No. 236 Operational Conversion Unit was a
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...
Operational Conversion Unit which was active between 1947 and 1992 and formed by re-numbering and merging different units.
No. 236 OCU
The conversion unit was formed at
RAF Kinloss on 31 July 1947 and operated a variety of aircraft including
Avro Lancaster
The Avro Lancaster is a British Second World War heavy bomber. It was designed and manufactured by Avro as a contemporary of the Handley Page Halifax, both bombers having been developed to the same specification, as well as the Short Stirlin ...
s,
Airspeed Oxfords and
Bristol Beaufighter
The Bristol Type 156 Beaufighter (often called the Beau) is a British multi-role aircraft developed during the Second World War by the Bristol Aeroplane Company. It was originally conceived as a heavy fighter variant of the Bristol Beaufort ...
s until 30 September 1956 when it was disbanded for the first time to become the Maritime Operational Training Unit on 30 September 1956.
The MOTU was formed by the merger of No. 236 OCU and No. 1 Maritime Reconnaissance School at Kinloss and operated
Avro Shackletons and Nimrods until 1 July 1970 at St Mawgan.
236 OCU reformed at
RAF St Mawgan on 1 July 1970 operating
Hawker Siddeley Nimrods borrowed from
No. 42 Squadron RAF until the unit was disbanded on 30 September 1992 at Kinloss to become No. 42 (Reserve) Squadron, the Nimrod Operational Conversion Unit
History of No. 1 Maritime Reconnaissance School (1 MRS)
The school was formed on 1 June 1951 at St Mawgan as the School of Maritime Reconnaissance and later renamed to 1 MRS operating Airspeed Oxfords, Lancasters and
Avro Anson
The Avro Anson is a British twin-engined, multi-role aircraft built by the aircraft manufacturer Avro. Large numbers of the type served in a variety of roles for the Royal Air Force (RAF), Fleet Air Arm (FAA), Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) a ...
s until 30 September 1956 at St Mawgan.
Previous identities
The unit was initially No. 11 Group Pool which was formed on 14 August 1939 just before the start of the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
at
RAF Andover
RAF Andover is a former Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force station in England, west of Andover, Hampshire. As well as RFC and RAF units, units of the Aviation Section, U.S. Signal Corps, Royal Canadian Air Force, United States Army Air ...
operating
Hawker Hurricane
The Hawker Hurricane is a British single-seat fighter aircraft of the 1930s–40s which was designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd. for service with the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was overshadowed in the public consciousness by ...
s,
Miles Mentors and Airspeed Oxfords until 6 March 1940 when at
RAF Sutton Bridge it was disbanded and became No. 6 Operational Training Unit RAF.
The OTU operated
Gloster Gladiators,
Miles Master
The Miles M.9 Master was a British two-seat monoplane advanced trainer designed and built by aviation company Miles Aircraft Ltd. It was inducted in large numbers into both the Royal Air Force (RAF) and Fleet Air Arm (FAA) during the Second Wor ...
s and
Fairey Battle
The Fairey Battle is a British single-engine light bomber that was designed and manufactured by the Fairey Aviation Company. It was developed during the mid-1930s for the Royal Air Force (RAF) as a monoplane successor to the Hawker Hart and Hi ...
s until 1 November 1940 when the unit became No. 56 OTU.
However No. 6 OTU was reformed at Andover on 1 June 1941 by redesignating No. 2 School of Army Co-operation operating
Bristol Blenheims for a short time until 18 July 1941 when the unit became No. 42 OTU.
No. 6 OTU reformed for the last time on 19 July 1941 at
RAF Thornaby
Royal Air Force Thornaby or more simply RAF Thornaby was a former Royal Air Force Station located near the town of Thornaby-on-Tees, in the North Riding of Yorkshire, England. Fighter Command, Bomber Command and Coastal Command all operated fro ...
again operating a wide variety of aircraft including
Lockheed Hudsons,
de Havilland Tiger Moth
The de Havilland DH.82 Tiger Moth is a 1930s British biplane designed by Geoffrey de Havilland and built by the de Havilland Aircraft Company. It was operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and other operators as a primary trainer aircraft. ...
s and
Bristol Buckmaster
The Bristol Buckmaster was an advanced British training aircraft operated by the Royal Air Force during the 1950s.
Design and development
By 1945, there was a serious gap in performance between the so-called advanced trainers in use – such a ...
s until 31 July 1947 when at Kinloss the unit was disbanded and became No. 236 OCU.
See also
*
List of conversion units of the Royal Air Force
References
Citations
Bibliography
*
{{RAF Operational Training units
Conversion units of the Royal Air Force