RAF Tern Hill | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NearMarket Drayton,Shropshire in England | |||||||||||
 The airfield at Ternhill. | |||||||||||
| Site information | |||||||||||
| Type | Royal Air Force flying station | ||||||||||
| Owner | Ministry of Defence | ||||||||||
| Operator | Royal Flying Corps (1916–1918) RAF (1918–1922 and 1935–1976) | ||||||||||
| Condition | Open | ||||||||||
| Location | |||||||||||
  RAF Tern Hill Location in Shropshire | |||||||||||
| Coordinates | 52°52′16″N002°32′01″W / 52.87111°N 2.53361°W /52.87111; -2.53361 | ||||||||||
| Area | 111 hectares[1] | ||||||||||
| Site history | |||||||||||
| Built | 1916 (1916) | ||||||||||
| In use | 1916–1976 | ||||||||||
| Fate |
| ||||||||||
| Airfield information | |||||||||||
| Identifiers | ICAO: EGOE | ||||||||||
| Elevation | 83 metres (272 ft)AMSL | ||||||||||
| |||||||||||
Royal Air Force Tern Hill, or more simplyRAF Tern Hill, (ICAO:EGOE) was aRoyal Air Force station atTernhill inShropshire,England, near the towns ofNewport andMarket Drayton.
The station closed in 1976, with the technical and administrative site transferring to the British Army to become Borneo Barracks, later renamedClive Barracks (afterMajor-GeneralRobert Clive). The airfield part of the site was retained by the RAF and is now known asTern Hill Airfield. It is predominantly used as a relief landing ground for helicopters of theNo 1 Flying Training School, based atRAF Shawbury. The airfield is also home to the RAF's No. 632Volunteer Gliding Squadron.
The airfield was first opened in 1916 and was initially operated by theRoyal Flying Corps before being taken over by its successor theRoyal Air Force (RAF) on 1 April 1918.
The first squadron posted to RFC Tern Hill was95 Squadron RFC from 8 October 1917 with various aircraft being moving toShotwick on 30 October 1917.[2]
The next three squadron all arrived on 1 March 1918 and used various aircraft the squadrons were then transferred from the RFC to the RAF on 1 April 1918.
On 1 April 1918 No. 13 Training Depot Station was posted to Tern Hill staying until March 1919.[4]
The last two squadrons which were posted here had a status ofcadre:
The land was sold off in 1922 for use as a race horse stable.[7]
In 1935 the land was again requisitioned and the airfield was re-built and threeType-C hangars were erected on the main airfield. The first based flying unit was No.10 Flying Training School which formed on 1 January 1936 and remained until it was transferred to Canada in late 1940. A site for a Maintenance Unit was created on the south-east side of the airfield and this opened on 1 June 1937 for use by No.4 Aircraft Storage Unit, later renamed No.24 Maintenance Unit.[8]
The first based operational squadron wasNo. 78 Squadron RAF which flew from Tern Hill as an detachment flying theArmstrong Whitworth Whitley IVA from June 1939 until August 1939.[9]
Tern Hill then turned into a fighter airfield withSupermarine Spitfires andHawker Hurricanes with the first fighter squadron arriving on 10 October 1939. The squadron wasNo. 611 Squadron RAF with the Spitfire I and stayed until 13 December 1940.[10] During that period, which covered theBattle of Britain, the airfield was attacked by theLuftwaffe, when 10 bombs were dropped in July 1940 without causing casualties.[11] The next squadron wasNo. 46 Squadron RAF with the Hurricane I as a detachment from the main squadron which was based atRAF Digby inLincolnshire. The detachment arrived on 13 June 1940 and stayed until 1 September 1940.[12] The next squadron in residence wasNo. 306 Polish Fighter Squadron with their Hurricane I's from 7 November 1940 staying until 3 April 1941.[13]
On 30 May 1941 a new squadron arrived in the shape ofNo. 403 Squadron RCAF with flew three versions of the Spitfire, the marks I, IIA and VB. The squadron moved toRAF Hornchurch on 4 August 1941.[14] During late March 1941No. 605 Squadron RAF moved in with their Hurricane IIA's but they only stayed for two months leaving on 30 May 1941.[15]
The last fighter squadron to be posted to Tern Hill wasNo. 131 Squadron RAF which arrived on 6 August 1941 with their Spitfire IA and IIA's before leaving on 27 September 1941.[3]
The airfield then began to host training units such as No. 5 (Pilot) Advanced Flying Unit which arrived on 1 April 1942 and left on 12 April 1946.[16]
The following units were posted to RAF Tern Hill at some point:[16]
In 1942 the maintenance unit site was renamedRAF Stoke Heath.[16]
From 30 April 1946 Tern Hill was the home ofNo. 6 Flying Training School RAF[16] equipped withNorth American Harvards, receivingPercival Prentices in late 1948 and from July 1953Percival Provost T1 piston engine training aircraft replaced both types.[17] Tern Hill was one of the RAF stations that provided the first stage of the, then, new Provost/de Havilland Vampire pilot training programme.[18] However, on 24 July 1961 the school moved out and the space was quickly filled by the Central Flying School Helicopter Wing which moved in on 18 August 1961.[16]
In 1962 No. 3 Mobile Glider Servicing Party was posted to Tern Hill to prepare to assist No. 632 Volunteer Gliding School which was posted to Tern Hill on 6 October 1963. During March 1976 CFSHW was posted to another airfield and was replaced byNo. 2 (Advanced) Flying Training School RAF on 1 March. However, their stay was short: on 8 October 1976 the unit was posted elsewhere and the site was used by as a relief landing ground (RLG) which lasted until 30 March 1997.[16]
The site closed as an RAF station on 31 December 1976, with the technical and administrative parts transferring to theBritish Army to become Borneo Barracks, later renamedClive Barracks (afterMajor-GeneralRobert Clive).[16][19]
The airfield part of the site was retained by the RAF and is now known asTernhill Airfield. It has since been used for helicopter training, initially by No. 2 Flying Training School and after 1997 theDefence Helicopter Flying School, based atRAF Shawbury. The airfield is also home to the RAF's No. 632Volunteer Gliding Squadron.