Royal Air Force High Ercall or more simply RAF High Ercall is a former

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) an ...

sector station situated near the village of High Ercall, northeast of Shrewsbury,

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

History

Construction of the airfield began in 1938 and was mostly complete by 1940. The airbase was initially run by

RAF Maintenance Command RAF Maintenance Command was the Royal Air Force command which was responsible for controlling maintenance for all the United Kingdom-based units from formation on 1 April 1938 until being renamed RAF Support Command on 31 August 1973. History ...

and civilians from the Ministry of Aircraft Production also worked at the airfield. From 1941 onward the airbase was taken over by

RAF Fighter Command RAF Fighter Command was one of the commands of the Royal Air Force. It was formed in 1936 to allow more specialised control of fighter aircraft. It served throughout the Second World War. It earned near-immortal fame during the Battle of Brita ...

, and was used mainly by

night fighter A night fighter (also known as all-weather fighter or all-weather interceptor for a period of time after the Second World War) is a fighter aircraft adapted for use at night or in other times of bad visibility. Night fighters began to be used i ...

units, such as No. 68 Squadron and No. 255 Squadron. From 1942 the airfield was also used by the United States Army 8th Air Force's 309 Fighter Squadron, which flew British Supermarine Spitfires with

USAAF The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

markings. In 1943 the role of the airbase changed to become focused on training; it was used mainly by No. 60 Operational Training Unit for this purpose. From 1951 the station became a Relief Landing Ground for flying and navigation training. If pilots were unable to land at their main base they could divert to High Ercall. The Station fulfilled this role from March 1951 for No. 6 Flying Training School RAF, and from 1957 for the Central Navigation and Control School which was based at

RAF Shawbury Royal Air Force Shawbury, otherwise known as RAF Shawbury, is a Royal Air Force station near the village of Shawbury in Shropshire in the West Midlands of England. History The First World War The station at Shawbury was first used for military ...

Squadrons

No. 41 Squadron RAF No. 41 Squadron of the Royal Air Force is the RAF's Typhoon Test and Evaluation Squadron ("TES"), based at RAF Coningsby, Lincolnshire. Its official title is "41 TES". The squadron was formed in 1916 during First World War as part of the Royal ...

No. 68 Squadron RAF The name No. 68 Squadron has been used for two quite different units, only one of which was strictly a unit of the Royal Air Force. "No. 68 Squadron RFC" was for a time the official British military designation for No. 2 Squadron Australian Flying ...

* No. 247 Squadron RAF *

No. 255 Squadron RAF No. 255 Squadron RAF was a Royal Air Force Squadron formed as an anti-submarine unit in First World War and a night-fighter unit in Second World War. The First World War squadron was formed from former Royal Naval Air Service coastal flights an ...

* No. 257 Squadron RAF * No. 285 Squadron RAF * No. 535 Squadron RAF

Other units

No. 3 Aircraft Delivery Flight RAF This is a List of Royal Air Force ferry units. Ferry Flights * No. 1689 (Ferry Pool Pilot Training) Flight RAF Units Crew pools Pilots pools Pools Training units Other units Aircraft See also Royal Air Force *List of R ...

. * No. 60 Operational Training Unit RAF was reformed here in May 1943 to train intruder crews using the de Havilland Mosquito. * No. 1456 (Fighter) Flight RAF * No. 29 Maintenance Unit RAF (MU) * No. 99 Maintenance Unit RAF * No. 222 Maintenance Unit RAF * No. 236 Maintenance Unit RAF * No. 6 Flying Training School RAF *

27th Fighter Squadron The 27th Fighter Squadron is a unit of the United States Air Force 1st Operations Group located at Joint Base Langley–Eustis, Virginia. The 27th is equipped with the F-22 Raptor. The 27th Fighter Squadron is the oldest active fighter squad ...

(USAAF) * 92d Fighter Squadron (USAAF) * 309th Fighter Squadron *

810 Naval Air Squadron 810 Naval Air Squadron was a Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm carrier based squadron formed on 3 April 1933 with the amalgamation of the 12 Blackburn Dart aircraft from 463 and 44 Flight (Fleet Torpedo) Flights Royal Air Force to the Fleet Air Arm. The ...

* No. 1489 (Fighter) Gunnery Flight RAF

Post-military use

In 1946, a

Handley Page Halifax The Handley Page Halifax is a British Royal Air Force (RAF) four-engined heavy bomber of the Second World War. It was developed by Handley Page to the same specification as the contemporary twin-engine Avro Manchester. The Halifax has its orig ...

bomber at High Ercall was purchased by

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal A ...

pilot Geoff Wikner who used the plane to fly home. Wikner also charged a number of passengers to embark on the flight with him. This marked the first post-war

commercial flight Commercial aviation is the part of civil aviation that involves operating aircraft for remuneration or hire, as opposed to private aviation. Definition Commercial aviation is not a rigorously defined category. All commercial air transport and aer ...

between the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

and Australia. The airbase closed in the early 1960s. Between the 1960s and 1990s, the site was the Multi-Occupational Training and Education Centre (MOTEC) which provided training for workers including HGV drivers and mechanics and hosted the RTITB National Junior Mechanic Competition 1987. The majority of the runways have been removed leaving only small tracks however nine hangars still are present spread out over the site and near a local village. A local Wartime Aircraft Recovery Group also occupies a section of the site. In 2002 it was proposed to build a centre for asylum seekers on the site. In 2014 the site was sold to the Greenhous Group who later successfully applied to the council to store new cars there before they were sold on the UK market.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * * {{authority control High Ercall Telford and Wrekin High Ercall Military installations closed in 1962