RAF Innsworth

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RAF Innsworth is a non-flying Royal Air Force station, near Gloucester. It is currently the headquarters of Personnel and Training Command but is scheduled to close by the end of 2008.

The station opened in 1940, the first unit based there being No 7 School of Technical Training who trained engine and airframe fitters and mechanics. Over 2000 officers and men were based at Innsworth by the time training began in earnest in 1941, this being delayed due to the arrival of 1500 RAF evacuees from Dunkirk.

In December 1941, No 2 WAAF Depot was opened at Innsworth and from then on the Station became increasingly associated with the Women’s branch of the service. By the end of 1941 the strength of the Station had risen to well over 4000 including trainees. Eventually it was decided to reserve the Station almost exclusively for WAAF training, including barrage balloon training amongst other vital roles.

By the end of the war nearly 5000 people were living on the Station, three quarters of them WAAF. It retained its training role, with the opening of No. 2 RAF School of Cookery in 1948. It was also the home to 33 RAF Regt Wing which deployed squadrons to emergencies in Cyprus and Northern Ireland. The station housed the Education Book Depot, which would have come in handy with both Nos. 7 & 13 Schools of Recruit Training. Innsworth was also the headquarters of No.4 Police District, and maintained a police presence up until very recently, when it was the HQ of PSS (WR).

In 1951 the Headquarters of the RAF Record Office which had been based nearby in Gloucester and Barnwood, moved to the station and gained Group status. Three years later in 1954 No. 5 Personnel Despatch Unit arrived, charged with the administration and processing of personnel selected for overseas service.

Just after the war ended the RAF Base Accounts Office moved from York to Gloucester and grew into the Central Pay Office and is now part of the RAF Personnel and Training Command, which formed in 1994, based at Innsworth. Many other changes have taken place at Innsworth over recent years; these include the formation of Personnel Management Agency, contractorisation of the Station Support Services and the formation of Armed Forces Personnel Administration Agency, all in 1997. In Mar 2005 the MOD Medals Office moved to RAF Innsworth to continue its valued work.

The Station has always maintained a close association with the city of Gloucester, and on 7 April 1960, received the Honour of the Freedom of the City. The station has subsequently also received the freedoms of the Borough of Tewkesbury and the Borough of Cheltenham.

In 2005 it was announced that HQ Personnel and Training Command was to co-locate with HQ Strike Command at RAF High Wycombe. The Personnel Management Agency will move to High Wycombe by April 2008 the final drawdown and closure of Innsworth by the end of 2008.