| Netheravon Airfield | |
|---|---|
| Netheravon,Wiltshire in England | |
 "Concentration Camp" at RFC Netheravon, June 1914 | |
| Site information | |
| Owner | Ministry of Defence |
| Controlled by | Army Air Corps |
| Open to the public | no |
| Location | |
  Netheravon Airfield Shown within Wiltshire | |
| Coordinates | 51°14′43.27″N1°45′31.64″W / 51.2453528°N 1.7587889°W /51.2453528; -1.7587889 |
| Site history | |
| Built | 1912 |
| In use | 1912 – present |
| Airfield information | |
| Identifiers | ICAO: EGDN |
Netheravon Airfield is aMinistry of Defence grass strip airfield onSalisbury Plain, inWiltshire,England. Established in 1913 by theRoyal Flying Corps, it becameRAF Netheravon from 1918 until 1963, thenAAC Netheravon (Army Air Corps) until 2012. Buildings from 1913 and 1914 survive on part of the site. The site forms part of the Tidworth, Netheravon and Bulford (TidNBul) Garrison.[1]
The airfield lies on Salisbury Plain, mostly inFittleton parish, extending south intoFigheldean. It is close toNetheravon village and about 5 miles (8 km) north of the town ofAmesbury.
Its buildings are on two sites. Technical buildings, including as the control tower and hangars, are immediately southwest of the runways. About 1 mile (2 km) further southwest, towards Netheravon, is Airfield Camp (also known as Lower Camp) which has offices, a training school (the Airmen's Institute), an Officers' Mess and barracks.[2]
The Ministry of Defence land which surrounds the site is part of theSalisbury Plain Training Area.
Much farmland in the area was bought by theWar Office around 1898 for military training.[3] Along with nearbyUpavon andLarkhill, the airfield was part of the formative phase of military flying. TheRoyal Flying Corps was established in April 1912; in May itsCentral Flying School was formed at Upavon, and its Military Wing was formed from theAir Battalion, which flew aircraft at Larkhill.[4]
The Netheravon site near Choulston Farm was selected towards the end of 1912, and at first was called Choulston Camp.[5] The airfield used a road which extended from Netheravon across farmland, to serve two 19th-century groups of farm buildings.[6] Until the site was ready, service personnel were housed in tents or at the former cavalry school at Netheravon House, south of Netheravon village.[3] Standardised designs and prefabricated methods helped construction to proceed quickly, andNo. 3 Squadron moved here in June 1913, followed soon after byNo. 4 Squadron RFC.[5]
In June 1914, under the leadership of Lt Col (later Air Vice Marshal)F H Sykes, the airfield was the site of a gathering of RFC men and machines. Known as the Netheravon Concentration Camp, the exercise was designed to test mobilisation and improve the RFC's public reputation, as well as providing training.[7]Flight magazine reported "upwards of 700 officers and men" and published photographs showing lines of tents for the visiting squadrons.[8]
In August, following the declaration of war, 3 and 4 squadrons left for France to support theBritish Expeditionary Force. They were replaced byNo. 1 Squadron which had a training role.[9] Netheravon became a forming-up point for new squadrons; an example isNo. 11 Squadron, formed here in February 1915 and deployed to France in July.[10] It was also the home of No. 8 Training Depot Station[11] which trained aircrew, groundcrew, specialist signallers and fitters.[5]
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After the war, now a station of the newly formedRoyal Air Force, Netheravon was used for disbandment of squadrons. A range of hangars was built in 1918 to houseHandley Page O/400 bombers, but plans to develop Netheravon as a bomber base were soon shelved.[5][12] From 1919 until 1931 it was the home ofNo. 1 Flying Training School; between 1924 and 1928, trainees included crews for the newly createdFleet Air Arm.[5] Training resumed in 1935 underNo. 6 Flying Training School RAF, which left for Little Rissington in 1938 and was replaced by a new incarnation of No. 1 FTS, renamed to No. 1 Service Flying Training School in 1939.[13]
In the 1939-45 war, Netheravon saw short stays by various squadrons, while training activities continued. In 1941 training of Fleet Air Arm aircrewrelocated to the United States.[5] Squadrons based at Netheravon included297 (from December 1941),[14]296 (January 1942)[15] and295 (August 1942).[16] In 1944 the airfield was used to prepare gliders for their role in theinvasion of Normandy.[6]
After the war, the site was used for various purposes, includingRAF Police training. Additional married quarters were built at Airfield Camp in the 1950s, and c. 1952 a Roman Catholic church was opened there.[17]
The site was transferred to theArmy Air Corps in 1963 and became AAC Netheravon.No. 651 Squadron moved here in 1964 and had responsibility for Army aviation in the UK (other than atMiddle Wallop) and the Middle East.7 Army Aviation Regiment was formedc. 1969 at Netheravon and in 1971 the regiment was renamed to 7 Regiment Army Aviation Corps. In 1995, 7 Regiment re-roled as a volunteerTerritorial Army regiment. 7 Regiment moved to Middle Wallop in 2009.[5]
For some years until 2011, when it moved toStaff College, Camberley, the headquarters of theBrigade of Gurkhas was housed at Airfield Camp.[18]
The airfield is used by theJoint Services Parachute Centre, part of the Army's "Adventurous Training" programme for serving and injured personnel,[19] and is home to the Army Parachute Association, a charity which supports sports parachuting for serving and retired personnel.[20]
The Officers' Mess and quarters at Airfield Camp, completed in 1914, areGrade II* listed. The Mess is partly two-storey, while the linked accommodation block and the nine detached four-room chalets are single-storey. Construction is softwood framing with asbestos-cement panels, their joints covered with painted wood strips, under a tiled roof. Historic England describe the group of buildings as "of outstanding historical interest, and of strikingarchitectural form, comprising some of the earliest extant buildings erected for the RFC".[2]
Six further buildings from the same phase,[21] and a range of five linked hangars from 1918,[12] are Grade II listed. At the site near the airfield, the 1914 Main Depot Offices, in the same style as the Camp buildings, are also Grade II.[22]
The following units have been based at Netheravon.
The following units were based at Netheravon at some point:
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