RAF Warwick 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 ...

relief landing ground located south west of

Warwick Warwick ( ) is a market town, civil parish and the county town of Warwickshire in the Warwick District in England, adjacent to the River Avon, Warwickshire, River Avon. It is south of Coventry, and south-east of Birmingham. It is adjoined wit ...

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 ...

. RAF Warwick was opened on a large grass field called Tournament Field in December 1941 and was closed on 4 February 1946.

History

The first unit to use the station was No. 1 Flying Instructors School (FIS) operating

Airspeed Oxford The Airspeed AS.10 Oxford is a twin-engine monoplane aircraft developed and manufactured by Airspeed Ltd, Airspeed. It saw widespread use for training Commonwealth of Nations, British Commonwealth aircrews in navigation, radio-operating, bombin ...

s and

Avro Tutor The Avro Type 621 Tutor is a two-seat British radial-engined biplane from the interwar period. It was a simple but rugged basic trainer (aircraft), trainer that was used by the Royal Air Force as well as many other air arms worldwide. Design ...

s which taught flying instructors. The main base was

RAF Church Lawford Royal Air Force Church Lawford or more simply RAF Church Lawford is a former Royal Air Force station located south of Church Lawford, Warwickshire, England, south-west of Rugby, Warwickshire. The airfield opened in April 1941 and was used by ...

but Warwick and

RAF Hockley Heath RAF Hockley Heath is a former Royal Air Force station located south of Solihull, Warwickshire, England, north-east of Redditch, Worcestershire. RAF Hockley Heath was opened in 1941 and was also known as Box Trees. Station history During the ...

were satellites where aircraft were dispersed. 1FIS was previously No. 2 Central Flying School RAF but changed to the current name on 13 January 1941. On 27 October 1942 1FIS was disbanded and turned into No. 18 (Pilots) Advanced Flying Unit RAF ((P)AFU). No. 18 (P)AFU flew Oxfords and

Boulton Paul Defiant The Boulton Paul Defiant is a British interceptor aircraft that served with the Royal Air Force (RAF) during World War II. The Defiant was designed and built by Boulton Paul Aircraft as a "turret fighter" to meet the RAF requirement for day and ...

s mainly from RAF Church Lawford but Warwick and other stations were used as satellites. The unit operated between 27 October 1942 and 29 May 1945.

Accidents and incidents

RAF Warwick had its fair share of accidents with a number listed between 1942 and 1945. These are just a small number of examples:

Current use

The relief landing ground has been changed since the closure of the station with most of the hangars and all of the buildings demolished, this includes the building of Aylesford School and Sixth Form College and the creation of a business park called Tournament Fields.

References

External links

Aviation Archaeology – Flying units within the south-west Midlands
{{DEFAULTSORT:Warwick Airports in England Royal Air Force stations in Warwickshire Royal Air Force stations of World War II in the United Kingdom