No. 10 Operational Training Unit RAF or more simply No. 10 OTU was a training unit operated by the

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 ...

History

The unit was formed at

RAF Abingdon Royal Air Force Abingdon or more simply RAF Abingdon was a Royal Air Force station near Abingdon, Oxfordshire. It is now known as Dalton Barracks and is used by the Royal Logistic Corps. History The airfield was opened in 1932, initially as ...

on 8 April 1940 with

No. 97 Squadron RAF No. 97 (Straits Settlements) Squadron, was a Royal Air Force squadron formed on 1 December 1917 at Waddington, Lincolnshire. World War I The squadron formed on 1 December 1917 at RAF Waddington, and was initially a training unit.Melinski ''Ai ...

(97 Sqn) and

No. 166 Squadron RAF No. 166 Squadron RAF was a Royal Air Force squadron that formed just after the end of World War I. It was the first and one of only three to be equipped with the Handley Page V/1500 heavy bomber. History The squadron was formed on 13 June 1918 ...

(166 Sqn) flying

Armstrong Whitworth Whitley The Armstrong Whitworth A.W.38 Whitley was a British medium bomber aircraft of the 1930s. It was one of three twin-engined, front line medium bomber types that were in service with the Royal Air Force (RAF) at the outbreak of the Second World ...

s to train night bomber crews. During 1942 10 OTU took control of an anti-submarine flight detached to St Eval and 10 OTU was transferred to

No. 91 Group RAF No. 91 Group RAF is a former Royal Air Force group. The group was formed on 11 May 1942 at Abingdon as No. 91 (Operational Training) Group RAF in RAF Bomber Command, it was previously No. 6 Group RAF. On 14 April 1947 it moved to Morton Hall, Sw ...

. On June 20, 1943, in the Bay of Biscay, one of a pair of Whitleys operated by 10 OTU from St. Eval was shot down while attacking a submarine believed to be the Barbarigo, of the Italian navy. All of the Whitley's crew were killed. Between March and November 1944 the unit moved to

RAF Stanton Harcourt Royal Air Force Stanton Harcourt or more simply RAF Stanton Harcourt is a former Royal Air Force satellite station located southeast of Witney, Oxfordshire and west of Oxford, Oxfordshire, UK. Units The following units were here at some point: ...

whilst runways were laid at Abingdon with

Vickers Wellington The Vickers Wellington was a British twin-engined, long-range medium bomber. It was designed during the mid-1930s at Brooklands in Weybridge, Surrey. Led by Vickers-Armstrongs' chief designer Rex Pierson; a key feature of the aircraft is its g ...

s arriving from June. During September the last Whitley left and later in the year, during December, it gained the control of the Polish Flight from No. 18 Operational Training Unit RAF (18 OTU), until June 1945 when the flight disbanded. 10 OTU disbanded on 10 September 1946 back at Abingdon.

Airfields used

* RAF St. Eval

References

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