Royal Air Force Ansty, or more simply RAF Ansty, was 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 ...

station Station may refer to: Agriculture * Station (Australian agriculture), a large Australian landholding used for livestock production * Station (New Zealand agriculture), a large New Zealand farm used for grazing by sheep and cattle ** Cattle statio ...

located near the village of Ansty, east of

Coventry Coventry ( or rarely ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands county, in England, on the River Sherbourne. Coventry had been a large settlement for centurie ...

city centre,

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Staffordshire and Leicestershire to the north, Northamptonshire to the east, Ox ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, north-west of

Rugby, Warwickshire Rugby is a market town in eastern Warwickshire, England, close to the River Avon, Warwickshire, River Avon. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census, its population was 78,117, making it the List of Warwickshire towns by population, secon ...

. The airfield was opened in 1936, and after training many pupils closed in 1953.

History

The airfield was mainly used for schools with taught navigation and flying to new recruits using a varied range of aircraft such as

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

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. The first school teaching navigation to arrive was No. 4 Civilian Air Navigation School RAF with the Anson between September 1938 and October 1939 before being renamed No. 4 Air Observer Navigation School RAF (AONS) using

Blackburn Botha The Blackburn B.26 Botha was a four-seat reconnaissance and torpedo bomber. It was produced by the British aviation company Blackburn Aircraft at its factories at Brough and Dumbarton. The Botha was developed during the mid 1930s in response ...

s as an additional aircraft type between September 1939 and July 1940 before moving to another airfield. The other schools were used for flying training with the first school arriving on 6 January 1936 which was the No. 9 Elementary and Reserve Flying Training School RAF which flew Ansons,

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 ...

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, Tiger Moths and Clouds until 3 September 1939. The school was operated by Air Services Training at RAF Hamble, under contract from the

Air Ministry The Air Ministry was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force and civil aviation that existed from 1918 to 1964. It was under the political authority of the ...

. The school was renamed the No. 9 Elementary Flying Training School RAF on 3 September 1939 days after 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 ...

broke out. The school used Moths until 31 March 1944 which provided initial assessment before pupil pilots were sent abroad in the

British Commonwealth Air Training Plan The British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP), often referred to as simply "The Plan", was a large-scale multinational military aircrew training program created by the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand during the Second Wo ...

which was operated by

Air Service Training Air Service Training (AST) is an organisation in Perth, Scotland, that has been training engineers and pilots for airlines, maintenance organisations and the military since 1931.

. One of the pilots who received his initial training at Ansty was Jack Currie, who, many years after the war, wrote a successful series of books about his air force experiences. After Ansty, Currie's subsequent training was in the United States. A number of maintenance units used the site for a small amount of time like when a sub site of No. 27 Maintenance Unit RAF joined in October 1940 and No. 48 MU which used the airfield for temporary dispersal between 1940 and February 1941. After the Second World War the airfield hosted No. 2 Basic Flying Training School RAF from 21 March 1951 until 31 March 1953.

The Coventry Blitz

The first bombs of the war dropped in the vicinity of

were when five dropped on RAF Ansty on 25 June 1940. There were no casualties. This was two days before any civilians were killed near Coventry, when the Hillfields area was bombed and 16 people died.

Accidents and incidents

During life as a RAF training base accidents were not far away with a number of airmen killed during training.

Current use

Rolls-Royce Rolls-Royce (always hyphenated) may refer to: * Rolls-Royce Limited, a British manufacturer of cars and later aero engines, founded in 1906, now defunct Automobiles * Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, the current car manufacturing company incorporated in ...

currently occupies the majority of the site as an engine overhaul and repair facility. The company won a contract overhauling the EJ2000 engine, which is used in the

Eurofighter Typhoon The Eurofighter Typhoon is a European multinational twin-engine, supersonic, canard delta wing, multirole fighter. The Typhoon was designed originally as an air-superiority fighter and is manufactured by a consortium of Airbus, BAE Syste ...

with some of the work being performed at Ansty, which will also help to keep 3,000 jobs for the company throughout the country. The northern side has been turned into a business park called Ansty Park, companies on the site include AVL, MTC, Sainsburys,

London Electric Vehicle Company London EV Company Limited (LEVC), formerly The London Taxi Corporation Limited, is a British automotive manufacturer with its headquarters at Ansty Park near Coventry, England. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Chinese automaker Geely. Th ...

, HTRC, Cadent Gas and Fanuc Robotics.

References

External links

Historic Coventry – Blitz

* ttps://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/99/a7838599.shtml BBC History WW2 People's War – Henry Kaye, Flying Instructor by Ron Goldstein
213 Squadron Association – Second World War 1937 – 1945

Rugby Counical – Planning Portal – Ansty Park

BBC History – Flt. Lieut. John Anderson – Who knows what the future holds?
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ansty Defunct airports in England Royal Air Force stations in Warwickshire Royal Air Force stations of World War II in the United Kingdom