Royal Air Force Halton, or more simply RAF Halton, is one of the largest Royal Air Forcestations in the United Kingdom. It is located near the village of Halton near Wendover, Buckinghamshire. The site has been in use since the First World War but is due to close by December 2027.[3]
History
Apprentices of No. 1 School of Technical Training listen to a lecture on servicing aircraft in the field, in front of a line of instructional airframes, during the early 1940sRAF Halton in the 1930sThe grass airfield at RAF Halton
During the Second World War, RAF Halton continued its training role. Additionally No 112 Squadron and No 402 Squadron of the Royal Canadian Air Force were based at Halton for part of the war. No. 1448 (Radar Calibration) Flight was converted into No. 529 Squadron at Halton in June 1943. Initially, the squadron flew the Cierva C.30 and the de Havilland Hornet Moth and by the end of the war, the squadron was competent with autogyro aircraft.[10][11]
In July 1952 the uncrowned Queen Elizabeth II performed one of her first duties as Sovereign by presenting a colour to Number 1 School of Technical Training; the first to be awarded to an apprentice school, and the first to be presented to an 'other rank' when Sergeant Apprentice Hines, of the 63rd Entry, received the colour from Her Majesty.[12]
In 1967, RAF Halton was the site of the unsolved case of the murder of aircraftswoman Rita Ellis. The case was reopened in 2010 to take advantage of modern forensic techniques, and in 2017 a new DNA profile enabled the police to eliminate 200 of the original suspects. In late 2020, the Thames Valley Police's major crime review team issued a further appeal for anyone with information to come forward.[13]
When No. 1 School of Technical Training moved to RAF Cosford in 1993, they took over guardianship of the Queen's Colour and on 31 October 1997, Her Majesty presented RAF Halton with its second colour. RAF Halton was the only station to be granted the dignity of two Queen's colours.[14] The move of No. 1 School of Technical Training to RAF Cosford afforded space for the RAF School of Recruit Training to be moved from RAF Swinderby to RAF Halton in July 1993, where it has been ever since.[15] In the year 2004–2005, RAF Halton trained 24,000 personnel, though not all were Phase 1 recruits; some were attending the Airman's Command School which trains Non-Commissioned Officers (NCO) in Phase 2 and 3 disciplines.[16][17]
The history of the RAF station and specifically apprenticeship training over the years is preserved by the Trenchard Museum located at RAF Halton, and managed by the RAF Halton Apprentices Association.[19] In 2010 a major project by members of the station re-excavated the training trenches used during the First World War and made them available as an educational exhibit.[20]
In July 2018, the headquarters of the Logistics Specialist Training Wing (LSTW) relocated to the new Defence College of Logistics, Policing and Administration at Worthy Down Camp in Hampshire. The remaining element of the LSTW, the Logistics Supply Training Squadron, moved to Worthy Down over the months following 24 October 2019.[22]
Princess Mary's RAF Hospital Halton was opened in 1927 as a large purpose-built military hospital, replacing an earlier makeshift medical facility housed in wooden huts that had been opened in 1919. The hospital was the second unit in the United Kingdom to have a renal facility, and besides developing a cure for Sandfly fever, the hospital was the first in the world to use penicillin on a large scale in 1940, just after its discovery.[24]
The hospital was closed in 1995 due to Government defence cuts. The buildings remained derelict until 2008 when they were demolished for new housing in a development called Princess Mary Gate.[25]
Joint Service Adventurous Training (JSAT) (a merger of Defence Media Operations Centre (DMOC) and the Joint Information Operations Training and Advisory Team (JIOTAT))[35]
Force Development Training Centre (Joint Service Gliding Centre)
RAF Sports Board
Central Training School (carries out training needs analysis, and proposes training strategies for RAF ground trades and branches, with the exception of medical and musician trades).[36]
A Passing Out Parade at RAF Halton during July 2006
On 7 November 2016, in a speech to the House of Commons by the Defence Secretary, it was announced that the RAF Halton airfield would cease to be part of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) estate and was scheduled to be disposed of by 2022.[40] The following month, a letter from the Defence Secretary to MP David Lidington confirmed the planned phases prior to disposal of the site:[41]
Phase 1 – Airfield disposal.
Phase 2 – Relocation of School of Recruit Training and Airmen's Command School to RAF College Cranwell.
Phase 3 – Relocation / rationalisation of lodger units.
On 28 February 2019, after a revision of the Defence Estates Optimisation Plan, MoD minister Tobias Ellwood MP announced that RAF Halton would not close until at least 2025.[42] This was confirmed in letters sent from the Defence Infrastructure Organisation in May 2019 to local residents, stating that phased withdrawal would commence in 2022 with full disposal achieved in 2025.[43] This was later extended with the airfield not closing until 2027.[44][45]
Following a public consultation, Buckinghamshire Council’s Cabinet agreed a Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) for RAF Halton. The SPD will inform the planning and development decisions for RAF Halton near Wendover once it ceases to be a military base in 2027. [46][47][48]
^Lake, Alan (1999). Flying units of the RAF : the ancestry, formation and disbandment of all flying units from 1912 (1 ed.). Shrewsbury: Airlife. p. 266. ISBN978-1-84037-086-7.
^Halley, James J. (1988). The squadrons of the Royal Air Force & Commonwealth 1918-1988. Tonbridge: Air-Britain. p. 402. ISBN978-0-85130-164-8.
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