RAF Cosford

RAF Cosford
Near Cosford, Shropshire in England
EGWC
Shown within Shropshire
Coordinates 52°38′42″N 002°15′20″W / 52.64500°N 2.25556°WCoordinates: 52°38′42″N 002°15′20″W / 52.64500°N 2.25556°W
Type Royal Air Force station
Site information
Owner Ministry of Defence
Operator Royal Air Force
Open to
the public		 Access to RAF Museum only
Website RAF Cosford
RAF Museum - Cosford
Site history
Built 1938
In use 1938-Present
Airfield information
Identifiers ICAO: EGWC
Elevation 83 metres (272 ft) AMSL
Runways
Direction Length and surface
06/24 1,186 metres (3,891 ft) Asphalt

Royal Air Force Cosford or RAF Cosford (formerly DCAE Cosford)[1] (ICAO: EGWC) is a Royal Air Force station in Cosford, Shropshire, just to the northwest of Wolverhampton and next to Albrighton.

Use of the station

History

RAF Cosford opened in 1938 as a joint aircraft maintenance, storage and technical training unit. It has remained mainly a training unit to this day. The Fulton Mess barrack block was constructed just before the Second World War as the largest single building barrack block in the UK. It is now used for technical training.

A substantial Princess Mary's Royal Air Force Nursing Service hospital was established at RAF Cosford, the most westerly such RAF hospital in the UK. Constructed of wooden spurred hutting the hospital closed on 31 December 1977 and was demolished in 1980. For the three summers between 1978 and 1980 the empty hospital formed the venue for annual training camps for the Royal Observer Corps, with wards and theatres converted into barrack accommodation and training rooms.

The extensive sports facilities at Cosford, located around a banked indoor running track, became well known nationally through televised annual indoor championships that featured top athletes from all over the world.

Cosford today

Runway 24 at RAF Cosford, as seen during final approach.

Schools currently stationed there include: No. 1 School of Technical Training, No. 1 Radio School RAF, the Defence School of Photography and the RAF School of Physical Training. Flying units include the University of Birmingham Air Squadron, No 8 Air Experience Flight and No 633 Volunteer Gliding Squadron. The Wales and West regional headquarters and West Mercian Wing headquarters of the Air Training Corps are situated there, along with No 2497 (Cosford) Squadron of the ATC.

Cosford became part of the Defence College of Aeronautical Engineering (DCAE), which was formed on 1 April 2004. Other units located at Cosford include elements of the Defence College of Communications and Information Systems (DCCIS), the Defence School of Photography (DSOP) and the RAF School of Physical Training.

In early 2009 there was a strong chance that the DCAE would relocate to RAF St Athan and therefore a decision was given to rename the station RAF Cosford.[2]

Operational units

A Grob G 109B Vigilant Motor Glider operated by 633 VGS at RAF Cosford.
A Grob G 115E Tutor operated by No. 8 Air Experience Flight RAF posted to RAF Cosford.

Aerospace museum

There is also the Aerospace Museum at the site, which is a branch of the Royal Air Force Museum. Amongst the large collection of military aircraft is a unique collection of research and development aircraft, including one of two existing examples of the TSR2, a multi-role combat aircraft, controversially scrapped by the Wilson Government and still a point of discussion within the RAF. There are also collections of missiles and airliners.

The Cold War Exhibition opened on 7 February 2007 by former prime minister Baroness Margaret Thatcher and HRH Princess Anne. Exhibits include the only collection of three V bombers (Valiant, Victor and Vulcan) in the same place in the world.

Plans

Following the UK Government's 2001 Defence Training Review (DTR), the Ministry of Defence proposed handing over armed forces skills training to a private sector bidder for a 25-year term, and it was announced on 17 January 2007 that the Metrix consortium had been awarded Preferred Bidder status for Package 1 of this programme. As a consequence, it is anticipated that all technical training will move from Cosford to Metrix's main campus to be built on the RAF St Athan site over a 5-year period from 2008.[3] This in turn has been deferred with no anticipated move from Cosford to St Athan for DCAE and No1 RS staff and trainees before 2014–15 at the earliest. For those other training schools, headquarters and units at present at Cosford, decisions have yet to be made about their future location.[4]

On 31 January 2008, the Government announced that when 1 Signal Brigade and 102 Logistics Brigade withdraw from Germany they will move to Cosford. It was also noted that Metrix propose to establish a Learning Centre and Design facility at the Cosford site.

In popular culture

RAF Cosford was the location for James May's Toy Stories, where the BBC's Top Gear presenter constructed a 1:1 scale Supermarine Spitfire in the style of an Airfix kit with the help of students from the Thomas Telford school and Air Cadets from the ATC.

RAF Cosford Air Show

RAF Cosford also holds a popular airshow every year in June, which is held traditionally on the second Sunday of the month. The show usually has attendance figures over 50,000 and is the RAF's only remaining official air show. The flying displays usually consists of various UK military display aircraft, civilian display teams and historic aircraft. Alongside the airshow, there is a fun fair, craft fair, military vehicles and displays showcasing the work of RAF Cosford.

References

  1. ↑ RAF Cosford
  2. ↑ RAF Cosford History
  3. ↑ Government News Network – Wednesday 17 January 2007 13:22
  4. ↑ http://www.raf.mod.uk/rafcosford/aboutus/dcaecosfordpresent.cfm

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to RAF Cosford.