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 Royal Air Force Kinloss or RAF Kinloss is a former Royal Air Force (RAF) station located near the village of Kinloss, on the Moray Firth in the north east of Scotland. The RAF station opened on 1 April 1939 and served as a training establishme ...

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 ...

Airspeed Oxford The Airspeed AS.10 Oxford is a twin-engine monoplane aircraft developed and manufactured by Airspeed. It saw widespread use for training British Commonwealth aircrews in navigation, radio-operating, bombing and gunnery roles throughout the Seco ...

s 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 Shackleton The Avro Shackleton is a British long-range maritime patrol aircraft (MPA) which was used by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the South African Air Force (SAAF). It was developed by Avro from the Avro Lincoln bomber, which itself had been a devel ...

s and Nimrods until 1 July 1970 at St Mawgan. 236 OCU reformed at

RAF St Mawgan Royal Air Force St Mawgan or more simply RAF St Mawgan is a Royal Air Force station near St Mawgan and Newquay in Cornwall, England. In 2008 the runway part of the site was handed over to Newquay Airport. The remainder of the station continues t ...

on 1 July 1970 operating

Hawker Siddeley Nimrod The Hawker Siddeley Nimrod is a retired maritime patrol aircraft developed and operated by the United Kingdom. It was an extensive modification of the de Havilland Comet, the world's first operational jet airliner. It was originally designed ...

s borrowed from

No. 42 Squadron RAF Number 42 Squadron was a squadron of the Royal Air Force. It served during the First World War as an army co-operation squadron and during the Second World War in various roles. Between 1992 and 2010, it was the Operational Conversion Unit (OC ...

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 ...

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 ...

Miles Mentor The Miles M.16 Mentor was a 1930s British single-engined three-seat monoplane training and communications aircraft built by Miles Aircraft Limited. Design and development The origins of the Mentor can be traced back to the Air Ministry's relea ...

s and Airspeed Oxfords until 6 March 1940 when at

RAF Sutton Bridge Royal Air Force Sutton Bridge or more simply RAF Sutton Bridge is a former Royal Air Force station found next to the village of Sutton Bridge in the south-east of Lincolnshire. The airfield was to the south of the current A17, and east of the Ri ...

it was disbanded and became No. 6 Operational Training Unit RAF. The OTU operated

Gloster Gladiator The Gloster Gladiator is a British biplane fighter. It was used by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) (as the Sea Gladiator variant) and was exported to a number of other air forces during the late 1930s. Developed private ...

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 Blenheim The Bristol Blenheim is a British light bomber aircraft designed and built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company (Bristol) which was used extensively in the first two years of the Second World War, with examples still being used as trainers until ...

s 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 again operating a wide variety of aircraft including

Lockheed Hudson The Lockheed Hudson is a light bomber and coastal reconnaissance aircraft built by the American Lockheed Aircraft Corporation. It was initially put into service by the Royal Air Force shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War and prim ...

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 Buckmasters until 31 July 1947 when at Kinloss the unit was disbanded and became No. 236 OCU.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* {{RAF Operational Training units Conversion units of the Royal Air Force

No. 236 OCU

Previous identities

See also

References

Citations

Bibliography