraft and gliders to train transport crews for operational missions. It was disbanded on 6 June 1946 and absorbed by the 1333 (Transport Support) Conversion Unit. Operational and Refresher Training Unit ORTU was formed at RAF Thruxton on 1 December 1943 by redesignating the Glider Pilot Exercise Unit which used a variety of aircraft including

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 ...

's,

de Havilland Tiger Moth The de Havilland DH.82 Tiger Moth is a 1930s British biplane designed by Geoffrey de Havilland and built by the de Havilland, de Havilland Aircraft Company. It was operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and other operators as a primary traine ...

's and Waco Hadrian gliders to train glider and transport pilots. It was disbanded on 1 April 1946. Glider Pilot Exercise Unit GPEU was formed at Netheravon Airfield on 12 August 1942 by redesignating No. 296B Squadron, it operated

Hawker Hart The Hawker Hart is a British two-seater biplane light bomber aircraft that saw service with the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was designed during the 1920s by Sydney Camm and manufactured by Hawker Aircraft. The Hart was a prominent British aircraf ...

's,

Hawker Hind The Hawker Hind is a British light bomber of the inter-war years produced by Hawker Aircraft for the Royal Air Force. It was developed from the Hawker Hart day bomber introduced in 1931 in aviation, 1931. Design and development An improved Ha ...

's and

Airspeed Horsa The Airspeed AS.51 Horsa was a British troop-carrying glider used during the Second World War. It was developed and manufactured by Airspeed Limited, alongside various subcontractors; the type was named after Horsa, the legendary 5th-century ...

's amongst others until 1 December 1943 when it was disbanded to become the ORTU.

No. 1382 (Transport) Conversion Unit

1382 (Transport) Conversion Unit was previously 108 OTU, it was formed at RAF Wymeswold on 10 August 1945 and was similar to the previous unit. It disbanded on 5 January 1948 to become 240 OCU. No. 108 OTU 108 OTU was formed at RAF Wymeswold on 10 October 1944, it was used

Miles Magister The Miles M.14 Magister is a two-seat monoplane basic trainer aircraft designed and built by the United Kingdom, British aircraft manufacturer Miles Aircraft. It was affectionately known as the ''Maggie''. It was authorised to perform aerobatic ...

's and Douglas Dakota's to train personnel until 10 August 1945 when it was disbanded to become 1382 (T)CU.

Notes

References