Royal Air Force Moreton-in-Marsh or more simply RAF Moreton-in-Marsh 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 ...

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 ...

near

Moreton-in-Marsh Moreton-in-Marsh is a market town in the Evenlode Valley, within the Cotswolds district and Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in Gloucestershire, England. Its flat and low-lying site is surrounded by the Cotswold Hills. The River Evenlode r ...

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...

. It was opened in November 1940 with three concrete and tarmac runways and five aircraft hangars. It closed for operational flying in early 1948. The base remained in use as a relief runway and for training. After a period of care and maintenance, the Station was handed over to the Home Office in 1955. The town's environs are quite flat and low-lying although it is situated at the northern extremity of the

Cotswold Hills The Cotswolds ( ) is a region of central South West England, along a range of rolling hills that rise from the meadows of the upper River Thames to an escarpment above the Severn Valley and the Vale of Evesham. The area is defined by the be ...

range. During 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 ...

, a large area of this flat land to the east of the town was developed as an airfield and became the base of No. 21 Operational Training Unit RAF (OTU), flying mainly

Vickers Wellington The Vickers Wellington (nicknamed the Wimpy) is 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 t ...

bombers. It is highly likely that the airfield inspired the title of the radio comedy series ''

Much Binding in the Marsh ''Much-Binding-in-the-Marsh'' was a comedy show broadcast from 1944 to 1950 and 1951 to 1954 by BBC Radio and in 1950–1951 by Radio Luxembourg. It was written by and starred Richard Murdoch and Kenneth Horne as officers in a fictional RAF st ...

''. Two of the programme's stars, Kenneth Horne and Richard Murdoch, had served there as flying instructors.

Units

The following units were also here at some point: *

No. 1 Flying Training School RAF The No. 1 Flying Training School (1 FTS) is the oldest military pilot training school in the world, currently used to deliver rotary training to aircrew of the British armed forces. History First formation (1919 – 1931) On 23 December 1919 ...

* No. 1 (Pilot) Refresher Flying Unit RAF * No. 1 Refresher School RAF * No. 21 (Pilots) Advanced Flying Unit RAF * No. 55 Operational Training Unit RAF * No. 311 Ferry Training Unit RAF * No. 1446 (Ferry Training) Flight RAF *

Central Flying School The Central Flying School (CFS) is the Royal Air Force's primary institution for the training of military flying instructors. Established in 1912 at the Upavon Aerodrome, it is the longest existing flying training school in the world. The sch ...

Current use

The former airfield is now home to the

Fire Service College The Fire Service College is responsible for providing leadership, management and advanced operational training courses for senior firefighter, fire officers from the United Kingdom and foreign fire authorities. It is located at Moreton-in-Marsh i ...

where senior fire officers from brigades all over the UK undergo operational, management and leadership training.

References

Citations

External links

The Wellington Aviation Museum
Includes a detailed history of the station {{DEFAULTSORT:Moreton-in-Marsh Royal Air Force stations in Gloucestershire RAF