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RAF Yatesbury
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RAF Yatesbury
RAF Yatesbury is a former Royal Air Force station near the village of Yatesbury, Wiltshire, England, about 4 miles (6 km) east of the town of Calne. It was an important training establishment in the First and Second World Wars and until its closure in 1965. For a time in the 1950s, part of the site became RAF Cherhill.
The Royal Flying Corps began pilot training at Yatesbury in 1916. Formations included No. 99 Squadron, and No. 7 and No. 8 squadrons of the Australian Flying Corps.
The aerodrome's site was farmland on the north side of the A4 road, south of Yatesbury village. There were two airfields, East Camp and West Camp, each with buildings and hangars. Two target areas were marked out. Training continued until 1919, then squadrons were sent to Yatesbury to be disbanded. The station closed in 1920 and returned to farmland.
The following units were here at some date before the inter-war years:
From 1936 the Bristol Aeroplane Company operated part of the west site as a civilian flying school (No. 10 Elementary and Reserve Flying Training School RAF) where trainees were prepared for service in the RAF or the Reserve, using de Havilland Tiger Moth aircraft.
Guy Gibson, leader of the famous "Dambusters" raid (Operation Chastise) of 1943, took his ab initio training here from November 1936 to January 1937.
In 1939 the Air Ministry took over the whole site and pilot training was transferred elsewhere so that the station could be used (together with nearby RAF Compton Bassett) to train many airborne wireless operators. In 1940 it was placed under No. 60 Group RAF. From 1942, radar operators were trained there.
East Camp housed the No. 2 Electrical and Wireless School RAF, later renamed No. 2 Radio School RAF, where among the instructors was Arthur C. Clarke, later a science fiction author and inventor. Radar training was at No. 9 Radio School RAF. An estimated 70 died flying from Yatesbury, including aircrew from Australia, Canada, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Russia, South Africa, and the United States. 21 are buried in the All Saints' parish churchyard in Yatesbury.
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RAF Yatesbury
RAF Yatesbury is a former Royal Air Force station near the village of Yatesbury, Wiltshire, England, about 4 miles (6 km) east of the town of Calne. It was an important training establishment in the First and Second World Wars and until its closure in 1965. For a time in the 1950s, part of the site became RAF Cherhill.
The Royal Flying Corps began pilot training at Yatesbury in 1916. Formations included No. 99 Squadron, and No. 7 and No. 8 squadrons of the Australian Flying Corps.
The aerodrome's site was farmland on the north side of the A4 road, south of Yatesbury village. There were two airfields, East Camp and West Camp, each with buildings and hangars. Two target areas were marked out. Training continued until 1919, then squadrons were sent to Yatesbury to be disbanded. The station closed in 1920 and returned to farmland.
The following units were here at some date before the inter-war years:
From 1936 the Bristol Aeroplane Company operated part of the west site as a civilian flying school (No. 10 Elementary and Reserve Flying Training School RAF) where trainees were prepared for service in the RAF or the Reserve, using de Havilland Tiger Moth aircraft.
Guy Gibson, leader of the famous "Dambusters" raid (Operation Chastise) of 1943, took his ab initio training here from November 1936 to January 1937.
In 1939 the Air Ministry took over the whole site and pilot training was transferred elsewhere so that the station could be used (together with nearby RAF Compton Bassett) to train many airborne wireless operators. In 1940 it was placed under No. 60 Group RAF. From 1942, radar operators were trained there.
East Camp housed the No. 2 Electrical and Wireless School RAF, later renamed No. 2 Radio School RAF, where among the instructors was Arthur C. Clarke, later a science fiction author and inventor. Radar training was at No. 9 Radio School RAF. An estimated 70 died flying from Yatesbury, including aircrew from Australia, Canada, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Russia, South Africa, and the United States. 21 are buried in the All Saints' parish churchyard in Yatesbury.
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