No. 231 Operational Conversion Unit RAF

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

No. 231 Operational Conversion Unit was a Royal Air Force Operational Conversion Unit. It first formed in the aftermath of World War II during 1947 at RAF Coningsby. Initially the OCU was formed from a nucleus provided by No. 16 OTU and was tasked with training crews of the "wooden wonder", the De Havilland Mosquito, in the light bomber and photo reconnaissance roles. In this role it lasted nearly three years before disbanding at the end of 1949.

In keeping with its previous role when the OCU reformed in 1951 it was to train light bomber crews. The aircraft used during the rest of the unit's operational service was the English Electric Canberra. The unit reformed at RAF Bassingbourn and moved around various stations before falling victim to defence cuts at RAF Wyton in 1990. It was redesignated the Canberra Standardisation Training Flight.

On 13 May 1991 it reverted to its former designation of 231 OCU, again at Wyton, but it disbanded there on 23 April 1993, by which time it had trained for a variety of roles more than 8,000 aircrew from 17 different nations.

[edit] External links