RAF Colerne
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| Royal Air Force Colerne | |
|---|---|
| Active | |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Branch |  Royal Air Force |
| Type | Operational Head Quarters |
| Part of | No. 10 Group RAF |
| Garrison/HQ | Colerne, Wiltshire, England |
| Commanders | |
| Notable commanders |
Air Chief Marshal Sir Quintin Brand |
RAF Colerne now known as Colerne Airfield is a former World War II Fighter Command and Bomber Command airfield.
Contents |
[edit] History
From 1940 to 1955 Fighter Command was based here, It was a Training Squadron for Navigation Using the latest Navigation procedures, the Squadron was 238 O.C.U. and Bristol Brigand Aircraft was used for this purpose, and also on this Squadron they had Bristol Buckmaster Aircraft for Pilot Training, and also a number of Balliol Aircraft which basically was a Pilot Trainer shaped similar to the spitfire but both the Pilot and Trainee sat side by side. After this it became a Transport Airfield, and Hasting Aircraft was flown from RAF Colerne. After the demise of the Hasting's aeroplane and the new C-130 Hercules being introduced to the RAF Air Support Command.
The C-130 Hercules Transport Aeroplane [aka Fat Albert!] was based at RAF Lyneham and for many years the Major Servicing of the Hercules was carried out at RAF Colerne by the Air Engineering Squadron until the station closed in 1976. A/c No. XV198 crashed, killing all crew on board here in September 1973.
Used by the British Army as its training facility for the Junior Leaders Regiment of the Royal Corps of Transport. Young men from the age of 16 were trained in a variety of the skills needed to enable them to become better soldiers in the Army. Basic driver training was done on simulators, car driver training to licence level and motorcycle training were undertaken here.
The Regiment consisted of:- 30 (Junior Leader) Squadron RCT, 57 (Junior Leader) Squadron RCT and 90 (Junior Leader) Squadron RCT.
Estranged from the regiment at Driffield in Yorkshire was 32 Driver Training Squadron RCT. Here young soldiers were sent to the ASMT at Leconfield to be taught to drive the basic vehicles of the Army (typically a Land Rover and a 4 Tonne HGV Lorry) and to qualify as Driver Trade B3 before being posted to a full time working regiment where their technical trade training would be continued.
[edit] Current Use
Colerne Airfield is now home to 21 Signal Regt, Royal Signals, and Bristol University Air Squadron, who operate the Grob Tutor in a flying training role for the RAF. BUAS recruits from several universities in the South-West and has been stationed at Colerne, alongside 3 Air Experience Flight, for many years. They fly the Air Training Corps cadets using the same aircraft as part of their flying experience they are entitled to during their time in the ATC.
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