RAF Watnall was the operational headquarters of No. 12 Group,

RAF Fighter Command RAF Fighter Command was one of the commands of the Royal Air Force. It was formed in 1936 to allow more specialised control of fighter aircraft. It operated throughout the Second World War, winning fame during the Battle of Britain in 1940. The ...

Watnall Watnall is an area in the Borough of Broxtowe in Nottinghamshire, England. It is part of Greasley civil parish, and is located one mile north of Kimberley. It is in the Nuthall West and Greasley (Watnall) ward of Broxtowe Council. The village ...

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated ''Notts.'') is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. The county is bordered by South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. Th ...

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 ...

History

The station was established 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 ...

in Spring 1940 to act as headquarters for No. 12 Group whose area encompassed

the Midlands The Midlands is the central region of England, to the south of Northern England, to the north of southern England, to the east of Wales, and to the west of the North Sea. The Midlands comprises the ceremonial counties of Derbyshire, Herefords ...

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...

and

North Wales North Wales ( ) is a Regions of Wales, region of Wales, encompassing its northernmost areas. It borders mid Wales to the south, England to the east, and the Irish Sea to the north and west. The area is highly mountainous and rural, with Snowdon ...

. The Operations Centre of No. 12 Group was housed there in three buildings (Operations Room,

Filter Room A Filter Room was part of RAF Fighter Command's radar defence system in Britain during the Second World War. The filter room at Fighter Command Headquarters lay at the top of the Dowding system - the integrated ground-controlled interception ne ...

and Communications Centre), which were partially buried for protection, in a similar way to buildings for

No. 9 Group RAF No. 9 Group RAF (9 Gp) was a group of the Royal Air Force, which existed over two separate periods, initially at the end of the First World War, and latterly during the Second World War when its role was air defence. History The group was first ...

at RAF Barton Hall, No. 10 Group at

RAF Box RAF Rudloe Manor, formerly RAF Box, was a Royal Air Force station north-east of Bath, England, between the settlements of Box and Corsham, in Wiltshire. It was one of several military installations in the area and covered three dispersed sites. ...

, No. 11 Group at

RAF Uxbridge RAF Uxbridge was a Royal Air Force (RAF) station in Uxbridge, within the London Borough of Hillingdon, occupying a site that originally belonged to the Hillingdon House estate. The British Government purchased the estate in 1915, three years b ...

, No. 13 Group RAF at RAF Newcastle and

No. 14 Group RAF No. 14 Group RAF (14 Gp) was the title of several Royal Air Force Group (military aviation unit), groups, including a group responsible for anti-submarine activity from 1918 to 1919 after being transferred from the Royal Naval Air Service; a fig ...

Raigmore House Raigmore House was a country house in Raigmore, Inverness. History The house was designed by Archibald Simpson and constructed for Lachlan Mackintosh of Raigmore, a merchant who had returned from Kolkata, Calcutta, in about 1810. On Lachlan Mack ...

. Operations room ()
The operations room, responsible for directing RAF aircraft in the No. 12 Group area, was located in a bunker on the east side of the main road in Watnall. It was fully operational by 1940 and closed in 1946. It is now flooded and the site above is now occupied by a vehicle testing centre. Filter room ()
The Filter room, responsible for filtering large quantities of intelligence on enemy activity before it was passed to the operations room, was located in a bunker further south on a sunken road off the main road in Watnall. It did not open until 1943. After the war it continued to be used as an early warning centre until it closed in 1961. The filter block was sold by auction in 2008 and is now being redeveloped as a hotel. An episode of ''

The Restoration Man ''The Restoration Man'' is a British home improvement television series presented by George Clarke. It first aired on Channel 4 on 14 March 2010. Synopsis Architect George Clarke travels around Great Britain profiling people restoring historica ...

'' presented by

George Clarke George Clarke (7 May 1661 – 22 October 1736), of All Souls, Oxford, was an English architect, print collector and Tory politician who sat in the English and British House of Commons between 1702 and 1736. Life The son of Sir William Clark ...

, which was aired on Channel 4 on 12 February 2014, described the progress of the development. The Communications centre has not been found.

RAF units and aircraft

References

External links

{{Commonscat, RAF Watnall

History

RAF units and aircraft

See also

References

External links