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

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

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 stati ...

located near

Nantwich Nantwich ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. It has among the highest concentrations of listed buildings in England, with notably good examples of Tudor and Georgian architecture. ...

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's coun ...

History

In December 1940, it was decided to build an airfield near the village of

Wardle, Cheshire Wardle is a village and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. The village lies on the Shropshire Union Canal, north west of Barbridge Junction (at ), and is 4 miles to the north ...

, north-west of

, as one of a number of airfields intended to boost the fighter defence of

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in North West England, with a population of 1.38 million. It encompasses both banks of the Mersey Estuary and comprises five metropolitan boroughs: Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Wirral ...

. The airfield was built by Peter Lind Ltd in 1941–1942, and had three concrete runways of between and .Ferguson 2008, pp. 35–37. By the time the airfield was complete, the need for fighter defences for the North-West of England had declined, so it was decided to use it for training, with the station opening as a Relief Landing Ground for No. 5 Service Training Flying School (SFTS) based at

RAF Ternhill Royal Air Force Tern Hill or RAF Tern Hill was a Royal Air Force station at Ternhill in Shropshire, England, near the towns of Newport and Market Drayton. The station closed in 1976, with the technical and administrative site transferring to ...

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to ...

on 14 March 1942.Ferguson 2008, pp. 36–37. 5 STFS was renamed No. 5 (Pilot) Advanced Flying Unit ((P)AFU) on 13 April 1942, continuing operations both from Ternhill and its satellites, including Calveley, which was the only one of Ternhill's satellites to have hard runways.Ferguson 2008, pp. 38–39. In May 1943 RAF Calveley became the main base for No. 17 (P)AFU, equipped with 174

Miles Master The Miles M.9 Master was a British two-seat monoplane advanced trainer designed and built by aviation company Miles Aircraft Ltd. It was inducted in large numbers into both the Royal Air Force (RAF) and Fleet Air Arm (FAA) during the Second W ...

trainers, which moved from

RAF Watton Royal Air Force Watton or more simply RAF Watton is a former Royal Air Force station located southwest of East Dereham, Norfolk, England. Opened in 1937 it was used by both the Royal Air Force (RAF) and United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) du ...

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the Nort ...

. To accommodate the unit's large number of aircraft,

RAF Wrexham Royal Air Force Wrexham or more simply RAF Wrexham is a former Royal Air Force station at Borras, on the outskirts of Wrexham, Wales and north-east of the city centre. Initially opened as a municipal aerodrome the airfield was used by the R ...

served as a satellite airfield.Ferguson 2008, pp. 42–43. 17 (P)AFU disbanded on 1 February 1944, as part of a shuffle of training units which saw No. 11 (P)AFU, equipped with 132

Airspeed Oxford The Airspeed AS.10 Oxford is a twin-engine monoplane aircraft developed and manufactured by Airspeed. It saw widespread use for training British Commonwealth aircrews in navigation, radio-operating, bombing and gunnery roles throughout the Seco ...

s, move from

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 militar ...

, freeing the well equipped Shawbury for the

Vickers Wellington The Vickers Wellington was a British twin-engined, long-range medium bomber. It was designed during the mid-1930s at Brooklands in Weybridge, Surrey. Led by Vickers-Armstrongs' chief designer Rex Pierson; a key feature of the aircraft is it ...

s of the Central Navigation School to move from RAF Cranage.Ferguson 2008, p. 43.

Posted units and aircraft

* From 13 Mar 1942 until May 1943 No. 5 (Pilot) Advanced Flying Unit used the airfield as a Relief Landing Ground from their main airfield at

flying

s. * No 11 (Pilot) Advanced Flying Unit from May 1943 using

as a satellite. * From May 1943 until 1 Feb 1944 No 17 (Pilot) AFU moved from

and

RAF Bodney Royal Air Force Bodney or more simply RAF Bodney is a former Royal Air Force Station located west of Watton, Norfolk, England. Originally built as an RAF Bomber Command airfield during 1939-1940, Bodney was transferred to the United States ...

using

as a satellite flying the

and

Avro Anson The Avro Anson is a British twin-engined, 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) ...

then using Harvards

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 b ...

s and Miles Masters * 21 Jun 1945 until Oct 1945 - No 5 Aircrew Holding Unit. * 22 Oct 1945 until May 1946 - No 22 Service Flying Training School flying Harvards moved to

RAF Ouston Royal Air Force Ouston, or more simply RAF Ouston, is a former Royal Air Force station that was located near the village of Stamfordham and the village of Heddon-on-the-Wall on Hadrian's Wall near Newcastle upon Tyne. It was built as a Secon ...

Current use

The airfield is now farmland and part of an industrial estate.

References

Citations

Bibliography

External links

Midlands Heritage

Facebook Community Group Commemorating the history of RAF Calveley
{{DEFAULTSORT:Calveley Earth stations in England Royal Air Force stations in Cheshire Science and technology in Cheshire 1942 establishments in England