Royal Air Force Atcham or more simply RAF Atcham is a former Royal Air Force

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 east of

Shrewsbury Shrewsbury ( , also ) is a market town, civil parish, and the county town of Shropshire, England, on the River Severn, north-west of London; at the 2021 census, it had a population of 76,782. The town's name can be pronounced as either 'Sh ...

, Shropshire, England, on the north eastern boundary of Attingham Park. Initially built for RAF Fighter Command, during the Second World War its primary use was by the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF)

Eighth Air Force The Eighth Air Force (Air Forces Strategic) is a numbered air force (NAF) of the United States Air Force's Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC). It is headquartered at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana. The command serves as Air Force ...

. It was mainly the home of the

495th Fighter Training Group The 495th Fighter Group is an active duty fighter group in the United States Air Force. It is assigned to Fifteenth Air Force of Air Combat Command and stationed at Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina, with additional units at multiple active ...

, where pilots were trained to fly

Republic P-47 Thunderbolt The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt is a World War II-era fighter aircraft produced by the American company Republic Aviation from 1941 through 1945. It was a successful high-altitude fighter and it also served as the foremost American fighter-bombe ...

s although a few also were trained to fly twin-engined

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 by the Lockheed Corporation, the P-38 incorporated a distinctive twi ...

s for both Eighth and Ninth Air Force units. Atcham continued to see use as a training base until it was returned to the RAF in March 1945.

History

Royal Air Force

The airfield was opened in 1941 and was initially used by the Royal Air Force to house two squadrons of RAF Fighter Command with the first to arrive being 131 Squadron on 27 September 1941 with

Supermarine Spitfire The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. Many variants of the Spitfire were built, from the Mk 1 to the Rolls-Royce Grif ...

s It was planned to open RAF Condover as a satellite station but when it opened in 1942 the RAF had decided to hand over the Atcham site for American use.

United States Army Air Forces use

To support the USAAF, jurisdiction of Atcham Airfield was transferred from RAF Fighter Command to the USAAF on 15 June 1942 when a number of RAF stations were turned over to the Americans. It was designated as Station 342 (AP). USAAF Station Units assigned to RAF Atcham were: * 333d Service Group (VIII Air Force Composite Command) : 332d Service Squadron; HHS, 333d Service Group * 42d Service Group (VIII Air Force Composite Command) : 356th, 361st Service Squadrons; HHS 42d Service Group * 18th Weather Squadron Regular Army Station Units included: * 1004th Signal Company * 1148th Quartermaster Company * 1761st Ordnance Supply & Maintenance Company * 2020th Engineer Fire Fighting Platoon * 182nd Medical Dispensary

Fighter Training

The 6th Fighter Wing was the original training organisation established on 27 August 1942, under the control of VIII Fighter Command. During 1942 and early 1943, it trained pilots in combat operations as well as air-to-air-gunnery with the attached 1st Gunnery & Tow Target Flight. The training was conducted using Supermarine Spitfies and pilots drawn from the 67th Observation Group at RAF Membury (AAF-466) and RAF Middle Wallop (AAF-449). The 6th Fighter Wing provided training to the following groups: ;

31st Fighter Group 31 (thirty-one) is the natural number following 30 and preceding 32. It is a prime number. In mathematics 31 is the 11th prime number. It is a superprime and a self prime (after 3, 5, and 7), as no integer added up to its base 10 digits ...

: It consisted of the 307th, 308th and

309th Fighter Squadron The 309th Fighter Squadron (309 FS) is part of the 56th Operations Group at Luke Air Force Base, Arizona. It operates the F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft conducting advanced fighter training. Mission The 309th FS ("Wild Ducks", Tailband: Bl ...

s. : The group arrived without assigned aircraft as its Bell P-39 Airacobras were found unsuitable for long-distance formation ferry flights. Provided with British

s by the Royal Air Force (RAF), the 31st FG entered combat in August and supported a raid made by Canadian, British, American, and French forces at Dieppe on 19 August. The group also escorted bombers and flew patrol and diversionary missions. : After its training was completed in August 1942, the 31st moved to

RAF Westhampnett Royal Air Force Westhampnett or more simply RAF Westhampnett is a former Royal Air Force satellite station, located in the village of Westhampnett near Chichester, in the English County of West Sussex. It was built as an emergency landing airf ...

in Sussex before moving into Tafaraoui Airfield, Oran, Algeria on 8 November 1942 as part of Twelfth Air Force. ;

14th Fighter Group 014 may refer to: * Argus As 014 * 014 Construction Unit * Divi Divi Air Flight 014 * Pirna 014 * Tyrrell 014 The Tyrrell 014 was a Formula One car, designed for Tyrrell Racing by Maurice Philippe for use in the season. The cars were powered by ...

RAF Atcham - 14th Fighter Group - P-38 Lightning

: The 14th arrived at Atcham on 18 August 1942 from Hamilton Field, California. It consisted of the 48th (ES) and

49th Fighter Squadron "Thank God for Mississippi" is an adage used in the United States, particularly in the South, that is generally used when discussing rankings of U.S. states. Since the U.S. state of Mississippi commonly ranks at or near the bottom of such rankings ...

s (QU). : Equipped with

s, the 14th escorted

Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is a four-engined heavy bomber developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). Relatively fast and high-flying for a bomber of its era, the B-17 was used primarily in the European Theater ...

and

Consolidated B-24 Liberator The Consolidated B-24 Liberator is an American heavy bomber, designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego, California. It was known within the company as the Model 32, and some initial production aircraft were laid down as export models des ...

bombers to targets in France. In addition, fourteen P-38s of the 48th Squadron were sent on detached service to

and RAF Ford in southern England, where in co-ordination with British squadrons, the pilots engaged in a number of practice sweeps across the English Channel. : After flying sweep sorties during which there was no contact with the Luftwaffe, in November 1942 the 14th was reassigned to the Twelfth Air Force, and was transferred to Tafaraoui Airfield, Oran, Algeria in the

Mediterranean Theater of Operations The Mediterranean Theater of Operations, United States Army (MTOUSA), originally called the North African Theater of Operations, United States Army (NATOUSA), was a military formation of the United States Army that supervised all U.S. Army forc ...

(MTO) after the

Operation Torch Operation Torch (8 November 1942 – Run for Tunis, 16 November 1942) was an Allies of World War II, Allied invasion of French North Africa during the Second World War. Torch was a compromise operation that met the British objective of secu ...

landings in North Africa. Atcham-p47-496ftg

The 6th Wing was discontinued on 13 September 1943. Its place was taken by a provisional unit, the 2906th Observation Training Group (Fighter), which had been organized on 16 August. The 2906th was replaced in turn by a regular unit, the

on 26 October 1943. The 495th switched its mission to a Replacement Training Group (RTU) and was assigned two RTU squadrons: * 551st Fighter Training Squadron (VM) * 552d Fighter Training Squadron (DQ) As a Combat Crew Replacement Center, the squadrons flew a mixture of hand-me-down aircraft, primarily planes which were considered not combat-ready to high hours and being "war weary". It flew Republic P-47C Thunderbolts, some Lockheed P-38H Lightnings, and Douglas A-20 Havocs. Pilots trained were then assigned to both VIII Fighter Command and IX Fighter Command after completion of training for subsequent assignment to units as needed. The 495 FTG stayed until February 1945, moving to RAF Cheddington. From August 1944 the Ninth AF P-38s from the 496 FTG/554 FTS from RAF Goxhill used Atcham as a training field.

Back to Royal Air Force control

Atcham was returned to the RAF Flying Training Command on 14 March 1945 becoming a satellite of RAF Ternhill.

No. 5 (Pilots) Advanced Flying Unit RAF 5 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 5, five or number 5 may also refer to: * AD 5, the fifth year of the AD era * 5 BC, the fifth year before the AD era Literature * ''5'' (visual novel), a 2008 visual novel by Ram * ''5'' (comics), an awar ...

((P)AFU) and

No. 6 Service Flying Training School RAF 06 may refer to: * 6 (number) * The month of June, commonly referred to as 06 * The years 1906 and 2006, both commonly referred to as '06 * Lynk & Co 06, a Chinese subcompact SUV * ''Sonic '06'', a 2006 game of the ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' series * O- ...

(SFTS).

No. 577 Squadron RAF No. 577 Squadron was an anti-aircraft co-operation unit of the Royal Air Force formed during World War II and active from December 1943 till June 1946 in the defence of the Midlands. History 577 squadron was formed on 1 December 1943 at RAF Cas ...

target towing with Airspeed Oxfords, Spitfires and Vultee Vengeances used the airfield until the end of the war. The site was also used by No. 2815 Squadron RAF Regiment and

No. 2820 Squadron RAF Regiment This is a list of units of the Royal Air Force Regiment. The RAF Regiment is the ground fighting force of the Royal Air Force and is charged mainly with protecting military airfields, among other duties. First formed in 1942 to protect the airfi ...

Atcham was abandoned on 22 October 1946 and disposed of on 20 January 1958.

Current use

With the end of military control, Atcham airfield was returned to farmland with the runways being broken up and removed and the control tower demolished. Today there is little evidence of Atcham airfield. Some minor agricultural roads which were part of the perimeter track remain as access to farm fields, and the B4394 uses part of the former South West to North East runway. The three Callender Hamilton hangars of the former technical site remain together in use with all the administration buildings, the whole complex forming the ''Atcham Industrial Estate'' northwest of the former airfield area.

Major units assigned

; Royal Air Force * 131 Squadron (27 September 1941 - 8 February 1942) * 350 (Belgian) Squadron (19 February - 5 April 1942) * 74 Squadron (24 March - 10 April 1942) * 232 Squadron (10 April - 15 May 1942) * 452 Squadron (June 1942) ; United States Army Air Forces * 495th Fighter Training Group (27 August 1942 - February 1945) * 31st Fighter Group (11 June – 1 August 1942) * 14th Fighter Group (18 August – November 1942)

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * * *

External links

495th Fighter Training Group website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Atcham Airfields of the VIII Fighter Command in the United Kingdom Royal Air Force stations of World War II in the United Kingdom Royal Air Force stations in Shropshire Shrewsbury and Atcham Military units and formations established in 1941 Military units and formations disestablished in 1946